The world is full of wasted opportunities: pennies on the ground we see but don’t pick up, people we care about but never have the courage to ask out, careers we want to pursue but are too afraid to chase. But the following designers saw the perfect opportunity to create something amazing and took it. Here are some of the most creative product packaging designs out there.
These earbuds are packaged into the shape of a musical note.
Sometimes, all it takes to sell your product is to design it in a cool way. Packaged in the shape of two eighth notes, these earphones definitely stand out in comparison to regularly packaged earbuds.
Taiwanese six-pack bread rolls.
Sold by a bakery in Taichung, Taiwan, these bread rolls are almost irresistible. Not only do the buns look delicious, but they are also packaged in such a brilliant way! In fact, we really wish our bread rolls would turn into abs like that…
Pizza Hut box that turns into a movie projector.
These Pizza Hut designers definitely thought outside the box to create this concept! Instead of throwing away their empty pizza box, customers are able to repurpose their package using it as a movie projector.
This carton has a little window that shows how much milk you have left.
Few things in life are more annoying than picking up your last milk carton from the fridge and realizing it’s basically empty. Wanting to fix this problem, these designers added “windows” to this milk carton so that customers always know when they’re running out.
This packaging for a digital Polaroid camera.
The way this designer used the printing space in this packaging is genius. Instead of coming up with a different packaging design for this Polaroid camera, they simply incorporated the picture into the pre-existing hang hole.
These hot sauce bottles were packaged to look like sticks of dynamite.
Judging by the packaging, this hot sauce is definitely explosive. We love it when designers choose to get creative with their packaging instead of coming up with boring ideas that make their products blend in with all the other ones in the store.
“My pill bottle has a timer so that I know when I last opened it.”
If you take any daily medication – or have ever taken antibiotics -, you have struggled to remember if you took your pills when you were supposed to. This pill bottle has a clock so that you never have to guess again – you will know exactly when was the last time you opened it!
A different kind of clever packaging: this bookstore offers blind dates with their books.
Whether we like it or not, it’s a fact: we all judge books by their covers. To ensure all of their books are given fair chances of being read, this bookstore wraps them in blank wrapping paper with a reader’s review. This way, new potential readers will not judge them by their title or cover art.
“My beef jerky packet came with its own dental floss.”
Sometimes, all it takes is a little extra detail to make a product stand out. In this case, this beef jerky brand knew customers needed to floss after eating their snack, so they decided to solve their problem. This way, they ensure customers will not think twice before buying a packet of beef jerky – after all, they know they don’t have to worry about getting food stuck in their teeth.
“My new desk has the picture of a TV on its box so it’s handled more carefully by shippers.”
This person must have gotten pretty confused when they received this box. But to be fair, this is a brilliant solution for a very frustrating problem. Knowing shippers will look at the picture of a TV and assume they are handling a fragile package, this brand ensures their desks will arrive at their destinations without a scratch.
“My grocery store puts stuff that needs to be refrigerated in a blue bag to distinguish it.”
Whenever we come home from the grocery store, we always look for all the products that need to be refrigerated before we put the rest of the items away. To make sure customers don’t have to go through every single bag to find their frozen items, this grocery store has blue plastic bags for these specific products.
This pizza box’s lid is perforated so it can be used as slice plates.
There’s nothing we love more than saving the planet – and pizza. This is why we love the fact that this brilliant pizza place figured out that using their cardboard box as plates would reduce the amount of paper they would have to give their customers.
These Korean cup noodles have a small drain for pouring out the water to make soup-less noodles.
We can all agree that cup noodles are a pretty decent and easy meal for those days when we’re too lazy to cook. However, when it comes to eating them, each person has their own preferences. For those who don’t enjoy eating soupy noodles, this package comes with a small drain to allow you to pour out any excess water.
This yogurt lid can be folded into a little spoon.
Yogurt is a great snack – it’s tasty, nutritious, and easy to carry around. However, if you want to eat your yogurt on the go, you will also need a spoon. In case you don’t have a spoon on you, all you need to do is follow these instructions to turn your yogurt lid into one.
An ice cream cup made of banana leaves.
Owning an ice cream shop usually means spending lots of money on disposable cups and spoons. But that’s not always the case. To cut down on single-use plastics, some companies serve their ice cream in cups made of banana leaves.
This packaging makes pasta look like hair.
How cute is this idea? Instead of having boring windows in their pasta boxes, this company decided to make their packaging a little more fun. This brilliant design makes the pasta inside the box look like hair!
This perfume bottle consists of eight glass bottles shaped like orange segments.
Manufactured in 1925, the L’Orange Variee came in the most fascinating packaging. Instead of selling the scent in a regular perfume bottle, Les Parfums de Marcy packaged it in eight segments placed in a painted ceramic holder that made them look like a real orange.
“The cone my fries came in had this little condiment pouch.”
When it comes to fries, not everyone likes it when people drizzle ketchup all over them. To make sure customers won’t get ketchup all over their hands and dry fries in the bottom of the cone, this place designed a container with a little compartment for condiments.
This hand cream has dotted rubber edges on its lid so it can be opened and closed easily with creamy hands.
If you want your product to be loved by everyone, you need to think of everything. To make sure people would be able to close their pot of hand cream after moisturizing their hands, this company added dotted rubber edges to its lid.
This plastic bag allows you to carry two cups at once without spilling your drinks.
This is such a clever design. Anyone who has ever had to pick up two cups of coffee and carry them somewhere knows how scary this is – after all, the risk of spilling your drinks everywhere while trying to multitask is huge. With this bag, you can hold your drinks with one hand while you swipe your credit card, open doors, and answer your phone with the other.
Creative candy wrappers from Japan.
Sometimes, a clever packaging design is essential for practical reasons. Other times, a clever design is necessary to make a product stand out. In this case, though the cute characters printed on this packaging won’t make the candy taste any better, they still make us want to buy them.
“My new protein powder has a hook so you don’t lose the scoop inside.”
It’s so nice when we realize whoever made our favorite products actually took the time to consider how they could improve their usability. To make sure customers never lose their protein powder scoop inside the container, this manufacturer designed a hook to keep it in place.
“My pizza was delivered with tamper-evident stickers.”
When we order food, we trust whoever is delivering it. But it’s always nice to know that we can actually trust our food hasn’t been touched by anyone other than the cook. We wish more restaurants would use tamper-evident stickers on their packages.
“My buddy brought me this goldfish tea bag from China.”
To make their tea stand out from the other brands, Charm Villa designed a goldfish-shaped tea bag. When you put it in water, it looks like there’s a cute fish swimming in your tea!
This bag makes whoever is holding it look like a giant Lego minifigure.
Everyone knows and loves Lego. And everyone knows what they can expect to find inside a bag with a Lego logo. Still, while there are probably lots of minifigures inside the bag, no one would expect to see them holding it.
“The gum I bought in Japan comes with a stack of paper for easy disposal.”
This brand knows its customers so well. There is nothing more annoying than realizing your gum has lost its flavor when there are no trash cans nearby. To solve this problem, this company added a stack of paper to their containers to make it easier to dispose of gum at all times.
Proving their watches are really waterproof, this company sells them in water bags.
Seeing is believing, right? To prove that their products are truly waterproof, Festina Profundo watches come in a water-filled bag. This way, customers only need to look at them to know they are getting a high-quality product.
“If you peel off the label of my shower gel, it becomes a mirror.”
Mirror, mirror on the wall – who has the most clever design of all? With a mirror hidden behind the bottle label, this shower gel is great for traveling and for keeping in your gym bag. We absolutely love it.
Totino’s pizzas have instructions on the wrapper in case you throw away the box.
This company knows that everyone throws away their frozen pizza box before realizing they haven’t read the cooking instructions. To avoid making people go through their trash for the box, Totino’s adds instructions to their plastic wrapper as well.
The last tissues in this box are a different color to warn you you’re running low.
Kleenex knows how frustrating it is when you pick up a tissue to blow your nose only to realize it’s the last one. To warn their customers (and give them time to buy a new box of tissues), the last few tissues in their boxes are peach-colored.
This sticker shows if your package has been tipped over during shipping.
Sometimes, when companies order certain products, they need them to be kept with a specific side up during shipping. This sticker shows if these products were mishandled or tipped during transport.
Dipping sauce holder for churros.
If you have ever bought churros to eat on the go, you know how messy this snack can get. With this practical design, you can place your dipping sauce in its designated holder and enjoy a mess-free dessert as you walk around.
This bottle is designed for you to get as much out of it as possible.
One of the most frustrating things when it comes to pump dispensers is trying to use the product sitting on the bottom of the bottle. This is why this design is so clever – it is made to ensure you can use every single drop of soap without wasting any product.
“This tinier than usual bag for my breakfast burrito.”
It’s small details like this that turn a one-time customer into a regular. Although a tiny plastic bag doesn’t necessarily make carrying a breakfast burrito any easier, it does use less plastic (and looks super adorable).
“My plastic wrap just told me to add it to my grocery list!”
This is such a clever idea. To make sure customers don’t run out of cling film, this company adds a little reminder to the end of their roll. This way, when they reach the last few inches of film, they’ll know they need to buy more.
“The way my socks were packaged made them look like sushi.”
These socks might be the coolest thing we have ever seen! Although they’re not meant to look like food when you put them on your feet, they look indistinguishable from giant sushi rolls when rolled up inside the packaging.
This mustard jar has a handle on it so you can reuse it as a cup.
If you eat a lot of mustard, you probably throw away lots of plastic and glass jars. To encourage customers to reuse their mustard jars, this company added handles to their containers so that they can be reused instead of thrown in the trash.
A ‘shake me’ instruction that only appears if the solution is separated.
This is such a clever idea. Whenever the ingredients in this drink are separated, a “shake me” message appears on the top left side of the bottle. After you shake it, though, the instruction disappears.
This Nescafe cup lid has a built-in smartphone holder.
Sometimes, all we need is a cup of coffee and an episode of our favorite show. This Nescafe lid allows you to sit back and watch videos on your phone while getting your daily dose of caffeine.
The design of these Kashi boxes is subtle but great.
When it comes to cereal boxes, we are not used to seeing their patterns match nicely like this. Somehow, this small detail makes the boxes stand out from all the other ones on the shelves.
This juice bottle design looks like there is a lizard inside it.
How cute is this idea?! While this brand could have easily just created a regular bottle with a simple design for their juice, they decided they wanted to make their customers smile. So they came up with this design that makes it look like there’s a lizard inside the bottle.
This tea bag makes your cup look like a tiny hot tub.
There are lots of creative tea bag designs out there – and if we’re being honest, we love all of them. This is one of the coolest ones, though. It makes your mug look like a tiny hot tub with a cool guy chilling inside it.
“My orange juice cap looks like an orange.”
Sometimes, all it takes is a simple detail to make a product stand out. In this case, a tiny cap makes this orange juice look way cooler than the other ones on the shelf and might even make customers choose to buy this brand over all the others.
“The seasoning jars my mother sent me are magnetic.”
For people who don’t have a lot of space on their counter or in their pantry, magnetic jars are huge lifesavers. With these, you can keep your seasoning collection on your fridge door and use your storage space for the rest of your food.
The barcode on this mashed potato pot looks like a potato sack.
This brand went out of its way to make sure customers and cashiers would smile when they saw this barcode. They could have just gone for a regular code, but instead, they designed one that looks like a potato sack! Adorable.
This tabasco tray on this pizza.
While pizza savers serve a very important purpose of making sure our pizza doesn’t stick to the top of the cardboard box, they don’t usually fulfill their full potential. However, here, they are not only being used to keep this pizza intact but also to hold these tiny bottles of tabasco.
This Thai supermarket ditched plastic packaging for banana leaves.
This is such a cool and eco-friendly idea. Instead of wasting tons of plastic every year, this supermarket in Thailand chose to use banana leaves to wrap their products. Not only does it save the world, but also the company’s pockets.
This pickle jar has a strainer to lift the goodies out of the juice.
This brand knows exactly what its customers need and will do anything to make them happy. With this little invention, no one will ever have to stick their hand inside a pickle jar again – all you have to do is lift up the strainer.
The label design for HP Sauce has been tweaked to show the scaffolding around Big Ben as it’s being renovated.
Originally produced in the United Kingdom, HP Sauce’s label features one of London’s biggest landmarks – the Big Ben. The tower has been undergoing renovations since 2017 and the label design on the product has been changed to show the scaffolding around it.
This adorably clever walnuts packaging.
We love it when a packaging design is equally useful and cute. Not only is this squirrel-shaped packaging adorable (and clever!), but it is also comfortable to pick up and carry.
Hardware packaged by assembly step, not by type.
Whenever we try to put together a piece of furniture, we always wonder why the hardware is arranged by type instead of step. That’s is why it’s so cool that this company chose to organize their parts like this.
This laundry detergent packaging is shaped like a washing machine.
Whoever came up with this concept is a design genius. Combining creativity and usability, this clever laundry detergent box is shaped like a washing machine. But not only does it look super cool, it also has a handle so it’s easy to carry it around.
This cat food packaging is shaped like a cat and you can open it by pulling on its ear.
This might be one of the cutest products we have ever seen. Instead of packaging this cat food in a boring box or bag, this company designed it to look like a cat. We’re sure cat owners won’t even think twice before choosing this brand over others just because of this simple detail.
“My efficient German toilet paper utilizes the space inside the roll.”
This is such a clever idea. Instead of wasting space and paper with cardboard tubes, this company fills up the space inside their toilet paper rolls with more toilet paper.
This printer’s packaging has handles to help you pull it out of the box.
If you have ever bought something heavy that came packaged in a cardboard box, you know the struggle of trying to pull it out without hurting your back or damaging the product. This is why this plastic bag with handles inside the box is such a game-changer.
This packaging makes these noodles look like a friendly ghost.
Instead of designing a boring packaging for their noodles, this company chose to get creative. By coming up with this friendly ghost design, they ensure their product will get everyone’s attention at the supermarket.
There’s a little cow on the barcode of this milk carton.
This company was probably wondering what they could do to make their product stand out. Considering a milk carton is a milk carton, many people would assume there’s not much they can do to make it look special. This little cow eating the barcode here would beg to differ, though.
This toothpaste explains the purpose of each one of its ingredients.
Usually, when we buy things like toothpaste, we never stop to read their lists of ingredients – let alone research their purpose in the products. To make sure customers know exactly what they’re buying, this brand chose to explain where each toothpaste ingredient comes from and what it does.
“My Glacial water bottle is shaped like a glacier.”
To make their water bottle stand out, Icelandic Glacial designed it to look like a glacier. Not only does it look super cool, but it also matches the company name beautifully.
“A customer mailed this tube with a tongue depressor attached to it to prevent it from rolling around.”
Although this packaging wasn’t designed to work like this, we have to admit this person’s idea is absolutely brilliant. After sending numerous tubes in the mail, they figured out how to keep them from rolling around.