7 Product Packaging Examples That’ll Make You Go “Why Didn’t I Think of That?”

Not completely.

There’s no denying that a great product should be able to stand on its own. But in this world of competitive markets and changing trends, a beautifully designed package will take your product to the next level.

We’ve put together a list of incredible product packaging examples that can win over a consumer before they even get to see what’s inside. They tell the consumer, Hey—this is a quality product that was designed with you in mind.

Many of these designs are just in the concept stages, and won’t hit the markets until later. In fact, one product packaging design is for a fictional company, created as an exercise in package creation. But that didn’t stop these innovative package designs from winning awards and gaining lots of recognition.

Here are our top 7 examples of truly genius packaging design:

1. Peelable Smirnoff bottle

How do you get people to notice that your drink has a fruity flavor?

Do you draw a cool design on the label, or use fruit-themed ads? Well, what if you used the shape of the packaging itself?

For their Brazilian Caipiroska drink, Smirnoff used creative design to turn the whole bottle into a fruit of sorts. The bottle comes covered in a bright fruit-colored wrapping with a textured look, and it’s perforated so you can peel off the exterior in a spiral motion.

2. Fruit Slice Kleenex box

Sensing a theme here? The natural appeal of fruit motifs was a great way to bring a whimsical yet organic feel to these product packaging examples.

Kleenex’s award-winning fruit slice designs were a hit with fruit-lovers choosing the perfect tissue box. Designers modified the shape of the box to fit with their unique concept, but they didn’t go for hyper-realism with the shape.

A simple switch from a box to a wedge shape turned out to be a great way to evoke the fruit shape while keeping it cute and modular. The wedge shape also lent itself to beautiful hexagonal displays. The company put its new products on the shelves just in time for summer.

3. Thelma’s Oven Cookies

Another way to borrow metaphorical imagery is to look to our domestic world. Lots of packages are rectangular boxes—how can we use that constraint to come up with the most creative lookalikes?

One smart cookie that nailed it was a cookie delivery company called Thelma’s. The box was made to look like an oven, emphasizing the freshness of the warm cookies inside. This is one of the best examples we’ve seen of creative packaging for food products.

4. Sustainable Product Packaging Examples: Petit Pli’s Cardboard Jetpacks

Here’s a design that embraces reusability. Do you remember being a kid and creating all kinds of magical worlds with cardboard and scraps of paper?

Petit Pli, an innovative kids’ clothing company, made that process even smoother. They recently won an award for sustainable product packaging examples that turn their mailing box into wearable jetpacks for kids.

The origami-like jetpack design is a reflection of the brand itself. Petit Pli is no ordinary clothing company. They make outfits that fold and stretch so that the same item of clothing can fit a kid at multiple stages of their life.

5. Small Trees For Connection

This concept, which a college student created for a fictional company as part of a design contest, was a way to connect the user with a distant tree.

The idea was for a company that would allow people to ‘plant a tree’ in an area that had experienced deforestation or forest fires. Some people do this already as a way to honor their loved ones or commemorate a special moment. But when you’re trying to imagine something that’s far away, it can be hard to feel like it’s real.

Enter the Arbora intelligent packaging product. It’s a mini tree design with a box that acts as a pot, and it contains a GPS code connected to the tree that you ‘planted’ elsewhere. This way, you know where the tree is and can feel more engaged in the process.

6. Nongfu’s Vitamin Water

This is another lookalike design, but it has a more subtle approach. The Nongfu company wanted a creative design for the packaging of their vitamin-enriched water, and the designers delivered.

At first glance, the bottle might seem like a cute, oblong shape that doesn’t mean anything in particular. But there’s a strong sense of familiarity and the feeling that this is a health-oriented product.

Upon closer examination, you can see that the packaging is designed to evoke the image of a vitamin pill. There’s even a slight difference in width between the two halves of the bottle, which is a subtle nod to the vitamin’s classic shape.

Packaging design for health and wellness products has to convey wellbeing without coming across as too sterile. The simple color scheme and range of text sizes in Nongfu’s bottle design keeps the aesthetic pleasant and approachable, and it balances out the potentially ‘medicinal’ look of an actual pill.

Now that’s a pill that’s easy to take.

7. Bayer’s Intelligent Over-the-Counter Pill System

When it comes to actual pills, Bayer’s got even more innovative package designs in the works. They haven’t rolled this out yet, but in the future, you might see over-the-counter pill sets that are linked to your smartphone, with custom product packaging for your exact medication schedule.

The concept also includes a kiosk and mobile phone setup for self-diagnosis, so you can go from feeling symptoms to getting a remedy in one smooth process.

And for liquid medication, Bayer has product packaging examples that combine a smart pouring mechanism with the container itself. It would use custom settings to give you the exact dosage you need, with a side indicator that shows you how much medicine is left.

Get In On the Action!

Innovations in product packaging design are happening all around you. And you can be part of it too! Think outside of the packaging box with creative shapes and designs that reflect your unique brand, or consider hiring a design team that can bring your packaging to life.

If you want to hear more about smart, innovative business practices, take a look at the rest of our articles! And if you know who would love these product packaging examples, share this collection with them!