AI in Packaging (Part III): AI-Powered Creative Generation

At the ManageArtworks Breakfast Briefing in Mumbai, AI was a hot topic of discussion. The audience was all ears to hear our CEO, Vilva Natarajan, share some fantastic insights on how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming packaging artwork management. 

In the first and second blogs of our 3-part blog series, we showcased how AI revolutionizes packaging artwork text management and image creation, respectively. In this third and last part, we will focus on AI’s role in the creative generation. 

AI Use Cases in Packaging Artwork Creative Generation

The packaging artwork industry is becoming increasingly competitive. As brands struggle to attract consumer attention, creativity plays a huge role in shaping how a product is perceived, helping brands stand out, convey their message, and build emotional connections with consumers. 

Artificial Intelligence tools help brands create stunning packaging artwork and unlock untapped revenue streams. Through continuous data analysis, they empower stakeholders to transform their creative game and include design elements that are trending, accurate, and eye-catching. 

Using AI, brands can ensure their packaging reflects their vision and values and quickly iterate on designs in response to market feedback. Offering an unprecedented blend of speed, accuracy, and artistic freedom, AI tools can adeptly handle both size and shape variations in packaging designs. 

That said, let’s look at some incredible capabilities AI offers in packaging artwork creative generation:

• Product Brief:
  ‍One of the most remarkable areas where AI impacts creative generation is crafting product briefs. Stakeholders can enter a prompt to the AI tool with a description of the product and the target audience and receive a detailed brief. For example, below is a 'prompt' with a short description of the product and its target audience and the detailed Marketing Brief generated by the AI. The marketing brief can include product name suggestions, descriptions, nutrition callouts, etc. AI can also produce high-resolution images of the snack and generate background colors that align with brand colors. 

• Market Analysis :
  AI is good at doing image analysis and this capability can be used to analyze product packaging from competing brands. Teams can input product packaging images to the AI tool and prompt it to analyze the images. It can then return data points related to common colors used, common text used, range of product imagery used, etc. This information is useful when writing a marketing brief where competition analysis is a key part.

• Packaging Design:
  With AI, designers can get creative suggestions for designing their packaging artwork. From design intent (Natural, Minimalist, and Clean) to typography and font choices (bold, sans-serif font like Montserrat or Raleway), iconography and visual cues (organic certification), and material choices (recycled or compostable materials), AI-enabled tools can generate design elements based on various input parameters. When fed real-time data, these tools can adapt packaging to suit shape, size, or variant changes. They can also create new designs by taking inspiration from competition or trends, enabling positioning based on learning, and making adjustments based on math and design principles. Designers can use these drafts of the artwork and add other creative elements based on the requirement. 

• Compliance Check:
  ‍The use of AI in packaging artwork isn’t just limited to creative design. The technology can also automate artwork proofreading, strengthen compliance, and ensure adherence to controls and regulations. For example, Artificial Intelligence can extract and classify content from packaging design and compare it with set rules or benchmarks for each market. AI tools can check if text and symbols are accurate, nutrition panel rules are followed, and braille fonts and barcodes are correctly printed. AI also allows stakeholders to automate certain checks, such as examining allergens based on ingredients or verifying nutrition claims based on nutrition values – thus accelerating packaging artwork accuracy and reducing unnecessary rework and costly recalls. 

• Design Adaptations:
  ‍AI tools also help precisely map artwork elements to the packaging structure. Stakeholders can feed an existing artwork file along with a new dieline file as inputs into an AI tool and have the tool automatically generate a new Adobe Illustrator file tailored to the new dieline. This file incorporates the designated artwork panels while ensuring perfect alignment with the packaging structure outlined in the dieline.For example, brands launching a festive edition of their product in a circular tin instead of their standard rectangular box can select artwork elements from the original rectangular design and map them onto a circular dieline using AI. The tool can intelligently adjust the artwork to fit the new shape, ensuring that key design elements are optimally placed and visually coherent despite the drastic change in packaging form.

Wrapping Up

In the world of packaging artwork, speed is critical. Brands that can adapt their packaging design to new market trends, customer expectations, and regulatory updates drive growth and sustainability. 

Thankfully, modern AI innovations are enabling the future of packaging design. Automating the design process, AI is revolutionizing how brands and design agencies create and adapt their packaging artworks. They ensure precision, consistency, and breathtaking design integrity in minutes, empowering brands to unleash their creativity, streamline their workflows, and stay ahead in the fast-paced packaging design world. 

Are you looking to enrich the design process and quickly adapt packaging artwork for various sizes and shapes? Learn how ManageArtworks can help you push the boundaries of creative design through visually striking and perfectly executed packaging.