Packaging people keep on the shelf

Every few months someone sends us a photo of a Barro jar holding hair ties, cotton buds or a spare key. The clay mask ran out long ago. The jar is still in the bathroom.

That second life comes from a handful of decisions made early, mostly about materials and size. Few of them cost anything extra, and all of them are easy to forget once the artwork starts.

Why people keep things

Ask people why they kept a box and the answers fall into the same few: it’s sturdy, it’s a useful size, it looks good with the label turned to the wall, or it reminds them of something. Our brand designers spend a surprising amount of time in shops turning packs around.

That is why Barro’s jars carry the name and the clay content on the front and lid. The back holds the ingredients in small type on a pale band, so turned around, the jar is simply a nice pot.

The material decides first

Graphics matter less than you’d think here. The four materials we specify most often behave very differently once the product is gone.

Glass is kept longest, so Barro’s labels are printed on a wet-strength paper that survives a year of bathroom steam. Board lasts on a desk but not beside a sink.

Designing for the second life

Before we sign off anything meant to outlive its contents, it has to pass four checks.

• A useful size. It holds something people already own.

• A plain label. Nothing on it will look dated next year.

• A lid that lasts. It still closes properly after fifty openings.

• Print that survives. Water, steam and thumbs leave it readable.

The first two do most of the work, and they are the two that get skipped.

Pick a size people need

A box that fits a passport, a phone charger or a pencil gets a job. One that fits only the product goes out with the recycling.

For Tinta, we sized the tall ink box to take a fountain pen beside the bottle, and the wooden sample tray to hold a row of pencils once the vials are used. Both turn up on customers’ desks in the photos they post.

Try it at your desk

Empty a finished prototype, wash it and leave it on a desk at the studio for a week. If nobody picks it up to use, we change the size before we touch the copy.

Keep the label plain

Sal’s labels say what the product does and what is in it, in plain words, in that order. With nothing borrowed from luxury brands, there is nothing on the jar to go out of date.

Ask what it will hold next

Before your next packaging brief goes out, add one line to it: what will this hold when the product is gone? The answer changes the size, the material and the label, usually for the better and rarely for more money.

If your range ends up in the recycling too soon, start a project with us and send a photo of your shelf.