What Women Want

designopinion
WHAT
WOMEN
WANT
Like Chaucer’s Wife of Bath, Steve Gibbons poses the eternal question: what do
women want? And finds the answers – at least for beauty packaging – online
For this month’s article, we ventured into the
world of beauty forums and asked “if there is one
thing you want from beauty product packaging what
would it be?” If you ask people what they want, they
will tell you just as vociferously what they don’t
want. We know that women have a more intimate
relationship with beauty than any other consumer
goods category, but were still taken aback by the
amount of engagement.
Only 21 beauty obsessives responded, so this
doesn’t represent anything like the ‘average’ consumer
and it isn’t intended to be statistically relevant, but it
reveals insights from women who take this stuff very
seriously. Responses were broadly categorised into
three different areas: aesthetics, sustainability and
ergonomics. What follows is a bottom up view of
structural packaging – quite literally in one case.
It needs to look, feel and stay beautiful
Our respondents are highly attuned to the sensory
aesthetics of packaging:
“No cheap metal plating that scratches off. Clean,
minimalist and tactile please.”
“Estée Lauder Pure Colour Envy lipsticks have fab,
luxe-feeling packaging. They’re heavy (weight is definitely a
factor for things feeling luxurious) and the lids are
magnetised so they have a lush ‘snap’ on closing.”
Durability is a consistently mentioned problem:
“I don’t like print that comes off on your hands or stuff
that gets dirty immediately.”
“I don’t like it when stuff shows fingerprints really badly
– like NARS packaging.”
Tone of voice and the recent fashion for retro are
also putting off some beauty lovers:
“I really don’t like overly sexual product names.”
“Soap and Glory irritates me – annoying names and
garish pink packaging.”
“Benefit is due a rebrand – the retro chic is looking
twee.”
Thoughts around sustainability
Recycling and reuse are issues as much as the overuse
of unnecessary packaging:
“I like a recyclable glass container – Vichy Hydrating
Serum and Avène are good. This is what swings it for me
over their competitors. I dislike Eucerin filler capsules [AntiAge Hyaluron-Filler Concentrate] and their tacky, wasteful
plinth.”
“Simple packaging – not lots of layers – in proportion to
the contents.”
“Packaging that is most likely to be recyclable – where I
live, you can’t recycle plastic tubes.”
“I like Liberty and Orla Kiely prints and it would be
nice to see companies working with print designers to create
packaging that looks great on your dressing table and can be
kept after.”
Lessons in ergonomics
Our cohort really hates not being able to get at all
the product. They want all the content to be
dispensed, but they also want confirmation that it has
happened, and they want the appropriate dose to be
delivered:
“I want pumps that don’t stop working when you get
half way down.”
“I want packaging that is easy to dismantle, to scrape
the dregs out of it.”
“My biggest bugbear is being caught short. I want to
know when I need to restock and I want things packaged
transparently so I can keep an eye on how something’s
going down.”
“I only started using hair oil when I found a bottle
which gave off a very fine mist I could spray on my hands
and work through my hair. Before it was an inaccessible
product to me.”
Closures got our respondents quite excited:
“With tubes I much prefer a flip top than a screw cap. I
hate squeezing out a blob of Ciment Thermique then
having to balance the blob on my hand while trying to
screw the cap back on.”
“Products for the shower are better in tubes (flip tops
please), pumps or bottles (again a lid that pops open rather
than a top that unscrews).”
But be warned:
“No to flimsy flip tops like Bioderma Micellar Water –
it breaks off within the first five uses every single time.”
“I HATE flip tops as I’ve ruined my manicure countless
times with them, it’s just got to open and shut easily!”
The amount of ‘real estate’ a product takes up is
also an important consideration, as is its durability:
“I want SLEEKNESS, I can’t be doing with bulky
packaging and wasted space.”
“For cosmetics I like stuff that’s robust enough to be put
in a bag without the risk of the lid coming off.”
Some brands get ergonomics spot on and others
get it completely wrong:
“Bobbi Brown has the best packaging, period. The lids
don’t come off the lipsticks, you can see the colours inside at
a glance, and there are no stupid trays for shit brushes.
Laura Mercier is the very opposite – what should be an
easy-wearing brand is apparently incapable of packaging
its make-up.”
And perhaps a little more unrealistically:
“I want everything to be square, so it can be packed
closely, no round compacts or tubular lipsticks.”
Ergonomics applies equally to the graphics:
“Bigger WRITING please – I can’t be the only
one squinting to see what I’m about to use, or how
to use it.”
And finally, the most eye-widening response we
received:
“I quite like packaging that is sexy (by which I
mean, looks like a sex toy). Diorific Lipstick is a case
in point – actually quite crap lipstick but looks like a
fancy buttplug. With hindsight,
that might have been why I
bought it.”
Truly getting to the
bottom of structural
packaging.
Steve Gibbons
DewGibbons + Partners
Steve Gibbons is
Managing Director of
DewGibbons + Partners.
The company is a leading
brand design consultancy
specialising in the health
and beauty sector
e-mail steve@
dewgibbons.com
If you ask people
what they want,
they will tell you
just as vociferously
what they don’t
want
Bobbi Brown’s packs
were singled out for
praise, while one
respondent said
they purchased
Diorific Lipstick
for its ‘sexy’ look
May 2015 SPC 29