There’s a simple truth brands need to hear: if your packaging only works on screen, it doesn’t really work.

And why? Well, think about how you usually shop in a store: you’re making split-second decisions, usually at arm’s length, often with one eye on price and the other on the dozens of competitor brands sitting alongside it. That’s why the gap between digital approval and real-world performance is where packaging design is won or lost.

What we might perceive as “bad” packaging design doesn’t fail because the people behind it have awful ideas; instead, it just hasn’t been designed for where it actually lives.