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Meijer Design Director: Packaging is the 'skin of commerce'

Vickie VanHurley offers pointers on designing ‘passion brands.’ And she warns that the relationship between shopper income and value might not always be what you think it is.

Meijer_Gold_lemonade
Meijer_Gold_lemonade

One of the recurring themes at this year’s FUSE conference, held April 11-13 in Chicago, was the critically important need to persuade through emotion, and that’s where packaging can help induce sales.

Vickie VanHurley, Design Director, Packaging, at Meijer Stores, emphasized this point beautifully in her discussion of “passion brands” and why they’re so successful on shelf. They speak directly to “the pleasure principle” among shoppers, who seek ways to feel good. “We have to design not for ourselves, but for the people who buy our products,” she says in what appears to be an obvious statement but one that too many package-design projects fall short in achieving.

One reason why brands fail to adequately express themselves through package design, VanHurley explained, is that too often the focus is on the relationship between shopper income and value.

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