Stephanie Doyle talks about...

There’s a lot said about packaging: It’s your salesperson. Your billboard. Your first impression.

And it’s all true. Before anyone tries, clicks, or reads a single word… they judge it. But knowing that and actually building packaging that works are two very different things. One requires an opinion. The other requires skill and real-world reps.

This is the question most founders skip. Don't. Brand-led or product-led isn't a design choice. It's a strategic one. And you have to make it before anyone opens a design file, because you cannot be both.

Brand-led means your logo is the hero. The aesthetic is minimal, the color palette is minimal, and the whole thing says: you know us, you trust us. David. Van Leeuwen. Tony's Chocolonely. These brands aren't asking you to buy the product, they're asking you to buy the brand.

Product-led flips everything. Flavor and benefit lead. For example, Masala Mama doesn't draw you to their name. They draw you to Boom Boom Curry in bold, bright type. Munchrooms mushroom jerky practically buries its own logo behind the product call-out. When your product is genuinely new to a category, your job isn't brand building. It's education. Show what it is until they get it.

Know which one you are. Then design accordingly.

Color blocking versus the rainbow wall. Hotly debated.

Color blocking is about owning a shelf moment. Tate's Bake Shop built an empire on a green bakery bag. One color, instant recognition, zero confusion. In a high-velocity category like cookies, where decisions happen in seconds and product moves fast, that kind of brand consistency is a competitive advantage. There are exceptions: limited editions or seasonal offerings. These let people know you have something different for a reason.

The rainbow wall solves a different problem. When shoppers already know your brand and just need to find their variant, color becomes a useful navigation system. Goodles cracked this open in the pasta category with its bold, colorful palette. We all know Kraft Mac and Cheese owns blue. So how do they disrupt it? With color.

The question isn't which is better. It's which one matches how your consumer actually shops.

Photography shows truth. Illustration tells a story. Both work, just not always for the same brand.

Photography earns its place when shoppers need to know exactly what they're getting. Texture, form, appetite appeal. Caulipower wants you to see that pizza and walk away hungry. Simple Mills wants you to believe your pancakes could actually look like that. They probably won't, but the aspiration is there. Photography creates realism, and realism builds trust, especially when the product itself is unfamiliar.

Illustration does something different. It creates emotional connection. Long Weekend instant soups use illustrated characters on the go (a carrot going on a hike, a kale DJ) in a category that almost always relies on photography. The result is instant shelf disruption and a personality that translates everywhere. Joon takes a more artisanal approach, with realistic, textured illustration that makes the product look elevated without feeling corporate.

Keep in mind, illustration gives you more control over color in print production.

You have three seconds to grab attention. Use them.

Disruptive formats borrow structure from unexpected categories and drop your product into them. Sunscreen in a whipped cream canister. Cooking oil in an automotive tin. Water in a can. The format creates a moment of genuine confusion. And confusion, in packaging, is sometimes the whole point. Shoppers will pick it up. They engage with it. They photograph it. Liquid Death didn't just build a water brand; they built a content machine. The packaging is the campaign.

Functional formats take the opposite approach. They solve a problem. Hellmann's Real Mayonnaise flipped their bottle upside down for easier dispensing (and now half the condiment category does it). GoGo squeeZ designed for kids operating one-handed. Tilt became the first makeup line certified by the Arthritis Foundation, with ergonomic grips and an accessibility-first design that also happened to win awards. When function drives the format, the packaging justifies itself every single time someone uses it.

Sustainability and embellishments seem like opposing forces. In a way, they are. But they share one thing: both ask the consumer to feel something.

Sustainable packaging communicates values. 57% of consumers say they'll pay more for it, which matters, because sustainable materials often cost more to produce. CocoJune ditched plastic entirely for their yogurt dip, got it plastic-neutral certified, and put a manifesto on the bottom panel about why waste isn't cool. Seven Sundays prints their PCR film percentage right on pack, and is also made with up-cycled ingredients. If you're making the sustainable choice, own it.

Embellishments play a different game. Holographic foil, metallic finishes, embossing. These create premium signals through pure sensory impact. Crest uses holographic foil on a teeth-whitening product because shine and teeth are the same idea. Daisy added foil to their cottage cheese to signal they're different from others in their category. It works. But only when it connects to what you're actually selling.

Gosh, I'm really loving this whole disruptive theme. It's a catch-22 because when you put your product in unexpected form, you run the risk of confusion. Someone picks it up and doesn't know what they're looking at.

But packaging isn't about what’s on the retail shelf anymore. It's a campaign. A disruptive format creates social buzz, pulls in influencers, gives brands content they didn't have to manufacture. The product does the work.

And as a designer, that changes everything. We're not just designing for brick and mortar. We're designing for e-commerce, for a scroll, for a screenshot. The best packaging today has to live in all of those places at once.

Founders know their product inside out. But when you've been in the weeds of your own brand for years, it's hard to see what's possible. That outside perspective is exactly what an agency brings.

We start every engagement with what we call Phase One creative: we begin close in, then go way out. Roughly 75% of the time, founders choose the ‘way out’ option, saying they never would’ve thought of that.

In terms of investment, it's more expensive to do something twice. We've had founders come to us post-Shark Tank because their original packaging didn't resonate on shelf. If we'd been in the room from the start, that's one fewer redesign cycle — and one fewer hit to the budget. The pattern repeats itself: what founders initially pitch is often not what ends up succeeding at retail. You're already wearing every hat. Lean on people who specialize in theirs.

Stephanie Doyle has spent 20 years making sure your product gets picked up. As Director of Design & Implementation at HBX Branding, she's built packaging for everyone from early-stage startups to Fortune 500 brands. Her clients include Caulipower, Pips, Bazooka Brands, Brazi Bites, Schuman Cheese, and more. She knows what works on shelf. And what doesn't.