russian retail week: using ai in packaging design

The Creative Director of the ICU branding agency, Alexey Molchanov, spoke at the «Russian retail week» forum, which focused on innovations in retail, marketing, e-commerce, logistics, international markets, and HR.

Alexey presented the topic: «Packaging reinvented: how to use AI in packaging design». He discussed the impact of AI on the design field, specifically in packaging.

Our creative director highlighted various applications of AI, such as creating illustrations, ad creatives, and websites, with a particular focus on packaging. Packaging serves as a crucial tool that can influence customer behavior and create a lasting impression of a product.

The packaging design process includes:

1. — briefing: communicating with the client to receive specifications;
2. — research: analyzing the product, market, competitors, and target audience;
3. — concept development: creating 2-3 different design concepts;
4. — presentation: presenting and explaining solutions to the client;
5. — revisions: refining the design based on client feedback;
6. — final design: preparing the final design files.

Our creative director emphasized the iterative nature of developing creatives, noting that a step-by-step approach helps achieve the client's desired outcome faster.

AI enables specialists to offer clients more concepts in a short time, allowing clients to choose from a range of innovative options generated by the neural network.

Benefits of using AI:

1. Variety of concepts;

2. Rapid creation of photos and illustrations;

3. Creation of reference materials without a designer;

4. Product visualization.

A common question arises: do we still need designers?

While AI offers many advantages, the results are best when designers use it effectively—formulating precise prompts and interpreting the output correctly. However, AI cannot create layouts, follow exact formats, or consider precise dimensions. It saves time and makes complex creatives and illustrations more accessible.

So, are designers still needed? Yes, because AI is just a tool in the hands of the creative. The designer selects references, formulates prompts, and refines AI-generated images in other software to achieve the final result. The success of the entire process depends on the expertise of the creative.

Our AI-assisted projects include:

1. — Developing packaging for Omega 3 capsules for Vertex, using AI-generated illustrations. By combining suitable elements from various AI sketches, we created a modern design that reflects the product's natural and pure qualities;

1. — Using AI for the creative campaign for "Syrobogatov" Russian cheese, we portrayed cheese as a national product. Through an art-gallery aesthetic, we connected cheese to other achievements in Russian culture, emphasizing its significance;

1. — For the Aloha browser ad campaign, we used AI to highlight the sense of security beyond internet functionality, conveying the browser's privacy benefit by comparing online browsing to personal offline moments;

With AI, creatives for packaging design can be developed that help products stand out on the shelf among others.

The lecture materials are available via this link.