Why do so many everyday products have terrible information…
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Why do so many everyday products have terrible information hierarchy on their labels?
Been noticing this a lot lately. Pick up almost any cleaning product, medicine, or packaged food and the most important information is buried. The brand name is massive, the product type is readable, but then the stuff you actually need like dosage, warnings, or usage instructions is crammed into the smallest possible text in the lowest contrast color on the package.
It feels like labels are designed to sell the product on a shelf rather than help the person who already bought it. Which makes sense from a marketing angle but creates a genuinely frustrating experience the moment you get home.
The interesting tension is that good hierarchy here isn't really about aesthetics. It's about function. A well designed label should probably deprioritize the logo once it's in someone's hands. The context of use completely changes what matters visually.
I keep coming back to things like the old Penguin book covers or even pharmaceutical packaging in some European countries where the information priority actually shifts based on who needs what and when.
Has anyone worked on packaging or label design where you had to push back on a client about this? Or noticed a product that actually gets the hierarchy right? Curious whether this is a brief problem, a client problem, or just an industry habit nobody questions anymore.
#art
Been noticing this a lot lately. Pick up almost any cleaning product, medicine, or packaged food and the most important information is buried. The brand name is massive, the product type is readable, but then the stuff you actually need like dosage, warnings, or usage instructions is crammed into the smallest possible text in the lowest contrast color on the package.
It feels like labels are designed to sell the product on a shelf rather than help the person who already bought it. Which makes sense from a marketing angle but creates a genuinely frustrating experience the moment you get home.
The interesting tension is that good hierarchy here isn't really about aesthetics. It's about function. A well designed label should probably deprioritize the logo once it's in someone's hands. The context of use completely changes what matters visually.
I keep coming back to things like the old Penguin book covers or even pharmaceutical packaging in some European countries where the information priority actually shifts based on who needs what and when.
Has anyone worked on packaging or label design where you had to push back on a client about this? Or noticed a product that actually gets the hierarchy right? Curious whether this is a brief problem, a client problem, or just an industry habit nobody questions anymore.
#art
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