From: Packaging Digest

The IoPP Fundamentals of Packaging Professionals, Third Edition outlines that package design is composed of two separate components - structural and graphical. Prior to designing the package, attention should be focused on the product itself by anticipating end user wants and needs. The structural component entails the technical and physical requirements of the package. The graphic component involves the physical features and characteristics that attract the consumer into making a purchasing decision.

Certified packaging professional John Henry states that packages should be designed or selected with the machinery in mind and that design is driven by the market and ultimately the individual consumer. The end user is king and the package must be designed primarily to please them. However, along with pleasing customers, designers should consider the costs of running the package. They should minimize these costs when possible and that can only be done if the costs of operation and the benefits of the design are known. [From the "Packaging Machinery Handbook" [www.packmachbook.com] by John R. Henry, CPP.]