Good packaging makes food taste better: A design makeover master explains how

5 Jan

by Terpco Social Media Admin in Food Packaging No Comments

Over the course of her 40-year career, award-winning designer Louise Fili has applied her elegant touch to book covers, store signage, subway posters, and even a series of bestselling postage stamps. But her favorite kind of assignment is design makeovers—especially for food packaging.

“It gives me great satisfaction to clean up after someone else’s mess,” jokes Fili, who gave Quartz a tour of an exhibition of her work at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan (closing Dec. 10). The 65-year-old designer, who has worked on packaging for biscuits, jams, teas, wine, chocolate, and ice cream, says that improving the label, container, or logo for food has an impact that goes beyond aesthetics. “Quite simply—and this might sound strange—a good package design can make food taste better,” she says.

To demonstrate her point, Fili points to the package for Gelato Fiasco that she redesigned in 2013. The Maine-based company, which makes its products using traditional Italian techniques, sold their small-batch ice cream in cheap plastic takeout containers before hiring Fili. “It’s the package that says it all—if it’s a beautiful package that looks trustworthy and authentic, you believe it,” she says. “Gelato Fiasco had that takeout salad container. Why would you trust that?”