Gift Packaging that Keeps on Giving

Hey again, everyone!

Welcome to our fifth installment of UXploration!

This week, I'm tackling something I love to talk about and design: packaging.

Branding is such a fun topic to dig into, and I cannot wait I have a chance to delve entirely into that, but in the meantime, I'm going to just be talking about the user experiences involved in two collections I purchased that came in gift boxes.

(Disclosure: I'm including links in case you want to see the items, but I do not have an affiliate link, so I make no money from this. Enjoy!)

The Good: Frozen II Elsa Collection Set, by Colourpop

My (Snow) Queen, everyone

Show Yourself!

While this blog is not the place for me to wax poetic about how much I love the Snow Queen and Elsa as characters and how much I adore makeup as a form of self-expression, I will say that this collection could have come in a recyclable brown paper bag, and I still would have shelled out the money for it. With that out of the way, this box adds incredible value to the product and is very user-oriented in the design.

First of all, the art is beautiful and eye-catching. Second, the back of the box has pictures of the layout and gives the names of the products included in the set. Third, the box is held closed by a ribbon and a secure magnetic closure. This ensures that the box will stay closed when the user wants it to stay closed, but it is also simple to open.

A brief aside: I love the magnetic closure. There's nothing quite so satisfying as the "click" the user hears when the box is securely closed! Here is what the inside of the package looks like:

Please ignore any and all fingernail polish. I'm redoing it tonight, honest!

Obviously, I use the products, so they're all with the rest of my makeup (except for the glitter, for this photo). It is easy to see, however, all of the products in the set are different shapes. Therefore, if I were the type of user who liked to keep her products in the box, I could easily do that and never be confused or frustrated trying to fit everything back into the box.

Since I no longer use the box for the cosmetics, I intend to (eventually) pull the interior packaging out and use it as a storage box! You all know this user loves reusable packaging! *wink*

Needs Improvement: 100% Essential Oil Starter Kit, by Laguna Moon Essential Oils

In fairness to Laguna Moon, there is a lot about their packaging that I like! Take a look:

Their Amazon page describes their packaging as "elegant" and they are correct. A black box with silver, metallic text and a simple logotype with looping script? What could be classier? If someone slid this to me across the table while we were eating at Providence, I wouldn't even bat an eye in surprise (though, now that I think on it, essential oils are a very odd dinner gift...). Okay, so their box isn't a treasure trove of information. I can live with that! It says everything I, as the purchaser, need to know: this box has my essential oils inside. It also has magnetic closure, so I can "click" it closed all night long.

Right now, you're probably wondering, "Um, if you like it so much, why is it in the 'Needs Improvement' section?" I'm getting there, I promise.

When you open the box, you're greeted with ten of your oils, securely nested in a foam holder.

Snugger than a proverbial bug in its rug.

Recall that we are analyzing items based on the user experience. If I had not purchased this item myself, would I know that there are 20 essential oils in the set? Once the top of the box is open, there is nothing to indicate that there might be more. In fact, when I first received the item in the mail, I was annoyed because I thought I had been sent the wrong package. After looking beneath the bottles and their foam enclosures, I finally discovered...a second flap.

Continue to ignore the tattered fingernails

What sort of trickery was this? I tried pulling the bottom open the same way the top flap opened: to no avail. Finally, when I pulled the flap down again, I saw a black satin ribbon, half tucked-in to the box. I tugged on it experimentally, and discovered the rest of my items.

The empty one used to be jasmine. I'm allergic to jasmine, so it had to go.

Yes, friends. The essential oils box had a secret drawer. Not only did this UX design violate the "Don't make me think" rule, it made me feel downright stupid. I know I miss cues every so often, but this little box had me feeling like a gorilla trying to solve a Rubix cube. I even messed up the alignment when I pulled the flap up! How embarrassing...

I know that this isn't the worst example of packaging design out there, okay? I like that it holds the oils securely, so I still keep them in there (now that I've learned the secret of the drawer)! But this also isn't a great example of user-friendly design. The box being one color throughout ended up confusing me because I couldn't find any visual signposts. Just changing the color of the ribbon to something like red or silver would have helped me figure things out sooner. Something on the box telling me there were twenty oils inside would help the user know to look for the drawer. Having a list of the scents inside would also be helpful if the user needed to quickly remember what they essential oils they currently have.

Thanks for joining me for this UXploration! What have UXplored this week? Are you a fan of Colourpop's collections? Do you use essential oils? Do you think all my opinions are wrong? Let me know in the comments!