Five Favorite Food Packaging Designs

Rick Lingle | Aug 21, 2023

For freelance packaging designer Chris Harri, seeing beautiful packaging designs at Target or Walgreens is akin to viewing paintings at New York City’s Museum of Modern Art.

“I constantly look for inspiration even while in Central Park or on a trip to the beach,” he says. “I’ve learned to keep my eyes open to find and then deliver designs I think will work.”

Harri has worked for several design firms including Anthem Worldwide where he was senior designer.

Harri's passion for design began when he started painting with oils at the age of eight.

“I realized that art had an impact on friends and family,” he says. “I then attended SUNY Purchase School of Art & Design…I was blown away by the program. My freshman year we were not allowed to use computers, everything was done by hand. That is something I will never forget — you always need to feel what you design.”

Harri points to a trend he really likes: the use of atypical shapes including ovals, swooshes, ribbons, and the like.

“Designers including myself can get stuck architectural designs,” Harri notes. “Seeing designers taking gambles on new shapes is refreshing, but it’s really part of the job.”

Harri shares personal insights into five of his favorite designs in food packaging including Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain bars, Unilever’s I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter spread, Kind’s energy bars and two others.

As with shelved packaging, making an instant impact with the brand is a great start to securing the contract.

“I was hired at Anthem Worldwide and placed in the New Jersey location because Mars was located there,” Harri recalls. “Although Anthem Worldwide was going through multiple right for proposals (RFP) with Mars, Skittles stood out to me. In fact, I expressed my strong interest in wanting to be a part of this RFP so we put together a team.

“Skittles’ motto was ‘be random’ so our presentation was just that. We had some office staff wear weird Halloween masks. I made a path to the office with Skittle piece drawings cut out to guide them to the conference room for the presentation. The client’s team thought our presentation was interactive and creative and they awarded us the account. Our NJ office was the lead, though we were assisted by other US locations.”

Harri shares personal thoughts into the designs in this slideshow gallery starting with Skittles.

You can reach him via [email protected] or at 917-749-1715.

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