Working in coffee shops in Seattle taught me a lot about how people receive information and what they feel comfortable with. What is the difference between a latte and a cappuccino? What does this coffee, that tea or that pastry taste like? You are a barista and a coffee salesman in one. How do you answer the customer's honest confusion about a drink without turning them off? How do you convey value? 

Packaging must answer these kinds of curious questions. Here are three I think are important.

• Sparks the imagination. Is the design attractive enough that it draws people to the product from the jump? 

• It communicates and relays vital information

• The quality of the contents matches the outside and builds brand loyalty. 

what I like about Nest

Nest fragrance is an example of a product that is successful in packaging. I would like to specifically discuss their perfumes. 

The elegant black background creates a high-contrast, baroque style mixed with a botanical scientific illustration style. I would say just a baroque style but the way the flowers are floating in space is scientific style wherein a painting the flowers would be in a vase on a table. The typography is clean with a thin line, thick line box to contain a readable space around the text. The bold, all caps text works with the limited amount of words and sets a mood of luxury. 

Nest does a great job at relaying vital information by changing the floral scheme of each scent. So you are curious to what the different varieties offer. The sweet floral fragrance matches the exterior imagery of the branding perfectly. With fragrances, to quote Forrest Gump, "It's like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get." With Nest, I was very impressed by the simple "what you see is what you get" quality and attraction. The sweet smell of their scents reminded me of having my nose in a flower! So beautiful.

And as far as having no salesman there to sell me on why I should buy... well the packaging sold me 100% on the purchase. 

Stay tuned for more packaging design reviews.