Is austerity the new luxury?

An example of the austerity trend from
local jewellery brand, Twopenny Lane.

The financial climate is still tough, and the trends in the economy have been reflected in trends within the packaging industry. Design has been stripped back, muted and simplified, initially to reduce cost in packaging production, but it appears now this has become accepted as 'trendy', but why? Because we think it sits well our price sensitive audience, or conversely, because we think it's the new sign of luxury?








As with everything, there are several sides to this debate. First let's assume that we are designing with the cash strapped economy in mind. Let's suggest that gold still means luxurious and that

Benefit's 'Great Gatsby' inspired collection.

flamboyancy is the way to sell luxury products. Look at The Great Gatsby for example. The Guardian hit the nail on the head when they said that Baz Luhrmann's latest offering is "celebrating opulence". The jewellery for the film was designed by Tiffany, the costumes by Prada, everything about the film screams luxury, and some companies are riding on that wave. Take Benefit cosmetics and their 1920's-inspired limited edition packaging. The luxury cosmetics industry never ditched their metallic, intricately designed boxes, velvet covers and superfluous layers of packaging, for butchers twine and a brown paper bag, yet they are still selling products by the bucket load. They know their products have value and people will pay for it. Fact. So with that said, luxury is the new luxury.

The new Leona Lewis collection from The Body Shop.

So now let's look at another side of the argument. This might be a little controversial, but are we the only ones who think that some of the Benefit packaging looks a little cheap? When you compare it to a brand like The Bodyshop, who have stripped their packaging right back to allow the product to take centre stage, Benefit's packaging just looks a bit much. The Bodyshop have not lost their personality by being more reserved with their designs, they have simply aligned themselves with the austerity trend. Although it is not technically a luxury brand, the price point is towards the higher end of high street make-up brands, making this brand a bit of a luxury when financial times are hard.






Looking at some of the greats in graphic design, such as Herb Lubalin, it's easy to see why design austerity can be such a successful strategy for a brand.  He has been described as proving that "to be effective, all you need is a typeface and a good idea" (Adrian Shaughnessy), removing the need for all the excessive elements of design. Furthermore, it has been argued that because of a change in attitudes towards 'organic' and 'pure' products, (both of which are becoming increasingly important in the cosmetics industry), consumers now associate luxury products with packaging featuring quirky graphics, hand-written styles of text, less focus on colour, and more on texture. In times of austerity, brand loyalty is easily swayed. Packaging plays such a huge role in consumer decision making, and getting that right for your potential, (and existing), customers is paramount.

The power of the typeface. The development of the food wall, designed by Herb Lubalin and Tom Carnase for Lou Dorfsman, director of design at CBS in 1966.

Finally there's the argument that people will buy what people will buy, regardless of the economic situation, or trends in packaging. Suppose that with or without the pomp and ceremony of the golden YSL box that people would still buy the product because they "simply can't live without it", ask the majority of women who own Touche Éclat how many they have bought, and whether they pay that much attention to the packaging!

However we believe that, when a consumer is in the market for a new product, your packaging plays too much of a part in purchasing decisions to be ignored. Once that purchase becomes habit, packaging plays a lesser role. But surely you always want to be attracting new customers, so packaging always matters.

We'd love to hear your thoughts on this, how do you think the economy has affected luxury packaging, if at all? Are you more attracted to the 'shiny' or the quirky?

Sources of information:
http://www.packagingnews.co.uk/design/markets/a-quest-for-luxury-in-austere-times-markets-luxury-packaging/ 
http://www.printmag.com/interviews/designer-for-the-age-of-austerity-adrian-shaughnessy-on-herb-lubalins-life-and-work/  
http://www.jkrglobal.com/design-gazette/flapper-fabulous/#comments