Packaging Design for Food & Beverage Brands: 5 Ways to Stand Out on the Shelf in 2026
Walk into any grocery store and you'll notice something pretty quickly.
Every brand is trying to get your attention. Bright colours. Big claims. Playful illustrations. Minimal packaging. Maximal packaging. Handwritten fonts. Serif fonts. Tiny typography. Giant typography.It's loud and somehow, the brands we remember rarely feel like they're shouting.
As a brand and packaging designer, I've learnt that standing out has very little to do with making something louder than everyone else. The brands people remember are the ones that feel intentional. Every colour, every illustration, every tiny design decision works together to tell one clear story.
At Good Spark, we work with founders creating products they're genuinely proud of. They've spent months and sometimes years perfecting what's inside the package, so our job is making sure the outside does it justice.
Here are five things I think every food and beverage brand should consider before designing their packaging.
Start With the Brand, not the Packaging
One of the biggest misconceptions I see is founders jumping straight into packaging.
"What should the label look like?" "What colours should we use?""What illustrations would look cool?" They're all great questions, but they're being asked a little too early, before we even think about packaging, we need to understand the brand.
Who are we talking to? What feeling should someone have when they pick this product up? What makes this different from the twenty others sitting beside it?
The packaging should be a reflection of those answers, not the thing that creates them.
One of my favourite parts of any project is building the personality first. Once that's clear, the packaging decisions become so much easier because every design choice has a reason behind it. Beautiful packaging is great. Packaging that actually communicates something? That's what gets remembered.
1.Color Is More Than Decoration
If you've followed Good Spark for a while, you'll know I have a tiny obsession with color, not because colourful brands automatically perform better.
Some of our brands like, Failed Hobbies, Oolio or Nella Home stand out, because their colours are often the quickest way someone feels something about your brand.
Before they've read your product name.Before they've read a single word.Before they've even picked it up.
Color tells a story. It can feel nostalgic - fresh, premium, playful, calm & unexpected.
One of my favourite things to explore with clients is where we can challenge category expectations without losing clarity. Sometimes the best decision isn't choosing the brightest colour in the aisle. It's choosing the colour nobody else has had the confidence to own.
2.Packaging Should Be Instantly Understandable
You don't have minutes to explain your product, you probably just have a few seconds.
Someone walking past should immediately understand three things:
What is this?
Who is it for?
Why should I care?
The brands that do this well aren't necessarily the most complicated. They're often the simplest, there's a clear visual hierarchy.
The product name stands out, the messaging feels intentional.
Nothing is competing for attention. Good packaging isn't about fitting more onto the label. It's about knowing what deserves the spotlight.
3.Design for the Shelf and the Scroll
Packaging doesn't just need to catch someone's eye in a grocery store anymore, it needs to earn a place on someone's Instagram feed, Pinterest board and camera roll. One brand that absolutely nailed this is Graza. Could they have launched with a beautiful glass bottle and a premium-looking label? Absolutely.
Instead, they leaned into bright green squeeze bottles, playful illustrations and a personality that felt completely different to what the olive oil category had trained us to expect.
Suddenly, people weren't just buying olive oil, they were photographing it on their kitchen benches, styling it in recipe videos and sharing it online because it felt fun.
That wasn't an accident. It was a branding decision. The best packaging today isn't designed for one environment. It needs to work sitting on a supermarket shelf, on a creator's kitchen counter, in a Pinterest flat lay and in a 15-second recipe Reel.
When we approach packaging at Good Spark, we're always thinking beyond the physical product. How does this brand show up online? Would someone stop scrolling because of it? Would they save it to a Pinterest board because it feels inspiring? Would they recognise it instantly without seeing the logo?
The brands people can't stop sharing are usually the ones that have the clearest point of view, not the busiest packaging.
4.Create a Brand People Want to Come Back To
Here's something I remind clients all the time. People don't become loyal to packaging.They become loyal to brands. Packaging might earn the first purchase. The brand is what earns the second.
That's why I always encourage founders to think bigger than one product launch. Could this visual identity grow with new flavours?
Could it expand into new categories? Would someone recognise it immediately if they saw another product six months later?
Consistency builds familiarity. Familiarity builds trust. Trust builds brands people come back to. Standing out isn't about chasing the latest design trend or making your packaging louder than everyone else's. It's about building something that feels unmistakably yours.
The best food and beverage brands don't just look good on a shelf, they create a feeling. They spark curiosity, communicate personality and make people want to pick them up before they've even tasted what's inside. That's always our goal at Good Spark.
To create brands that spark joy, stand out for all the right reasons and leave a lasting impression long after someone has walked down the aisle. If you're building a food or beverage brand and you're ready for packaging that's thoughtful, strategic and uniquely yours, we'd love to help.
