When marketing your product, what’s on the outside of the packaging matters just as much as what’s inside. Your packaging design is your first consumer touchpoint.
Whether yours is a food, beverage, personal care or home care product, you can bet that your customers are judging the book by the cover — 72% say their purchase decisions are impacted by packaging design.
Packaging plays a crucial role in consumerism, serving not just to protect products but also as a vehicle for customers to express their own identity.
The design, colours, and branding elements can reflect a consumer’s personality and lifestyle, turning the act of purchasing into a form of self-expression. Ensuring your designs hit the spot is the difference between basket or bust.
But where do you start? Two popular design strategies in packaging development are ‘minimalist’ and ‘maximalist’. Both aim to capture attention and stand out on the shelves, but do so in very different ways.
Minimalism is gaining momentum for its simplicity, clarity and association with sustainability — but maximalism is also very popular for conveying added value. Ultimately, your identity and target audience should be the biggest factors in deciding which style you adopt, rather than being seen to be ‘on-trend’.
Let’s dive a little deeper.
What Is Minimalist Packaging Design?
Pioneered by boutique and direct-to-consumer brands, the minimalist approach to packaging design is characterised by:
- Simple, clean lines and symmetry
- Neutral, muted colour palettes
- Less contrast (for example white on grey rather than white on black)
- Minimal typography with smaller letters
- Limited iconography, other than a brand logo
- Ample use of white space and sparseness
- Focus on essential information
Minimalist design in consumer packaged goods is suited to conveying simplicity, modernity, sophistication and, increasingly, sustainability — the ‘less is more’ approach.
Neutral colour palettes are often utilized to reflect a clean, contemporary and sophisticated brand. Anything unnecessary or potentially superfluous makes way for white space, allowing the design to breathe. 
These types of pared-back designs can give the impression of superior quality; a premium product. The focus is very much on the item itself and the limited amount of messaging that does feature on the package is believed to have more cut-through.
Apple’s iconic matte white iPhone box is one time-honoured example.
How Minimalist Package Designs Impact Consumer Purchase Behaviour
Minimalist designs help you to reflect a number of virtues, which depending on their alignment with your brand and target audience, can help to inspire sales.
- Perceived quality: A minimalist design can be seen as ‘classier’, less brash and more reflective of quality and exclusivity. It can lead consumers to associate the product with higher value.
- Sustainability appeal: With a more minimal design typically comes less packaging, less links and less material usage, hinting at a more eco-conscious proposition. In the minds of many consumers, a clean design equates to a clean environmental footprint.
- Emotional connection: Simplified package designs are less busy, helping to evoke a sense of calm and sophistication — something particularly valued by younger audiences who seek an uncluttered experience and a divorce from the hectic social media and digital world. This emotional appeal can inspire repeat purchases.
- Brand recall: Often, when memorising packages, less can be more. A clean design that has a unique colour palette and an iconic logo is more distinctive, building brand identity.
- Product focus: By way of lack of additional (and potential superfluous) elements, a minimal design places the focus squarely on the product itself. There’s no over-the-top messaging or claims — the hope is to convey simple, honest authenticity and transparency.
What Is Maximalist Packaging Design?
Maximalist packaging design embraces bold, attention-grabbing elements — the aim being to be loud, proud, impactful and detail-focused. Key features typically associated with it include:
- Vibrant colours
- Large, eye-catching, stylistic fonts
- Intricate graphics, complex patterns and abstract art
- Multiple textures and finishes
- Detailed product information
Maximalism is about visual impact, standing out from the crowd and telling a story about the product. Clashing colours can be embraced unashamedly — the idea is that if no one notices you, you’re not making any sales.
The product closure may, for example, have a metallic finish, an ornate pattern or a daring colour combination. Again, the ultimate aim: to stand out on shelves.
If a ‘louder’, more extravagant and detailed design may be the expectation of your audience, think maximalism. Powerlifting gym-goers or heavy metal lovers are two extreme examples of consumer profiles associated with products having these designs.
How Maximalist Package Designs Impact Consumer Purchase Behaviour
The elements typifying maximalist design can be apt for increasing awareness and driving sales of certain types of product, particularly those in competitive, impulse-purchase environments.
- Attention-grabbing: Bold, vibrant designs help products stand out on crowded shelves, helping them to draw more initial consumer attention.
- Information conveyance: Maximalist packaging can entail more detailed product and brand information upfront, appealing to consumers requiring more persuasion before purchasing.
- Emotional impact: Bright colours and elaborate designs can create a sense of excitement or fun, potentially influencing impulse purchases.
- Value perception: There’s an argument for ‘more is more’ — bolder, more ostentatious designs can appeal to some consumers and make them feel like they’re getting better value.
- Brand storytelling: Naturally, maximalist designs give more space and freedom to tell a brand story which can help you elaborate on product benefits and bring out your brand personality.
How to Choose Between a Minimalist or Maximalist Packaging
There’s no inherently superior design choice between minimalist or maximalist designs — it’s all down to your brand, your audience and your product.
- Brand identity: For continuity, align the design with your overall brand aesthetic and values. You’ve built your brand so far on these principles, so it’s what customers expect and recognise.
- Target audience: Without wanting to oversimplify, Gen Z and Millennial-age audiences — raised in an era of information overload — often value minimalist designs that evoke sustainability and calmness.
- Product category: Whilst there’s no hard-and-fast rules, luxury, high-tech or added-value products like premium home or personal care products can benefit from minimalist designs. Some FMCG products, such as food, beverage or confectionery items can win by adopting a maximalist approach — think Tony’s Chocolonely. They place the focus on flavour, excitement and colour.
- Shelf impact: In crowded, ‘noisy’ markets or commercial environments, maximalist designs can help products stand out. Minimalist designs, with their subtlety and sophistication, can create a sense of premium quality.
- Sustainability: For brands seeking to convey their environmental credentials, minimalist designs — entailing less material, less ink and calm, neutral and natural colours — can align with eco-friendliness.
By definition, minimalist and maximalist design strategies both push the envelope — at extremes of the spectrum, they are aimed at influencing our emotions. Designs can, of course, be nuanced, leaning towards minimalism or maximalism.
So, Are You Minimalist or Maximalist?
Both strategies can resonate. Even if you’re unsure, our packaging experts are here to help — we have over a century of experience in packaging design strategy, innovation and solutions.
As experts in packaging development, we have produced both minimalist and maximalist designs for brand owners, manufacturers, R&D teams, ESG teams, marketing departments and innovation teams.
Harnessing over 100 years’ experience and cutting-edge technology, we develop innovative, foil capping and sealing systems. These sustainable closure solutions are currently helping to protect millions of diverse products — minimalist and maximalist! — across the globe.
Simple embossing, debossing or full-colour prints, these closures can match the aesthetic of your package in many ways. For example, a QR code on the foil cap can allow brands to streamline the amount of information on the label, reflecting a more minimal design.
We also provide futurology services, helping you to choose the most effective, sales-driving packaging strategy for your products. We’ll help you to weigh up everything, including your fill product, your desired marketing outcomes, your container material and your ideal consumer opening experience.
We consider ourselves as at the vanguard of global packaging design trends across various industries, from food to pharma. We can even guide your sustainability and international compliance strategy.
Whether you’re wanting to reimagine a current package design or you’re planning a new packaging concept, get in touch today.
