Do cheap brands require design of brutal economy?

JKR - Do Cheap brands require design of brutal economy?

This article asks the question of how far do you strip back a design for a value product before it devalues the product and the store?

Martin Francis laid into value own label packaging for looking not just cheap but ugly. His point was not a designer lovey one - rather he was saying that everyone, no matter what they are spending, deserves to have nice looking packs - why make folk feel like they are getting the cheapo rubbish with design to match? Making the basics range look more attractive might confuse a “good, better, best” strategy, but I suppose there are degrees of design refinement that can be applied. - JKR

I think the main issue here is that value packaging needs to do its job, be easily disposable and ultimately low cost. The sacrifices made to design within these parameters have been so far removed that the design work is simply ugly rather than low-key or budget.

Comparing these 4 tins of own brand, budget value baked beans clearly shows the differences in the consideration of presentation. All of the brands, bar Morrisons show the product - one is a photo graph, one a line drawing and the third some kind of coloured illustration. The image is not totally necessary, but it helps the customer to create a link to what they are buying more quickly.