As important as it is to represent your product through your packaging design, it is also extremely important to make sure your product’s packaging stands out against your competition. Even in the unlikely event that you're designing a brand-new product that has no competitors, your artwork still has to compete for the limited attention and resources of consumers. One of your main jobs is to distinguish your product to draw in attention and create a unique desire for your product in the customer.

For example, let's say you're designing packaging for a home security system. Before you begin designing, you study the designs used by your competitors, the products which will be right next to yours on the shelves in a home improvement store. The examples below contain the branding for some of your home security system competition.

Many of the competing products use blues, greens, and oranges to symbolize protections, strength, and stability. They also tend to use literal imagery for homes, locks, and keys. They focus on the function of their product.

You may want to differentiate the design of your packaging by focusing on the emotional benefits of your security system. You get the idea to try appealing to families whose highest priority is to keep their loved ones safe. The new KeepSafe logo below shows how a design that separates itself from the competition can stand out among the others. The pink color is completely unused by any of the competition and the figurative heart design favors an emotional appeal rather than a functional one.