Abstract
Many recent research has focused on graphic design and shape of the packaging, and their effects on the customer's decision-making process as two separate categories. Since the shape of the packaging along with the graphic design plays an important role in the visual appearance of the packaging and attracts the customer's attention, the main objective of this research was to find out which packaging shapes and graphic elements customers find most attractive, as well as to understand the general opinion of customers about the influence of packaging aesthetics on their decision-making process when purchasing a product. Methodology of this research was conducted in two stages, from which the first one included creating three different graphic design solutions combined with three shape categories, and three variations of added value, for the same food packaging. The second part of the research covered an online questionnaire, in which a group of 50 people participated. This questionnaire focused on three variables: graphic design of the packaging, packaging shape and it’s added value. These variables were evaluated using the Likert scale. Through the questionnaire, participants were asked to answer general questions about the impact of the packaging visual appearance and added value, on their decision-making process when buying a product, as well as to choose the most appealing packaging between the given options. The research results showed that customers preferred non-standard packaging shapes and simple graphic design, as well as packaging with added value. The results of this research prove that the aesthetics of packaging has an impact on the customer's perception of a product, which means that packaging plays an important role in product marketing.
Highlights
The basic function of packaging is to “preserve product integrity” by protecting the actual food product from potential damage due to “climatic, bacteriological and transportation hazards” (Stewart, 1995), as well as to ensure proper storage and to communicate with customers by providing information about the contents (Robertson, 2012)
This study focused on investigating the relationship between packaging aesthetics and its impact on consumers’ emotions and decision-making process
To understand the value that the visual design of the packaging has for the customers, the participants were asked to answer the question “How important is the visual design of the packaging for you?”. 40.9% of participants answered that visual design is moderately important, 27.3% answered that visual design is important to them, while 31.8% of participants answered that visual design of packaging is very important to them when they purchase a product (Figure 5)
Summary
The basic function of packaging is to “preserve product integrity” by protecting the actual food product from potential damage due to “climatic, bacteriological and transportation hazards” (Stewart, 1995), as well as to ensure proper storage and to communicate with customers by providing information about the contents (Robertson, 2012). Since packaging can be considered as the medium between the customer and the product and is the first contact with the consumer, it is clear that packaging plays an Journal of Graphic Engineering and Design, Volume 12 (4), 2021. The importance of packaging is constantly increasing due to the ever increasing competition, which means that the product needs to stand out from all other similar products (Morgan, 2016). With this in mind, companies are opting to use various visual techniques to increase customer attention, such as using original materials, shapes and colors for their packaging (Ooijen et al, 2016)
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