4 Ways to Make Your Packaging Pop with Vibrant Prints

Now more than ever, packaging doesn’t need to be conventional to make its mark. In fact, limited edition packaging gives beauty brands a valuable opportunity to take creative risks and push design boundaries without having to invest in a rebrand. 

Think about current graphic design trends—and which contemporary visual trends gel with your image and target audience. Which design choices are going to highlight and bring out the parts of your brand that are most important to you and your customers? 

Maybe it’s a Gen Z demographic you want to attract with saturated pastels? Or perhaps you’re looking to embrace the minimalism found within translucent layers of outer packaging—to ensure the product itself takes center stage.

In an increasingly crowded marketplace, aesthetics and design that feel ahead of the curve give brands a competitive edge and allow them to connect with customers in new ways.

Here's how brands were inspired by some of the top graphic design trends of the year—to inspire you to step out of your comfort zone.

4 Package Design Trends to Embrace

1. Hyper-Contrast: Garden Cutout Aesthetic

Sol de Janeiro has embraced a trend-forward garden cutout aesthetic in its limited edition packaging, using organic shapes layered to create a soothing, calming effect. (See the second slider above.) 

Drawing from nature and the works of Matisse, the trend evokes lush foliage and the serenity of gardens that invite us to step away from the screen for a moment, and reflect on the pleasure of being in nature.

This packaging also touches on ‘hyper-contrast,’  a deeply contemporary visual trend making waves in 2024. Traditional design wisdom focuses on how colors interplay and complement each other, but as we’re bombarded with images and messages across channels, designers and brands are cutting through the noise and bucking conventions.

Hyper-contrast involves angular shapes clashing with an audacious, vivid palette. This style should feel inspiring and uplifting — it is reminiscent of the viral trend of dopamine dressing (consciously choosing the clothes you wear to bring you happiness). Hyper-contrast is all about bringing joy to those who see it. 

2. Clarity, Not 'Smoke And Mirrors'

Then there is the phenomenon of ‘translucent play’, where the packaging itself is transparent, standing in stark contrast to traditional die-cut windows. Slip has seen real success in leveraging this trend, embracing a modern, minimalist feel, but without obscuring the product within. (See the third slider above.)

With deliberate, impactful typography often contrasted against the visuals of the interior, the message is clear: nothing is being hidden, and the product is there to be seen as is.

This packaging trend goes beyond just eye-catching; instead, it takes the consumer into the world of the product immediately. It’s a stylish, slick vote of faith.

3. Maximalism with Bold Patterns 

Retailer Sephora is ahead of the curve with its “clutter core” aesthetic, tipped by VistaPrint’s community of professional designers as one of 2024’s biggest design trends. (See the fourth slider above.)

With its packaging covered in a ‘Gen Z checkerboard’ pattern layered with colorful stylised motifs, this trend is bold, expressive, and unapologetically maximalist. Sephora is also building on 2023’s popular sticker book aesthetic, which sees brands leveraging jumbled, smaller graphics that convey a fun and inherently youthful energy.

Combining a checkered design that is very of the moment with the playful cut and paste collage style of sticker motifs, Sephora has created packaging that channels nostalgic energy that resonates across the generations. 

4. Saturated Pastels 

Finally, we look to cult Aussie sunscreen brand Ultra Violette’s trend-forward packaging. (See the fifth slider above.)

The brand has taken their design to the next level, with the use of saturated pastels - a palette that we expect to see much more of through 2024.

A paradoxical design trend at its core, saturated pastels take the wild energy and vibrancy of bright, punchy colours and combines them with the soothing, contemporary feel of more traditional pastels. The combination is eye-catching, playful, and undeniably modern.

Final Tips 

When it comes to limited edition packaging design, don’t be afraid to take inspiration from these trailblazers. More than serving a practical function, creative packaging tells a story and sets a mood. 

Brands can choose to either follow or flout trends to connect with their customers. But the opportunity is there for the taking: As trends evolve each year, consider your packaging as a canvas to capture a distinct cultural moment in time through creativity and design.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Patrick Llewellyn is the CEO of 99designs by VistaPrint. Follow Llewellyn on LinkedIn.