Making Foods Look Good
Ikea tapped Stockholm Design Lab to refresh the packaging design of its private label gourmet food line – and supermarkets should take note. The design is simple – they call it a “a stripped-down look”, which contains lots of white space, a dearth of text, and big 2-D icons that visualize the contents at a glance.
The IKEA product line includes pasta, cheese, candy, condiments, alcohol, crackers, canned fish, and other Swedish delicacies. The line was introduced in 2006. There was a challenge. IKEA insisted that the design firm maintain the products’ Swedish-language headings. And for a retailer with locations in 41 countries the design challenge was clear – a picture tells a story.
Take a look at the “Skarpsill” package; a cute fish on the can with it’s nose doubling as the stay-tab, It is abundantly clear what is inside the package. A lesson to be learned by all package designers; especially as we continue to see the increase in the amount of non-english speaking shoppers here in the US.
