Food Packaging – Revealing not Concealing

This month’s design inspiration post is looking at beautiful food packaging designs that have inspired me recently. In my Design Predictions for 2017 blogpost back in January, I discussed how ‘truth’ was set to become a major theme in packaging design this year. Truth is featured in all of these examples in one way or another – revealing the contents of the products rather than concealing them…

Crude Raw Chocolate

Let’s kick things off with a favourite subject of mine… chocolate! These packaging designs combine aesthetics with information. Not merely decorative, if you look closely you’ll see that the geometric patterns illustrate the percentages of cocoa contained in each bar. The combination of raw cardboard and luxury hot foil creates a striking contrast of textures which achieves a recognisable suite of products. The cardboard represents ‘crude’ and ‘raw’, whilst the hot foil, used in moderation, gives an air of sophistication and style.

Day_TM Energy Bars

Whilst stylistically different, these Day_TM energy bars share similarities to the Crude Raw Chocolate packaging. Along with the use of a cardboard-effect material to portray the natural qualities, the main design feature is bold typography. The vibrant colours used to illustrate the fruit percentages, create the feeling of energy and loudly shout out the contents of the snack.

Pietro Gala Pasta

Designed by Russian agency, Fresh Chicken, Pietro Gala’s pasta packaging is light-hearted and jovial. This quirky packaging reveals the product inside whilst creating a really approachable and memorable brand personality. It appeals to the consumer as an attractive piece of decoration as well as simply communicating the contents in no uncertain terms. I would happily display these in my kitchen!

Hexagon Honey

This honey packaging which, as far as I can tell, is purely conceptual rather than commercial, is a beautiful example of honest packaging. It completely reveals the contents, whilst also reminding us of the process in which honey is created. The forms of the containers fit perfectly together when displayed en masse, and the drizzler fitted to the underside of the lid is a nice little feature, adding to the feeling of high quality.