Have supermarkets ruined the credibility of authentic packaging design?
The trend for farmers-market style packaging has crept its way in to the supermarkets over the last few years as the big four look to exploit the brand power of authenticity. However the adoption of the trend by big businesses has led to a loss of credibility, according to Chris Jeffreys, senior creative at Love Creative.
Speaking to The Drum ahead of the Scottish Design Awards, Jeffreys, who is sat on the judging panel, said he hopes 2016 sees a move away from “cutesy” packaging design.
“I'm getting a bit sick of the trend for cutesy, overly friendly, hand-crafted, farmer's market-style packaging. So I hope we see a decline in this and start to see something new. The trend for authenticity loses credibility when the big supermarkets are doing it.”
In the wider design industry Jeffreys is keeping a keen eye on developments such as Diesel’s recent Tinder campaign and the way that brands are able to communicate with their audiences.
“The biggest issue affecting the design industry at the moment is keeping ahead of the ever changing consumer landscape and finding new and diverse ways to engage with our audiences in the channels that are engaging them…these are exciting times”.
Also sitting on the panel for the upcoming awards is Hiten Bhatt, associate design director at OgilvyOne Creative, who believes that the future of design should lie in integrated agencies to help unify the discipline across multiple platforms such as press ads and websites.
“I believe opportunities that allow for collaboration should be embraced. The nature of my work at OgilvyOne involves working with multiple creative/media disciplines on any given brief.
“I’m constantly learning off people around me, from UX and interactive design to motion graphics and illustration. This approach allows our designers to understand the user’s needs better and produce higher quality design work.”
The deadline for entries for the Scottish Design Awards is 2 March at 5pm, while nominees will be announced on 6 April. For more information check out the awards website or email pepe.terry@thedrum.com.