How we create packaging

Creating packaging, for SB\Design, means thinking simultaneously about product, protection, logistics, sustainability, experience and communication. Packaging is not merely what surrounds a product. In many cases, it is the first physical point of contact between a person and a brand. It directly influences perceived value, affects purchase decisions, interferes with transportation, storage, display and disposal, and increasingly needs to respond to environmental issues that can no longer be treated as an additional stage of the project. This is why, at SB\Design, packaging is understood as a complete system capable of integrating form, function, material, language and behavior.

Our work can begin even before the graphic surface. SB\Design also works on the structural conception of packaging, investigating formats, volumes, opening and closing mechanisms, transportation, storage and reuse. We may design a bottle with an unexpected shape, a box that continues to be useful after purchase, a structure that occupies less space during transportation or a solution capable of reducing components, weight and the amount of raw material required. For us, creating packaging also means designing the object that will accompany the product through an important part of its life.

This structural dimension requires design to go far beyond appearance. A different form needs to make sense industrially, ergonomically and logistically. A bottle needs to be held, filled, sealed, transported, stored and displayed. A box needs to protect its contents, withstand stacking, work efficiently during assembly, optimize space and reach the consumer in the expected condition. A visually interesting structural solution that generates excessive material use, significantly increases shipping volume or makes production unfeasible is unlikely to be a good design solution.

This is why, from the very beginning, we seek to understand the entire packaging cycle. How is the product manufactured? Where is it packed? How does it leave the factory? How many units fit into a shipping carton? How is it stored? How does it reach retail? How does it appear on the shelf? How is it shipped through e-commerce? How does the consumer open it? What happens afterwards? Can it be reused? Can it be disassembled? Can its components be separated? How much material is actually necessary for it to perform its function?

These questions are part of the project because, for SB\Design, sustainability begins long before selecting recycled paper or printing an environmental statement on the back of a package. Sustainability is directly related to the amount of material used, structural efficiency, weight, volume, the origin of raw materials, manufacturing processes, the number of different components, logistics, possibilities for reuse and what happens when the package reaches the end of its useful life.

When we talk about packaging, sustainability immediately becomes part of the conversation because every design decision may have consequences multiplied across thousands or millions of units. A few millimeters removed from a structure, one eliminated fold, a reduction in surface area, a lighter bottle or improved use of space inside a shipping carton can represent substantial savings in raw materials, energy, space and transportation when considered across an entire production scale. For us, reducing waste is not only an environmental issue. It is also intelligent design.

Whenever possible, we seek to work with the minimum amount of material necessary to ensure protection, performance and perceived quality. This does not mean turning every package into a minimalist solution. Different products have different needs. Luxury packaging, food, medicine, beverages, cosmetics or products sold exclusively through e-commerce all present completely different requirements. The role of design is to identify where there is excess, where there is necessity and where a structural decision can improve experience, production and impact at the same time.

We also evaluate possibilities for reuse. In certain categories, packaging can stop being disposable and acquire a second function. A box may become an object for storage, organization or presentation. A container may continue to be used. A system may be designed to receive refills. When this possibility makes sense for the product and reflects the consumer’s real behavior, it can extend the package’s useful life and create a longer relationship between the person and the brand.

But sustainability cannot be merely a narrative. We do not believe in adding complexity, material or processes simply to create the appearance of environmental responsibility. A good solution needs to consider the realities of production, distribution and disposal. Often, simplification is more efficient than addition. Reducing the number of components may be more meaningful than creating a sophisticated mechanism. Making better use of a locally available material may be more coherent than specifying an apparently ideal solution that needs to travel thousands of kilometers before reaching the factory.

For this reason, the process begins with understanding. Before designing, we seek to understand the product, the company, the category, the audience, sales channels, price range, competitors, production volumes and industrial limitations in depth. Packaging is the result of a series of decisions that begin long before layout. We need to know what we are protecting, who we are selling to, where the product will be found and what kind of behavior we expect to generate.

Category research and benchmarking play a fundamental role. We observe how similar products are presented, which formats are predominant, what materials are being used, which visual codes are repeated, how information is organized and how different brands construct value. This research is not intended to reproduce existing solutions. It is intended to understand the territory and identify opportunities to create something relevant within it.

Every category has its own codes. Food packaging communicates differently from perfume packaging. A mass-market beverage has different needs from a premium drink. A cleaning product, supplement, cosmetic or technology item must respond to specific expectations. Some of these codes help consumers recognize immediately what they are buying. Others have become conventions repeated so often that they may represent an opportunity for differentiation. To break a category code, we first need to understand it.

We also seek to understand deeply who buys the product. Packaging needs to communicate with real people, not merely work within a design presentation. We observe shopping habits, repertoire, price sensitivity, expectations, cultural context, channels and the moment in which the purchase decision occurs. A product bought quickly in a supermarket faces a very different reality from an item researched for weeks before being purchased online. The amount of time available to communicate, the level of information and the emotional role of packaging change completely.

Where the package will be sold is also decisive. On a physical shelf, it competes simultaneously with dozens of products. It needs to work from a distance, create recognition, establish hierarchy and make it easy to identify variety, flavor, size or version. In e-commerce, the same package may appear as an image only a few centimeters wide on a screen. In this context, details that work beautifully in physical form may disappear entirely. For SB\Design, contemporary packaging needs to be designed with both worlds in mind.

There is also the logistical reality of digital commerce. Many products that were once designed only to reach a retail shelf now need to pass through distribution centers, carriers and multiple stages of handling before arriving directly at people’s homes. This changes how we think about resistance, protection, volume, opening and experience. In some cases, shipping packaging can itself become an important part of the relationship with the brand.

After understanding the product, market, audience and structure, we begin building the visual expression of the packaging. This is where labels, graphic elements, typography, colors, photography, illustration, information, finishes and all the elements capable of turning that object into a manifestation of the brand identity come into play. At SB\Design, this layer is not decoration applied onto a finished structure. It needs to work together with the form.

Good packaging can be recognized even before its logo is read. Its silhouette, color, proportion, texture, typography or way of organizing information can become distinctive assets. When structure and identity work together, the object itself begins to function as a brand code. This is why we always seek to understand how much of the brand’s personality can live in the form itself and how much needs to be communicated graphically.

When a company already has an established visual identity, the work is to translate that system into the specific reality of packaging. Not every identity element behaves in the same way on a three-dimensional surface. It is necessary to understand materials, printing areas, curves, folds, seams, transparency, finishes and the sequence in which the consumer encounters each face. The package needs to belong to the brand without looking like a graphic piece simply wrapped around a product.

When the packaging identity needs to be created from scratch, we develop a system capable of organizing not just one product, but its potential expansion. Many brands begin with only a few items and quickly grow into dozens or hundreds of SKUs. From the beginning, we therefore need to think about information architecture, families, categories, flavors, sizes, product lines, hierarchies and codes that allow the system to grow without losing consistency.

This architecture is one of the most important parts of packaging design. A package does not communicate only a brand. It may need to communicate brand, product, category, benefit, variety, quantity, instructions and multiple other pieces of information at the same time. The designer needs to build a hierarchy capable of guiding the eye. The consumer should not have to decode the package. Information needs to appear in the right order and with the appropriate level of emphasis.

In systems with many products, this organization becomes even more critical. Rules need to make it immediately clear what belongs to the same family while simultaneously differentiating each item. Color may organize flavors. Typography may separate levels of information. Graphic devices may identify product lines. One area may remain constant while another changes. Every solution needs to emerge from the specific needs of that portfolio.

Typography plays a fundamental role. In packaging, it needs to balance personality and performance. Some text needs to work at a great distance, while other information must remain legible at extremely small sizes. We need to consider printing, substrate, contrast, distortion on curved surfaces and different production techniques. A typeface that performs beautifully on a website may not be suitable for certain printing processes or packaging dimensions.

Color also needs to be thought of systematically. It can create recognition, differentiation and organization. But its behavior depends deeply on material, printing and finishing. A color printed on paper does not behave the same way on transparent plastic, aluminum, glass or a metallic surface. Whenever possible, we therefore seek to evaluate proofs, prototypes and real samples before final production.

Photography and illustration can play completely different roles depending on the category. In some products, they need to create desire. In others, they need to explain content, origin or ingredient. There are situations in which the absence of imagery can create greater sophistication, and others in which a clear representation of the product is essential to the purchase decision. There is no universal formula. The language needs to emerge from positioning, category and audience.

Materials and finishes are also part of the language. Texture, transparency, gloss, opacity, embossing, hot stamping, varnishes, engravings and different techniques can transform the tactile and visual experience. But every resource needs to have a purpose. We do not believe in using a finish merely to signal sophistication. The material should contribute to the correct perception of the brand while also being evaluated in terms of cost, production and impact.

This is where the relationship with suppliers and industry becomes extremely important. Packaging design requires collaboration. Designers, engineers, converters, glass, plastic, paper and metal manufacturers, printers, producers, filling-line specialists and marketing teams need to work in an integrated way. Many solutions evolve when they encounter the technical reality of production. For SB\Design, understanding these limitations does not reduce creativity. On the contrary, it creates parameters capable of producing smarter solutions.

Prototyping is a fundamental part of the process. Whenever the complexity of the project requires it, we seek to transform drawings into objects before making final decisions. Models, physical mockups, color proofs, three-dimensional prototypes and structural tests help reveal issues that a screen cannot. It is only by holding, opening, closing, stacking and observing packaging at full scale that certain decisions can be properly evaluated.

We also believe that the opening experience deserves attention. The so-called unboxing experience has become especially visible with the growth of e-commerce, but opening packaging has always been part of the product experience. The right amount of resistance, the first point of contact, the sequence of discovery, sound, texture and the way elements are presented can contribute to a sense of care and quality. This experience, however, needs to remain proportionate to the product. A sophisticated opening experience should not mean an unnecessary sequence of layers and materials.

SB\Design also considers the life of the package after opening. Where does it stay? Does it go into the refrigerator? The bathroom? A table? A kitchen? A shelf? Does it remain visible for weeks or disappear immediately? Products that remain in the consumer’s environment turn their packaging into an object of everyday coexistence. In these cases, its presence needs to be considered not only for the moment of purchase, but also for daily life.

Another fundamental aspect is the ability to evolve. Good packaging needs to feel contemporary without being excessively dependent on passing trends. When a system involves dozens of products, replacing everything only a few years later may represent a tremendous waste of resources and investment. Creating something with the ability to remain relevant is also a form of sustainability.

For SB\Design, well-resolved packaging should be able to balance four dimensions simultaneously: **protect the product, function within the production and logistics system, communicate the brand clearly and use resources responsibly**. When one of these dimensions is ignored, the project tends to create problems elsewhere in the chain.

Our holistic perspective allows us to observe this complexity in an integrated way. Because we work with strategy, visual identity, art direction, communication, digital and other brand touchpoints, packaging is not considered in isolation. It needs to communicate with the website, e-commerce, campaigns, environments, point-of-sale materials and the rest of the identity. In some businesses, packaging is in fact the company’s primary communication vehicle and deserves a central position within the brand system.

For this reason, creating packaging at SB\Design can involve different scales of intervention. We may develop only the graphic language of a label. We may create a complete visual system for dozens or hundreds of products. We may rethink an existing structure to reduce material or improve transportation. We may conceive a new box, container, bottle or reusable solution. And we may work simultaneously on structure and identity when the opportunity requires a deeper transformation.

What matters is that the scale of the solution is determined by the scale of the problem. We do not seek to create complexity where it is unnecessary. As in any design project, we aim to identify which intervention can generate the greatest positive impact with the lowest possible waste of resources.

The process also needs to result in clear documentation. Packaging systems grow, are produced by different suppliers and pass through the hands of many teams over time. When the project requires it, we therefore develop guidelines capable of organizing architecture, proportions, hierarchies, colors, typography, materials, finishes, variations and rules for the creation of new products. The goal is to ensure that the logic built at the beginning remains intact even as the system expands.

Increasingly, this documentation also needs to be understandable by hybrid teams that use digital systems, automation and artificial intelligence during content production and the development of new assets. The clearer the logic of the packaging system, the easier it is to preserve consistency without turning the guideline into an endless collection of exceptions.

In the end, good packaging should feel inevitable for that product. Form, material, identity and experience should work together so naturally that it becomes difficult to imagine a more appropriate solution. It needs to make sense for those who produce it, transport it, sell it, buy it and for the environment in which it will continue to exist after purchase.

SB\Design, directed by Sandro Bianco, understands packaging design in this way: as a discipline in which strategy, graphic design, structural design, production, logistics and sustainability need to communicate from the very beginning. We do not simply create a surface on which to communicate a brand. We seek to understand the entire system in which that object will exist.

This is how SB\Design creates packaging: researching before designing, understanding category, audience and context, investigating structure and materials, reducing waste whenever possible, working closely with industry, building identities capable of generating recognition and testing every decision in the real world. Because well-designed packaging does not end when it protects a product. That is where it begins. Its true function is to connect product, brand, people and context through an intelligent, responsible solution capable of remaining relevant over time.