Welcome to part two of our series on graphic design pain points for non-digital materials. This one will be fun – weโre talking about designing book covers, album covers, stickers, and packaging!
(Did you miss part one of our series? Check it out here!)
Pain Points for Book and Album Covers
Book and album covers have different requirements (album covers being the โcoolerโ of the two), but there are some similar concepts for both.
Unique Challenges
Album covers require more information/messaging than book covers, especially if you use the cover as a booklet (adding lyrics, recording info for each song, etc.). Because of this, some album pain points include messaging issues and inaccurate info (including copyright infringement – not a great time for designers).
Book covers and album covers can both suffer from low-quality images, looking too DIY, too many fonts, and boring design. These are all โrookieโ mistakes that established graphic designers can avoid.
A less-known mistake, though, is to communicate the wrong genre. (Think a dark, mysterious-looking cover for a book about a quaint town where the biggest threat is the town gossip.) When you do this, you mislead the audience and fail to attract the readers you want.
Solutions to Pain Points
Book and album covers are going to lean toward the artistic side more than a logo design or web build will, but there are some aspects of graphic design that you should stick to regardless.
Here are some questions to ask yourself:
- Am I leaning artistic while staying true to the message I want to convey?
- Have I made sure all the written info is accurate and consistent?
- Did I avoid using stock images?
- Am I speaking to their target audience?
- Did I use high-quality images for my work?
- Am I steering clear of copyright or trademark infringement?
Pain Points for Stickers
Stickers are a fun and easy way to promote your business. If itโs an aesthetically pleasing sticker, chances are people will unwittingly advertise for you simply because they like the design. For example, just look at Dutch Bros Sticker of the Month to see how effective it can be!
That said, there are a lot of things that can go wrong with a sticker.
Unique Challenges
Youโre gonna get tired of hearing this: stop using blurry or pixelated images for your projects, and donโt make too busy a design or people wonโt know where to look. Busy designs are ugly designs, at least here in the US.
Another unique challenge of sticker design is the font size. When youโre designing a sticker, youโre probably not designing it in its intended sizeโฆ so it can be tough to imagine how itโll look post-production. Using too-small fonts (or fonts that are hard to read) will ruin your messaging.
Speaking of ruined messaging, you need to triple-check your spelling. No one wants to hand out stickers with misspelled words unless itโs for the sake of irony (โNo ragretsโ)!
You also need to consider the intended purpose for the sticker. Will it go on water bottles? Then make it small. Is it for a laptop? Then it can be bigger. Bumper stickers? Make it big enough that cars can read the font without rear-ending the person with the bumper sticker!
Adhesives are another important consideration. If you use the wrong adhesive for your goals, your recipients could have a poor experience with them.
For example, if your stickers are going on a water bottle, but the adhesive doesnโt hold up against condensation or the sticker peels because itโs paper, thatโs a poor user experience. Everyone has fallen victim to the โdirty shadow of adhesive where a sticker used to be.โ
Solutions to Pain Points
Here are some questions to ask yourself:
- Does this sticker match/work with the brand?
- Is it the right size and shape for its intended purpose?
- Am I using the right resolution and file type for this image?
- Is the art the right size, and am I using an appropriate color palette?
- Are my fonts easy to read, and are they large enough?
- Have I proofread everything several times?
- Am I using the right adhesive?
- Is it too busy?
Pain Points for Packaging
Unboxing has become a huge deal in recent years, so if you sell a product, itโs important to get this right. Here are some considerations for packaging design.
Unique Challenges
Sustainability has become an important consideration for consumers. In fact, 71% of people consider how sustainable packaging is before they purchase a product. This includes whether youโre doing too much when it comes to packaging. Consumers donโt want unnecessary waste, and besides, it costs more money to ship a larger box!
That said, itโs also important to ensure that packaging is durable enough to safely ship the products you offer. Using low-quality materials is a turn-off for consumers, and for people who love to unbox, thereโs nothing worse than having boring, unbranded, or unpersonalized packaging.
Solutions to Pain Points
Here are some questions to ask yourself as you design packaging for products:
- Is it sustainable (and do I have clear messaging around that)?
- Is every piece of the packaging necessary and important?
- Is the branding of the package clear?
- Am I using high-quality materials?
- Is this fun to unbox?
- Does the packaging ensure freshness (food goods)?
- Am I shipping in a small box that can protect the product?
- Have I included personalized (even better – handwritten) notes?
Get More Graphic Design Tips from Matcha Design
Here at Matcha Design, graphic design is our jam. Itโs something that we have been doing for decades, and we love sharing our tips with other aspiring designers who want to learn from our wins (and mistakes)!ย
That said, if youโre a business owner and you want to knock out a project quickly, contact us! Weโre happy to help.
