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During relevant discussions on personalized packaging design, the concept of content can frequently be singularized to the product within or the message contained in the imprinted text. The type of font used, its height, its width, and its slant is often applied simply as a means of enhancing the aesthetics of that text. However, we tend to forget that typography doesn’t exist mainly as a visual boost, and should in fact upstage its conventional role as an insubstantial decorative element.
To be metaphorical, typography should nourish the text as a vital organ would nourish the body, by staying true to its core function as an instrument that ensures the very existence of the corpus. The correct typography of say, a custom gift box, should neither grab attention or give attention. If the font type utilized in the custom package is objectively beautiful, the literal message should align with that evocation and be clearly communicative of that beauty.
The typography is the text, it serves to depict both its implications and denotations. This idea may seem daunting, but a solid example from the world of successful cosmetic packaging design should give us an idea of how typography should be correctly employed in your next project with custom boxes.
Korean Beauty
The South Korean cosmetics market leads many national competitors in technology, innovation, and marketing. The current Korean cosmetics market valuation of $13 billion makes the peninsula a hotspot for global investment from top international brands such as Givenchy. Moreover, the South Korean per capita cosmetics expense of $45 significantly surpasses the $37 spent by Americans. South Koreans rightfully pride themselves on their natural beauty and take great care in enhancing that beauty. The importance given to presentability is clearly reflected by the local cosmetic industry’s success.
We all know from our own personal experience or the observation of friends and relatives that having an appealing custom box accounts for 80% of the decision-making process. Manufacturers of custom cosmetic boxes are well aware of this reality, and hence see South Korea as a hub for their operations.
I Dew Care, I Really Do
It’s no surprise that the Korean cosmetics industry houses some of the best typographists. K-beauty powerhouse I Dew Care recently released its super-popular face masks. The line-up includes catchy motivators such as Hang Tight or puns that bring a modest grin to your Monday morning frown like Kitten Around. If you’re feeling Berry Bubbly, you might want to look at how simple yet supremely attractive their face mask boxes look:
Notice a trend? Although the font style remains consistent across I Dew Care’s face mask products, the relative placement or curvature of the letters change in accordance with the feeling or experience projected by what is written in the text. The header text placed on the custom box for the Kitten Around mask collection – which contains an actual cat-ear headband – is playful and honors the energy of the act described by the pun. In other words, the typography conveys the text.
The Disco Kitten peel-off mask follows a similar concept with a little added nuance: if you intonate your pronunciation of ‘Disco Kitten’ upwards or downwards based on whether the next letter is higher or lower than the previous, you find yourself uttering these two words in a funk that strengthens the disco-kitten vibe.
Feeling Bubbly
Berry Bubbly exhibits a comparable form of audio-visual typography through its hilltop text design. The parabolic curvature of the word ‘Berry’ invites the customer to read it in a starting low pitch. The reader is then enticed with mouthing a progressively higher pitch at the ‘hill-top’. Towards the downward curve of the last two letters, the pitch lowers. We tend to verbalize the word ‘Very’ in this manner. Berry Bubbly becomes Very Bubbly and vice versa. The successful elucidation of the double meaning behind Berry Bubbly is completely attributed to the strong functionality of the typography. The font is designed not to be decorative, but to act as a clarifier.
Deviating slightly from its companions, The Hang Tight Tea Tree Clay Mask initially employs a hanging bend and then tightens its typeface at the word tight. In this particular case, the font serves to describe the literal act.
I Dew Care sets strong examples of how you should apply the proper typography for your next custom packaging endeavor. Your custom box should always apply typeface as a unifying element of the text that acts to mitigate any losses in translation. Functional typography increases the efficiency of your product text, especially when space is limited.
At PakFactory, our product specialists understand the complexity of custom packaging design. This is especially true when it comes to the placement and graphical components of the outer text. Speak with us today and let us help you make the most out of your brand message.
