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Ever heard the phrase ‘can’t see for looking’? My granny used it often, usually when fumbling around the kitchen cupboard looking for box of tea bags that were parked firmly on the shelf front of her.

It’s a turn of phrase that holds real resonance in packaging design. How many times have we wandered up and down a supermarket aisle picking up brands without giving others a second glance, let alone a second thought?

This lapse in attention to our surroundings has been well documented, the most famous of which was demonstrated by Simon and Chabris who ran a study some years ago into what is termed inattentional blindness. The experiment involved asking viewers to watch a video of a basketball game and count the number of times one particular team passed the ball. Mid way through someone dressed in a gorilla suit strolled onto the centre of the court, turned and faced the audience before performing a slightly bizarre jig then slowly walked off. Viewers of the game were none the wiser because their attention was focused on the passing of the ball and not what was going on elsewhere.

In a retail environment this proves two things. Firstly, that recognition is critical and, therefore, brand equity must be very carefully developed and managed and secondly, that stand out is key.

When shopping, our attention focuses on certain features and distinguishes them from the background. Where we look for products and how we look depends on how we take in a scene and how we understand that scene. Bearing this psychology in mind, when we validate the effectiveness of packaging design in research scenarios, are we sure that we are giving the sample the most realistic experience of how they would normally interact with a brand?

There is evidence to suggest that traditional focus group have given way to more direct observational research – or ethnography to give it its official moniker. Focus groups rely heavily on the proactive attitude of sample target audiences to provide killer insights into a brand. But, packaging design has to work on shelf and not in the middle of a coffee table so observational studies, such as accompanied shops, provide more relevant evidence of top of mind behaviour and the subtle changes of body language in situ.

That said, behaviour varies from category to category. For example, so-called commodity goods such as milk are mostly a low engagement purchase which the consumer navigates on auto-pilot. Premium bottled ale on the other hand is a high-engagement process making the shopper more receptive to key elements like an on-pack brand story, which is more likely to result in a considered selection of goods. And this is where focus groups do provide value.

In many ways our response to design is governed by our subconscious which is, in turn, shaped by our values, needs and attitudes. Using focus groups and related qualitative research tools provides a way of identifying what these underlying consumer motivations are so that brand owners can better understand the needs of their audiences. By building the values and aspirations of strategic research into packaging design before testing that design in a realistic purchasing environment, brand owners can ensure that a product’s design will hold enough stand out to capture purchaser attention and avoid falling foul of buyers not being able to see it for looking.