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Many non designers may lack confidence in their ability to judge a design and feel shy to give their own honest feedback to experienced professionals in design meetings. They may find it difficult to explain in detail what is wrong and how to improve the design. They hold back from saying anything in design meetings due to lack of creative confidence, feeling that the professional designers have the monopoly on creativity and design understanding. It is true to say that most non designers are the people who judge designs on a daily basis, as they make up 99% of the population who are buying the designs. They can understand when things don’t look aesthetically pleasing or have a great user experience but often lack the ability to pinpoint exactly why the design isn’t working out well. Many say that design preferences are subjective, like art. But this is not true because graphic and product design must generally follow rules in order to be effective. And one can only truly judge the effectiveness of a design if we know what was the original brief – what were the creative problems which the design has to solve? If there is no clear brief as a starting point, then the design can only be judged on aesthetics and its ability to communicate a message clearly. What is a good design? Here are some points to help non designers to be confident in their design choices and analyze better why some designs don’t seem to work: Does the design fix the problem which it set out to resolve? If it doesn’t do this then it’s best to go back to the drawing board and not go any further. 2. Is it appropriate for the target audience? Is it the right tone and does it give the right image to position the brand correctly? Are all the graphical elements and fonts all communicating the same image and message or are they conflicting?    3. Is it easy to read, is it clear and easy to use?  No point having a beautiful design with text you can’t read it properly. Is the focal point of the design clear or do you find your eye is looking in two conflicting directions? 4.   Is it appropriate for the market in which it is going to be shown? Cultural considerations can be important for design. 5.   Does it look attractive? This is the area where most non designers might struggle most to articulate themselves. The key elements to bear in mind for this evaluation are as follows : Layout – are the elements within the  layout having balance and harmony?  Sometimes a designer might deliberately put design elements in unusual positions in a design to disrupt and avoid predictability, but still achieves an overall harmonious composition.Is there a clear hierarchy and focal point within the design to show what is the most important information? Colors – are the appropriate colors used to display the right emotion and appeal to the required audience? Don’t forget cultural differences for colors here and that different colors appeal to different age groups. Style – are the fonts and other graphical elements all consistently communicating the same style which is appropriate to the target audience? Are these elements solving the problem set out in the client brief? Spacing and positioning. Sometimes changing the spacing between elements can have a dramatic effect. Fonts – how many fonts have been chosen and do they contrast well and work in harmony? Generally a rule of thumb is that 2 to three fonts maximum work best in any design. More than this creates confusion.  Industry norms – certain design norms must be followed in some industries in order for the design to be recognized as relevant to that industry and appealing to certain members of the target audience. Is the product recognizable as a product within a certain product and price sector and, if it differs greatly, is there a good reason for it to break out of the norms? Was this the requirement of the client brief? Non designers – don’t be afraid to speak out when you don’t agree with a creative concept. But  also don’t forget to think about what the design team were briefed to do, which problems to solve and whether they have managed to do this in a clear and appropriate way. If a design can clearly communicate the message, people understand what it is and what it represents, then the design has done its job, whether you like it or not. […]

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The personality of a brand is communicated by the small things like name, font and colour selection, textures on the box and accessories on the bottle. All of these small things add up to an expectation of the personality and quality of fragrance we will get when we start spraying. However, it seems that many perfume brands under perform in delivering the fragrance that the packaging is communicating and this can explain why so many perfume brands fail. This is particularly the case in mass market perfumes, but it also happens in selective and higher priced offerings. Too often a design idea in packaging is telling one story and the perfume is telling a completely different tale which undermines the brand’s credibility. For example, lets take a very popular fragrance for men worldwide: ‘Drakkar noir’ by Guy Laroche. This is a classic Aromatic Fougère fragrance which is powerful and spicy, rich and powerful. If we decided to put our version of this fragrance into, let’s say, a white or silver paper box, then the deep aromatic sensuality of the perfume will not be communicated. The end consumer might subconsciously be expecting a less powerful, spicy fragrance, something more subtle and aquatic maybe. Too often a fragrance is chosen after the new perfumery packaging and concept has been developed. It is an after thought. Many mass market perfume manufacturers who are too afraid to take a risk will choose a top selling designer fragrance and ask the fragrance house to give their version with a little twist so that it’s not a pure copy, but resembles the original enough to be less of a risk. Or sometimes the fragrance is newly created for the project, but isn’t thought through properly. In designer perfumery the whole creation process starts with the concept and briefs are given to perfumers to develop a fragrance to communicate the essence of the idea.Packaging is developed later to reinforce the fragrance message. This gives a more credible result, the perfume and the packaging are communicating the same story. A perfume is created to arouse memories and to communicate an emotion. Take for example the extremely popular fragrance by Thierry Mugler Angel. This started out as a brief to perfumers to capture memories of the childhood smells of the fairground from Thierry Mugler. Therefore smells of candy floss, caramel and chocolate are in the scent, but combined with patchouli to balance out the sweetness. This was one of the first major gourmand fragrances in the designer perfumery industry.One could argue that the final name ‘Angel’, the blue box colors and advertising campaign don’t communicate anything of the fairground and therefore the concept is not clear. Honestly speaking, this concept may have started off in the fairground, but it ended up somewhere else, as the name Angel really has nothing to do with the original fairground concept. Often an original idea will lead in a different direction when true creativity is unleashed. Angel perfume itself managed to trigger enough fond past memories of sweet smells, though maybe ladies attributed the sweet notes in the fragrance to other memories from their life. In West Africa one UAE export perfume Explorer is selling extremely well at the moment. Sales are phenomenal. However, when you look at the packaging, it is extremely simple and there is nothing very special about it. The cap has been used time and time again by other fragrance manufacturers and the bottle is a simple square shape. But what sells this brand is the perfume. Extremely spicy and long lasting and if you spray it accidentally, then it doesn’t wash off your skin for days. Which is exactly what the market wants. Such a perfume cannot be achieved without spending serious money, you cannot achieve the same effect for the same price that most mass manufacturers want to spend per kilo. In short, great packaging of a brand will persuade a client to buy first time, so it is a big influencer on decision making. But the fragrance itself cannot be overlooked and selected on a whim as a last minute thought, as this is the main factor which determines the likelihood of repeat purchase.Finally, perfume factories should try whenever possible to ensure that the fragrance selection is reinforcing the packaging imagery and communication to achieve maximum credibility for the product. […]

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What is a niche perfume? Basically it is any perfume which is sold in limited distribution, in certain selected outlets only. Recently Niche perfumes have been growing their market share worldwide. This is largely because of the increased desire for individuality, a need for higher quality, bespoke products.Niche has traditionally been the most creative part of perfumery, creating new trends instead of following them. Trying to push the boundaries of perfumery, testing new ideas for those who are not afraid to experiment and who don’t want to smell like everyone else. Niche perfumery has also attracted a certain amount of snobbery and many feel that the perfumes are always superior to the high street brands, but this is often not the case. There are so many new entrants nowadays trying to enter into niche perfumery, attracted by the sector growth that some ‘me too’ brands have popped up which don’t always have a deep understanding of ingredients and the same striving for quality. Traditionally niche perfumes have had ultra simple packaging, often a paper label on a standard bottle, in order to communicate that the focus is on the fragrance, not on packaging gimmicks. The quality of the perfume, the originality and creativity of the fragrance was what mattered. And there used to be so few niche brands that this approach could work. However nowadays the market is different. We have seen many new entrants into niche perfumery in recent years attracted by the growth that this sector has shown. So now it’s no longer possible to guarantee your brand will be placed into selective perfumery outlets just because it smells great. A greater stand out value in terms of packaging is required to attract clients. Not always an easy thing to achieve when you are a fledgling company and have limited funds to invest. However, a failure to at least invest in a new cap or some other packaging feature to give you a point of difference means that potential clients will be less likely to trial your brand if it does get retail listings. Brands such as Stephanie Humbert et Lucas, AK France, Kemi, Naso di Raza, Simimi and Tola are good examples of products with standard bottles and custom made caps to give brand differentiation. Standard bottles have also been used to great effect by decorating the bottle in a unique way by Nasengold, Perris and Escentric Molecules. Some of the bottles don’t bother to put a cache pump or supply a cap, having a strictly modern and ‘less is more’ approach. In mass market perfumery, it would be seen as a way of cutting costs and thus ‘cheapening’ the brand. But in niche perfumery it is seen positively, as a way of breaking out of the expected way of doing things. Other brands such as House of Sillage, House of Oud, Moresque, and Menditorossa have invested heavily in creative new packaging and are reaping the rewards by having a brand which has a unique personality and attraction. Niche perfumery will continue to grow for some time until it reaches a saturation point and some of the brands who do not have a strong personality or reputation for outstanding, creative fragrances will inevitably fail. In the meantime, brands who do not consider creative packaging a worthwhile investment will find that it is more difficult to gain entry to the traditional niche perfumery retail points. […]

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