Packaging that sells online: designing the box for the photo and for shipping

For a long time, packaging was designed for a store shelf. When you sell online, the first time someone sees your box isn’t on a shelf but on a screen, often no bigger than a postage stamp. The second time is when it lands on their doorstep after a long trip. Designing for those two moments changes quite a few decisions.

Your box is seen on a screen first

In an online store and in an ad, your packaging shows up as a thumbnail: in the product grid, in the cart, in a search result or in the middle of a social feed, surrounded by other brands. At that size, fine details disappear and all that’s left is the shape, the color and a word or two.

That’s why it’s worth checking the design small before you sign off on it. A box that looks beautiful in your hand can turn into a confusing blur on a phone. And the other way around: a box with a clear visual idea is recognizable at any size, including when the buyer comes back looking for it.

The photo of the box matters too. A box designed with the camera in mind has clean faces, colors that reproduce well on screen and finishes that don’t fill the image with hard-to-control reflections.

Product box and shipping box

When you sell online there are almost always two boxes, and each one has a different job.

The product box is the one that presents the brand: the one on the product page, the one the customer opens and the one that ends up on their shelf or in a photo they share. It has to convey quality and make it clear what’s inside.

The shipping box is the one that protects. It travels, gets stacked, takes knocks and sometimes passes through several warehouses before it arrives. It has to be sturdy, easy to pack and the right size, so you don’t pay to ship air. That doesn’t mean it has to be anonymous: a stamp, a color or a line of copy inside can make opening it feel like part of your brand.

Thinking about both together prevents surprises: a product box that doesn’t fit well in the shipper, one that arrives crushed, or a customer who gets it inside a wrapper that says nothing about you.

Make it readable when it’s small

For your packaging to work as a thumbnail, check these points before you finalize the design:

• Clear hierarchy: one thing leads on the main face, usually the brand or the product, and everything else supports it.
• Enough contrast between text and background to read it on a small screen, in low light or with the brightness turned down.
• Brand and product names that are readable as a thumbnail, with a size and typeface that don’t get lost when the image shrinks.
• Few elements on the front: longer explanations can go on the sides or the back.

A useful test: shrink the image of your box to the size of a store thumbnail and show it to someone for just a moment. If they can tell you the brand and the product inside, you’re on the right track.

Before your buyer holds your box, they’ll see it the size of a postage stamp: design it so it makes sense there too.

Adapting it to each market

Selling in another country usually calls for changes to the box. The most obvious is language: the copy has to be in the buyer’s language and sound natural, not translated. Something you say in one word at home may need a different phrasing in the buyer’s language, and the space on the box has the final say.

Expectations change too. What reads as elegant in one market can look too plain or unclear in another. It’s worth looking at how products in your category are presented there before you decide.

As for labeling, every market and every type of product has its own rules. Don’t assume them: check it with your supplier or advisor before you print, and leave room in the design for whatever information they tell you to include. Planning for that space from the start is much easier than redoing the box at the end.

How we work on it

In our studio, we design your packaging together with the rest of your brand identity, from the product box to the shipping box, and we preview it in 3D before it goes to print. That way you can see how it looks on a product page, in an ad or as a thumbnail without waiting for physical boxes. You can see how we approach identity and packaging in Graphic design.

If you’re thinking about redesigning your box to sell online or in a new market, request a 20-minute intro call. Tell us what you sell and where, and together we’ll figure out what you’d change first.