Most people are not design experts. Many of us cannot even afford to hire someone who is a design expert. Here at Lightning Labels we deal with many start-up companies where the owner of the business has to do everything. This includes product label and packaging design.
Where do you go for design inspiration? Luckily there are many great resources online that showcase great design. Here are my top three favorites:
The Dieline - You will see the tagline when you visit the Dieline: "the world's #1 package design website". While you may think this is a somewhat grandiose claim, in the many years I have been reading blogs and visiting package design websites, I agree with their claim. They showcase the most creative and beautiful packaging from every product category you can imagine. If you only visit one site it should be this one.
Packaging of the World - another blog devoted to showcasing beautiful packaging. As you can tell by the name this blog has more of an international focus. It has arranged all the packaging into neat categories so you can choose the kind of packaging you want to see. Also, there are small thumbnails of each design that allows for easy browsing of the different designs.
Design You Trust - this one is a little different. It is outside of the strictly package design field and into more general design. But Design You Trust is probably the most visited design site in the world. It covers book design, illustration, fashion, photography, website design and yes, packaging design. Sometimes it is useful to look beyond your industry for design ideas.
Related Articles
The Blogsmith in Label & Narrow Web magazine - Nov/Dec 2009
Ten Elements of Good Product Label Design
Packaging Diva's Monthly Picks - showcasing the best of the packaging blogs each month
Photo above from 2009 Pentawards for outstanding package design.
Thank you for all the great posts from last year! I look forward to reading your blog, because they are always full of information that I can put to use. Thank you again, and God bless you in 2010.