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why minimalist packaging design is important


Like many others, I consider myself a casual minimalist (meaning I sort through my closet every few months and try not to have too many pairs of shoes or extra books). And like many others, I was ecstatic when Netflix announced Marie Kondo's new show! I sped through all the episodes within the first week of Tidying Up premiering, and I had never felt so inspired to truly commit to a minimalist lifestyle until watching Marie Kondo patiently and gently work with many families to achieve a tidy nirvana.



I've always been cautious of having too much stuff. I pretty much inherited the values of minimalism from my mom, who reminded me and my sisters every season to sort through our clothes and donate anything that didn't fit or we didn't wear anymore. The purge didn't stop at the closet, though. Growing up involved a slow but continuous cycle of evaluating my possessions, and deciding which ones were valuable enough to keep and which would be better off in another home.

However, it wasn't until I watched Tidying Up that the minimalist values my mother tried to instill in me really clicked. Suddenly the decision wasn't 'Do I have too much of X?' but instead was 'Does this item truly make me happy?'. Or in the words of Marie Kondo, "Does this item spark joy?" 

I think the real mind-blowing moment for me occurred when Marie spoke about visual noise. When she explained that our lives are full of chaos from advertising and media, and that she tries not to bring that chaos into her home by removing noisy packaging and labels, I had a lightbulb moment for a number of reasons.

I've been interested in the effects of constant exposure to advertising and marketing for a while, mostly because my generation is one of the first to grow up in the digital era and be constantly surrounded by advertising and media. For Marie Kondo to connect visual noise to products within the home was a leap that I had never even fathomed, but I loved it. As a product packaging enthusiast, the connection also presented me with a set of exciting questions about how products can be designed to be less "noisy" within the home, or even enhance the appearance of a home. 

Although I'll admit that I'm biased because I'm personally partial to the minimalist aesthetic, I do think that minimalist packaging offers an important benefit to consumers as reducing the amount of visual noise in their home and sometimes even being pleasing enough to add beauty to its surroundings. 

I hope the lifetime of minimalist packaging endures its current status as a trend, and companies are able to see the benefits of investing in attractive, but quiet packaging. 

Interested in joining the minimalist lifestyle? Start your Konmari journey here with minimalist icon Marie Kondo or watch her new series on Netflix!



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