Packaging Design for Kids

Whether it’s on the shelf at the store or in the corner of their room, parents have learned that their kids make a big deal out of shiny packaging. It is the product packaging’s visual appeal that takes them from interest to must have. If you’re making products for kids, then you should pay attention to this as it is just as important as communicating the right message to the parents.

Now, let’s explore more about kid friendly packaging.

Make it Pop

Most of us know that kids love bright colors, and there’s science behind it. Children’s brains develop all the way into young adulthood. As kids mature, their developing cognitive abilities allow them to perform tasks from learning to tying their shoes to preparing for SATs. This growth corresponds to actual neural development, a big part of which is perception.  

Since visual circuits in a child’s brain are not fully developed early, bright colors are easier to perceive and more stimulating than muted tones. Perceptions are a really big deal when it comes to packaging and with kids, color is a powerful one.

If you’re hoping to capture the attention of a young child, bright block colors are almost always the way to go when designing any type of kids product packaging. Yellow and orange can help signal an attentive cue, whereas red can excite their senses. It’s okay to throw some other colors in for accents and contrast. In fact, it can make the bright colors further pop, but you want the overall color scheme to maintain a bright and warm feeling.

Winning With Both Children and Parents TreeTop captured market share in an established and competitive market with Fruit + Water. They showed a greater intent to purchase compared to both Honest juice and Capri Sun. This increase in purchase intent was done by designing juice boxes that emphasized their product is a fun and healthy food alternative.  Both kids and parents resonated with the pouches that showcased a lighter design, fun elements, and a 50% less sugar product feature, while targeted messaging aimed at the parental audience communicated health benefits important to parents.

Zig Zag

Minimalism is a trend in design for most adult products, from consumer electronics to web pages. This isn’t a packaging trend that transfers over to kids. Your kids don’t want sleek and efficient. They want an adventure straight off the shelf.

This isn’t to say that your product packaging design should be so cluttered that it turns into a game of “Where’s Waldo”. However, you want enough going on in terms of varieties of shapes, word bubbles, and graphics that you can capture a kid’s attention. It should be vibrant enough to have children grab it off the shelf with an attractive enough copy to make a mother set it in the cart.

Put another way, food products with custom packaging that emphasizes taste to the children and nutrition to the parents is a recipe for on-shelf success.

A Whole Cast of Characters

It isn’t a coincidence that the cereal aisle looks like a dating website for cartoon characters. Look at just about any brand of cereal marketed to kids and at first glance, you see the pearly white smile of a cartoon animal greeting you. Again, this is another design choice with hard numbers behind it. Multiple studies point to product image and cartoon character as the most significant element of packaging for kids.

Fun and friendly are safe bets for choosing a kid’s mascot for your product line. For foodstuff, a friendly face is a must-have to get kids to relate to your brand. However, even if you’re selling a toy or figurine that’s already on display in packaging, a cartoon rendition can help further tickle a kid’s imagination. Keep in mind that you’re not limited to creatures that already have faces. Some of the most memorable children’s characters range from anthropomorphic vehicles to home furnishings . Get creative with it.

Peek-a-Boo

Speaking of packaging that displays an item, transparent packaging is another solid tip for kids’ products. If the product is anything that a kid wants to get his or her hands-on, then having the package jump off the shelf is the right move. Even grown-ups have that ingrained impulse to yank something out of the box when it feels that close to touch. Kids are no different.

Narrow it Down

This article is to give umbrella advice for children’s products, but your packaging design needs to be targeted, which is a part of our package design process. A food product design that appeals to a 3-year-old will not sell to a kid getting ready for middle school. Early infancy is the most rapid stage of development, but kids grow quickly throughout the phases of childhood.

With each new step, they gain a set of new faculties that influence both their preferences in products, brand mascots, and the packages that showcase them. There are plenty of resources going over the stages of childhood development , and you’d best do your homework before you plan for packaging.

Have Fun with it

The world has enough sad clowns. Sometimes, proceeding into the design process with what you think kids will like can miss the mark. The easiest solution is to embrace your inner child and come up with branding and food packaging that’s fun to make. If you’re letting your imagination run wild, having a blast when creating kids packaging ideas, there’s a good chance that kids will follow suit. So, knock yourself out, get creative, and put some genuine joy behind making your product shine.

Showcase Safety Features

Last but not least is safety. Depending on the age of kids that you’re targeting, keeping some basic safety tips in mind is a good idea. For younger kids, the product packaging needs to be hygienic and child-safe. 

Far too often, CPG brands assume that the fearful mom understands without being told that their product is safe. For example, design baby food packaging in such a way that the consumer clearly understands the safety features.

While kids are involved in the consideration stage, parents takeover during the evaluation stage before making a purchase decision. They want to know that your product has child friendly packaging and is safe for their kids. In the same breath, while children may or may not be eco-friendly consumers in the making, their parents might be.

Can you manage sustainable packaging with biodegradable materials? If so, then it’s worth spending the extra penny, both for your conscience and to score a few points with parents trying to do the right thing.

Want a best selling brand?

Packaging Design For Kids That’s Proven to Perform

SmashBrand has significant experience in designing kid friendly packaging. Our package design process and proprietary testing methods ensure that your brand succeeds. See our work for examples of how we can increase purchase intent and brand recall for CPG companies.

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