How to inject personality into your packaging

@rachybb

There's no doubt first impressions count. But unlike us humans who have our sense of style, a handshake, or a smile to instantly give others a sense of who we are, a product is entirely dependent on its packaging. This means stock standard cardboard boxes or mailers can make for an underwhelming experience.

Ecommerce packaging has to do some heavy lifting to make a brand's personality shine. But using custom packaging materials to enhance your creativity and playfulness can go a long way in cultivating brand loyalty, increasing repeat business, and humanizing your brand to your customers. Good packaging stands out, but great packaging tells a story about who you are.

The biggest challenge for any brand is deciding what you stand for and the story you want to tell. Ask yourself this: If your brand was a person, how would you describe them to other people? Fun and quirky? Serene and sophisticated? Confident and dependable?

Once you’ve decided your brand's persona, the rest of the process will fall into place. You can show some character to customers by choosing illustrations or graphics to adorn your packaging, dive into a rainbow of colors and shades and pick out pretty patterns or funky fonts. Each style and shade will say something different about your brand.

Transforming that humble cardboard box into a successful marketing tool will make your packaging sparkle with personality.

With noissue, you can create fully customizable, unique packaging with a range of products from tissue paper, tape, stickers and stamps. Here are some ideas that ooze personality to get you started.

Tissue paper

Let's take it back to being a kid opening presents on your birthday. Those brightly wrapped boxes or extra packaging elements like a bow added a whole new level of joy and excitement. As an adult, that feeling can be reignited for your customers by swapping dull packaging for tissue paper adorned with delightful drawings, illustrations, or patterns to add some wow-factor.

Freelance illustrator and designer Mochi Panko gives off an instant confident and creative tone by using bold and bright colors in their packaging. Mixing that vibrant style with gorgeous illustrations and patterns means customers will be eager to unwrap purely to see the paper's full design.

Black and white can often feel formal, but the designs from the creatives above prove that monochrome can still have tons of personality. Whether it’s sweet cartoon characters that are bound to put a smile on the face of even the most serious customers, or haunting illustrations hinting at something mysterious  waiting inside, these creatives know how to make the most of a minimal color palette and greet their customers with individuality.

With a whole spectrum of colors to choose from, the hard part is choosing shades that look good together and properly reflect your brand’s personality. We can't get enough of Kim Sielbeck’s striking shades of blue and pink and her messages relating to current world-events. Black Lives Matter and Covid-19 quotes are found nestled amongst other positive affirmations and bold illustrations, spreading love and joy through paper packaging.

Note: Don’t forget, our tissue is sustainable too! Just like all of our eco-friendly products, you can give some of your awesomeness to the world while also helping to look after it.

Stickers

Looking for a quick, simple way to spice up your packaging and add some instant personality? On-brand stickers are the way forward. It’s as simple as peeling one off and slapping it on your packaging to show what you stand for instantly. Your stickers could simply be a charming illustration featuring your brand colors, or it could be used for a specific purpose that sends a message to your customers. Get stuck in.

Got an awesome logo? Then flaunt it! Stickers are a brilliant way to get your logo or a brand name onto your packaging. Use one to hold-together your wrapping or put on the outside of an envelope to not only show off your personality, but also give customers a way to instantly who has their package is from.

Use your stickers to compliment the colors and style of your tissue wrapping just like author and artist Abbey Sy has done. Her thank you stickers blend in beautifully with the rest of her packaging, and the elegant font communicates a subtle but effective message of appreciation to her customers. Have your sticker compliment the colors and style of your tissue paper this way, or make it a statement all of its own.

Illustrator Abbie Burch says she’s “inspired by the cute, the funny, and the weird” and her sticker shows that off her brand to a T. Using playful and engaging illustrations to say hi instantly shows off the humorous and relatable personality of her brand. Follow suit with just a simple image or positive message to add that special extra touch.

Tape

Non-branded packaging really can be so dull. Brown boxes or plain white envelopes give absolutely no sign of any personality or branding from the outside, even if you have spent time and effort crafting the products on the inside. Customized tape is a great way to amp up the anticipation and show your customers a flavor of your brand before they even open up the box.

Freelance illustrator Sam Jayne worked in collaboration with stationery brand Washi Gang to create this cute and colorful tape to add a splash of personality to their packaging. Sweet and charming, the pastel colors are girly and whimsical and delightfully seal up the product inside.

Yehimi Cambrón is an artist and activist whose work focuses on celebrating the contributions and resilience of immigrants around the world. Her beautiful design incorporates her own work, showing off her graceful style and hinting to a deeper meaning. The repeated butterfly adds a delicate yet powerful feel – a true individual reflection of her collection of work.

Canadian coffee-brand Invito Coffee promotes sustainable coffee beans to their adventurous customers. Their packaging tape is both colorful and rustic, with illustrations that reflect their fresh, natural products. Their toucan logo already shows gallons of personality but the addition of the green leaves on the tape brings a sense of calm and harmony, reflecting the feelings you get with your first sip of coffee. Ahhh.

Stamps

A great way to inject personality into your packaging is to mark it with a custom stamp. Our soy-based ink stamps can be used to add some understated fun to your parcels, packaging, or even on note-cards tucked away inside – they have so many uses! Promote your brand website, logo, care instructions, or perhaps a quick thank you, all with a touch of brand personality.

Beckycas uses a blend of personalized tissue, cards, and accessories alongside her cute blue stamp. A subtle change from a bolder black, the blue ink color subtly reflects her own love of anything “Kawaii” – cute Japanese culture. The care message includes an adorable illustration in her own style, a design that's effortlessly simple but highly effective.

Tokyo-based illustrator Cream Sherry simply loves to draw Japanese anime characters, so it’s an obvious choice to include these in her packaging design. Check out that adorable face that says thank you on an otherwise plain envelope, and another thrilled character on her customized thank-you card tucked away inside. Instant joy.

We challenge you not to smile at this quirky little character. Illustrator Goblin Pockets has included care instructions alongside a sneak peek at who has sent this package with their stamp design. We love that the personalized post-mark adds extra charm to an otherwise plain envelope – there’s mischief in the air.

And why stick to just one thing? Combine tissue paper, stickers, tape, and pretty much anything you can get your hands on to showcase your personality just like Mai Accents. Separately they shine, together they slay.

We hope these examples provided some inspiration for your designs! Upload your custom, ready-made design to our platform and you can expect your brand new packaging in three weeks. Design online using your logo and one of our templates and take some time to find what feels right in reflecting your brand's unique personality.