What will the best packaging design look like in 2015? Here to guide us through a few top trends is Taby Taylor-Ziane, strategic director at specialist packaging design firm Boxer & Co.

It’s that time of year again, when future forecasts abound with the weird and wonderful trends that will shape our world in the next 12 months. In design land we are no different, obsessed with the new colours, forms and fonts that we can conjure onto the supermarket shelves. But beyond the aesthetics it’s important to understand the consumer drivers behind each trend, ask the ‘why’ as well as the ‘what’. So here are Boxer & Co’s top picks for 2015:

Matt and flat

Expect to see more 2D than 3D, less FMCG style flashes and more lo-fi colour splashes. People want their products to feel less manufactured, less commercial (even if they are) and this is a visual shortcut to a more authentic feel. Matt is also looking like the new premium – think of the luxury matt car trend translated into supermarket aisles.

Unexpected hues

For a long time blue and food was a no-go – a flavour variant at best, but in a bid to interrupt the category and imbue brands with more ‘interesting and eclectic’ values, expect to see category norms challenged in the colour stakes. This also goes for colour combinations – there will be no such thing as clashing and the colour wheel rules will be thrown out.

Heroic disruption

To make more of an impact in an already crowded space inherent category forms will be challenged to disrupt and gain attention. Functionality will still be king, but the pack will become the hero of the brand experience.

Oh so simple

With Forbes magazine renaming the CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) the CSO (Chief Simplicity Officer) in 2015, expect to see pack messages bold in their simplicity, focusing on one really engaging claim… Or is this just our wishful thinking?

SOLO

No, this isn’t another acronym to live by (please let 2015 see the death of YOLO). This literally means ‘just the one, thanks’. With single occupancy on the rise and portion control the current hot ‘wellth’ trend, packaging will need to meet this need with single serves and portion controlled smaller packs.

Craft punk

Expect to see designers tapping into arts & crafts to help brands communicate artisan values. But this isn’t craft as your granny did it, expect to see it modernised into a cool punked-out version. Anyone fancy quilling?

Think in the box

Intelligent packaging has yet to go mainstream but in 2015 it will come into its own. Packs that change colour when they reach their sell by date, open at the optimum temperature or auto-sync with digital health tools will storm onto the shelves, all providing more consumer value and extending the brand experience.