When you design a package, you need to think about more than what's in the box. You need to really understand and get to know your customer. You need to get in their heads, think like they think, understand how they see themselves, and more importantly, how they want to be seen by others. You will need to consider factors like the customers' gender, age, income, lifestyle, and location to determine will appeal to them most. The group of people who share qualities you want to focus on with your advertising is called your target demographic.

Before designing any packaging, you will want to talk with your client about who the target demographic is. You might want to then create list of qualities or psychological attributes you think the target customers would have. Check out the types of products this group buys, research the trends that speak to them most, and if possible, try to test market multiple designs to see which ones rise to the top.

Deodorant designed for men 17 to 25.

Deodorant designed for men 25 to 35.

For example, let's say you are working with a company that makes deodorant for men, and they have a new scent. But they want to market the same product to two different target demographics: ages 17 - 25 and ages 26 - 35. For the younger demographic, they would likely use designs that are geared towards single and socially active men. These designs might be black with neon colors, reminding shoppers of the atmosphere at a club, bar, or concert.

For men ages 26 to 35, the designs might be more simple and mature. Since this demographic group is more likely to be be professional with focus on work or family, they would want deodorant that does the job it's supposed to do without fancy frills. The packaging may be simple and white with small pops of color to reflect their more business like lifestyle.

Lots of times, you will need to meet with your client or a marketing department to talk about these kinds of choices. With the ever-changing attributes of target demographics, companies now spend millions of dollars making sure they know as much as they can about who wants to buy their products. For example: decades ago, beauty product packaging was only designed with female customers in mind. But in recent years, more and more men want to take better care of their looks. Companies began reevaluating their ideas of target demographics, and soon, stores were stocking aisles of beauty products aimed at men, all packaged in sleek, sophisticated designs that were in stark contrast to the softer, more floral products aimed at women. This shift in the product and its packaging opened up a whole new source of income for the industry.

This skin care product is aimed at a female target demographic, using bright colors, an appealing font, and floral images.		This is the exact same product, but the packaging is now aimed towards a male demographic. The darker colors, repeating patterns and heavy font are more likely to reach male consumers.