Good Design Matters. Properly positioned and executed packaging sells more products, that much is obvious. But what makes a package a good design that stands out? Eye-popping graphics? An unusually shaped container? Strong colors? Pleasing aesthetics? Certain subtle psychological stimuli?

What makes a package good is surprisingly difficult to pin down. Henri Matisse said that “each element in a picture should be visible, and play its allotted part, of first or secondary importance. Whatever is useless in a picture is for that reason harmful. A work demands harmony of the whole; any unnecessary details, in the eye of the spectator, will usurp the place of another, essential one.”

Effective packaging, too, is an arrangement of essential elements. Like a good painting, only what is needed is included. People are attracted, charmed, or entranced; they become emotionally involved because a clearly presented design can tap into what they believe about their world.