By Vanessa Doll
More purchase decisions and visual brand recall are attributed to color than any other element in package design. Understanding how color affects taste perceptions, value perceptions, quality perceptions, and emotive associations is paramount to successful package design in CPG food brands—for both humans and their pets’ food. Food packaging designers use color psychology to create packaging that appeals to consumers and communicates essential information about the product inside.
Why is color important in CPG food packaging design?
Color is one of the most critical components of brand recognition and differentiation. In the competitive retail environment, brands use color to differentiate themselves from competitors and create a unique brand identity. Coca-Cola’s iconic red packaging is the gold standard for color wayfinding. Its power to be recognized globally demonstrates the ultimate force of color.
Color can also influence what consumers expect from the product inside. It affects perceptions of taste, quality, value, and emotion, making color selection much more than a visual design decision. For CPG food brands, the right color strategy can help communicate the product experience before a consumer ever picks up the package.
Is any color more visible at retail than another?
As Scott Young found, “No single color is inherently more visible at retail than any other color. That’s because visibility is a function of color contrast.*” This idea is no more valid than at the retail level in a big store–colors blast the shelves from every hue.
When thinking about what color communicates for your brand, brand blocking should be an enormous consideration for shopability and shelf impact. A color that looks distinctive on its own may not have the same impact when surrounded by competing packages, so understanding the full retail environment is essential.
Can a CPG brand own a color?
Owning a color globally is very challenging because cultures and different areas of the world impact color connotations. Still, those associations can change over time if a brand is powerful enough to lead consumer perceptions in a new direction.
No color is off-limits for any product, but there are solid associations for specific colors. Introducing a color inappropriately could be detrimental or, at the very least, confusing. On the flip side, an unexpected color choice could be disruptive, eye-catching, and speak to brand boldness. Like every branding positioning decision, get informed and weigh the pros and cons.
How does color affect perceived quality and value?
Color palettes trend in CPG food packaging design, so start with a baseline understanding of common consumer reactions to color in your category and then make pointed color decisions from there.
Traditionally, bright, bold colors are often associated with high-quality and premium products, while muted colors are associated with lower-quality products. But those conventions continue to evolve. Matte varnishes and pastels now reach across products at all values, while luxury brands are going beyond gold or silver packaging to convey a sense of exclusivity.
How can color create ownability for a CPG brand?
The strongest color decisions balance category expectations with an opportunity to build something recognizable, ownable, and uniquely yours. When chosen strategically, a specific color scheme can create ownability across all a brand’s products. Look at the colors competitors already own, understand the associations consumers have with those colors, and then identify where your brand can create meaningful distinction. Tapping into your “white-space opportunities” around color in your particular category is a perfect place to start.
For more insights on color, read this article.
*Young, Scott. Winning at Retail. Skokie, IL: In Store Marketing Institute, 2010. First discovered in Packaging Design: Successful product branding from Concept to Shelf, Authors Rosner Klimchuk, Marianna and Krasovec, Sandra.
Vanessa is Partner & Director of Relationships at Freshmade. From bar owner to account lead, strategist to agency owner, she’s spent years in the trenches with leading CPG brands modernizing and optimizing their positioning to maximize growth.
Freshmade is a CPG Branding and Strategy Design agency focusing on food branding and package label design. We design for digital, from campaigns to websites, and have an in-house photography studio. Our goal is to accelerate growth for our clients through mouthwatering, thoughtful brand building and design. Notable clients we have designed CPG packaging for include Bolthouse Fresh, Evolution Fresh, Hartz, Publix, Mastronardi (Sunset), Annie Chun’s, Factor, and many more
