Milk is a liquid and therefore requires a container at every stage of movement from the cow to the consumer. These were metal cans, provided with a lid and having capacities up to about 80 litres. The introduction of this type of container (until recent years often called a ‘churn’) facilitated the transport by railway from rural areas to towns, thus contributing substantially to the rapid growth of milk distribution.
The first significant development in the packaging of milk for retail sale came at the very end of last century with the introduction of the process for sterilized milk in which the retail container, the glass bottle, formed an integral and essential part. In the third decade of this century bottling of pasteurized milk developed rapidly, first in America and soon after in Europe. The glass bottle as the retail package for milk remained unchallenged until 1933 when the first carton made of waxed paper was introduced. The development and introduction of plastic materials for packaging in the dairy industry (initially polyethylene in 1940), alone and in combination with paper, resulted in a wide range of containers, termed cartons, suitable for liquid milk.
Usually we all know milk by the ugly plastic bottle with the different colored caps to showcase it’s percentages. This makes me wonder if the companies even care about how their product is presented to us,but today for your inspiration I have collected some great examples of milk packaging design. I think they are good for inspiration, limitation in milk packaging is using cartoon box, can, plastics or bottle. Enjoy!
35 Cute Milk Packaging Design Inspiration
1. Mook Milk Packaging Designed by Hello
“Mook is a powdered milk product used by caterers. We were briefed to produce a quirky, humorous brand to stand out from the crowd.”
2. Student Work Milk Packaging Designed by Anders Drage
“I love milk.
But unfortunately milk never tastes the same outside Norway. I needed to make my self a problem I could solve. I wanted to make norwegian milk available outside of Norway, but I love the packaging design of high-end alcohol products. The brand Voss have had great success with their norwegian water internationally, so why not make an exclusive norwegian milk?
So how would a exclusive milk from the mountains of Norway look like, if it was to be sold internationally? The solution gives you a warm and good vintage feeling, while maintaining the exclusive look. The typeface that “Mountain Milk” is set in reflects the roots of Norway, and the image that is revealed after you’ve had a glass gives you a picture of the nature in Norway.”
3. Mleko i Miód Milk Packaging Designed by Beza Project
“Mleko i Miód” (Milk&Honey) was designed for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a gift for the Polish EU Presidency. It is a set for preparing a traditional drink. Our studio delivered a turn key solution – from the initial concept design to full coordination and project management at the production level. It consists of a porcelain cup, spoon and a jar of Polish honey. The shape of each element and graphic design were inspired by motifs originating from Polish culture and tradition. The mug was sculpted to resemble a traditional milk can and the spoon is shaped like a quill pen – a nod to the poetic provenance of the term “a land flowing with milk and honey”. The detailed recipe for ”Milk&Honey” can be found inside the box.”
4. Student Work Milk Packaging Designed by Lisa Furingsten, Ida Johansson,Stellan Rexmark,Thomas Björksund
“Milko is a Swedish milk producer. There has been a recent downward trend in sales, our task was to make a redesign to boost sales on milk. Bottled water and vitamin supplements have increased in sales, we want to highlight milk as a healthy and natural alternative. By focusing on the freshness we gave a new input on milk.”
5. Student Work Milk Packaging Designed by Pau Puig Vázquez
“In a market as saturated as the milk, comes Onlymilk, a new brand with the intention communicate the purity of milk. An all white package with only the necessary information highlighting the various types of milk.”
6. Student Work Milk Packaging Designed by Michela Monterosso
“I created a concept series of flavored milk with Japanese names. I imagined these bottles and cartons being sold in a cute artisan shop in Tokyo, maybe along with biscuits and teas.
I chose some Japanese words to represent the feeling of each milk. Amai (meaning sweet) for the vanilla one. Asa (meaning morning) for the coffee flavour milk. Shizuku (meaning drop) for strawberry. Midori (meaning green) for the green tea milk.”
7. Off. Milk Packaging Designed by Julian Hrankov
“Off. was developed as a concept buttermilk drink (with real vanilla) for Arla Foods.
Off. acts as a counterpart to the oversaturated market & philisophy of energy drinks/products. Instead of always pushing forward, Off. encourages the opposite, get offline, unplug. Take a little time off and recharge your batteries naturally, with the aid of Off.”
8. Frisk Milk Packaging Designed by Mats Ottdal
Frisk is a drinking yogurt designed for young children who don’t like milk which uses bright colours and happy fruit-shaped characters to appeal to the target audience. Some of you may remember Mats’ birdy juice concept, which we featured last year.
9. MLK Milk Packaging Designed by Depot WPF Branding Agency
“Challenge: To differenciate the product on the store shelf and to distinguish it from the products of by the big dairy producers.
Idea: “We understood that the indentity of MLK © brand has to be different from the big mega-producers. As for the illustrations, we used natural farming patterns – a family farm, where the products are produced in a traditional way. Illustrations are hand-made (with a pencil) which enables to stress the hand-made production process. In addition, a pencil technique makes the image “soft” – and is overall most suitable tool for solving this task”, as comments the Creative Director of Depot WPF and the Author of the creative idea Alexey Fadeev.
MLK © is a lifestyle, a way of thinking and way of eating of the 21st century. It is truly the whole world of innovations. The development strategy stipulates the launch of a huge quantity of products, beginning with a milk line. I’m sure that Milk is a bomb which is going to make us glad and curious time and again!», as comments one of the creators of the Project, President of the Branding Agency Depot WPF, Co-founder of Russian Association of branding companies Alexey Andreev.
Realizations: In order to create the concept the design team went to the real farm in order to find the possible visaul identity elements for the future brand.
The brand visual identity consists of black and white graphic patterns which were taken from the real environment of the small milk farm. The patterns of the real farm were used in order to reflect the naturalness of the dairy production and the products.
Result: One can name following achievements, such as MLK © is the winner of Epica Awards 2010, MLK © entered the Top-10 of the Package of the Future Contest held in the Framework of Project 2020: The Consumer Experience (PACK EXPO International 2010 (McCormick Place, Chicago, Illinois, USA) in October, 2010.”
10. Spotted Cow Milk Packaging Designed by Motto
“The intent behind the design of the Spotted Cow brand was to be playful, youthful, and based around good ol’ milk mustaches and spilled milk. The design inspiration came from childhood memories of finding images in clouds. A splash of milk in the shape of a cow yielded the ideal design solution. Through the use of various colors in the logo, on the cap and within the type, a clear distinction between each milk variety is made quickly, while evoking engagement with the consumer.”
11. Student Work Milk Packaging Designed by Darren Custance
“I have designed cardboard milk packaging for glass milk bottles. The idea was to use a minimalist approach, keeping the packaging uncluttered and to make a bold statement as to what the product was.
The different types of milk were in different colours to make them easily distinguishable, with the number of bottles on the front indicating the number of milk bottles inside the package.”
12. Soy Mamelle Milk Packaging Designed by KIAN
“The KIAN brand agency took on the process of naming, formulating a creative brand concept, and creating the package shape. Soy milk “Soy mamelle” is a 100% vegetative product. It is a source of high grade fiber and calcium, containing no cholesterol and a proven ability to actually lower cholesterol levels in the human body.
The developed concept of the package shape resembled an udder, which presents the first half of the message in that soy milk is identical to that of a cow. The second part of the message is delivered via the colour score and décor of the packaging, which concentrate on the phytogenesis of the product, creating an image of nature and health.
The package can be made of a PET or a glass. It has convenient lid and leans on a 3 legs. This finding has tremendous potential for improvement of brand identity in POS-materials and nonstandard equipment trading.”
13. Mew Milk Packaging Designed by Default
“A new cereal soy milk product to market to young, urban people who enjoy a fun lifestyle. The packaging shows a fun activity for each flavor.”
14. 8th Continent Soymilk Milk Packaging Designed by BBDO West
“8th Continent is a family-owned dairy in California that sources its beans domestically and makes it’s milk in small batches. There are other flavours available, each one represented by a colour variation. If you’re based in America and of school age then head over to 8th Continent for your chance to have your work featured on a carton and your school could receive $1000 for its arts dept.”
15. Student Work Milk Packaging Designed by Audrée Lapierre
“Our concept was to design a packaging using nutritional facts about the food product. For the milk carton, we used the four sides to inform about the caloric ratio, nutrient balance, ingredients and amount per serving. The diagrams and data visualizations give important and useful information. For example, they quickly show if a food product has a higher proportion of fat.
The data visualizations say more than a regular nutritional facts label. For example, ingredients are visually linked to their corresponding components (carbohydrate, total fat, proteins, sodium, others). In the case of a bag of chips, you would immediately see that it contains lots of ingredients without nutritive value.
Nutritional information becomes the main goal of the packaging, while still carrying a powerful branding by combining an expressive form with useful information.”
16. Bill’s Milkshakes Milk Packaging Designed by ILoveDust
“Some prototype packaging for Bill’s Milkshakes. We took the the Chocolate, Strawberry and Vanilla and gave them a huge overhaul.”
17. Mew Milk Packaging Designed by Subconscious Co. Ltd.
“Mew is the cereal milk with original flavors, cookies’n cream and rum raisin. It targets at young jobbers and college students who are out-going, intellectual, and ambitious. The packaging does not only communicate the flavours, but also reflect our target’s attitude.”
18. Student Work Milk Packaging Designed by Arantxa Rues
“Milk packaging design based on the Swiss International Style.”
19. Mellanmjölk Milk Packaging Designed by Amore
“This design cleverly combines all 25 of the Swedish counties into a cow pattern! Sverigemjölken (The Swedish Milk) is a classy and charming tribute to Sweden.”
20. Student Work Milk Packaging Designed by Ashley Linnenbank
“Milk packaging sure to get noticed on the shelf. Available in skim, chocolate, and whole.”
21. Milk Carton Concept Milk Packaging Designed by Raw Edges
An excellent example of structural package design applied in a functional and communicative way.
“These three different milk cartons distinguish between the rates of fat in the milk by using form rather than colour. The form of the milk cartons reflects in a way on the milk’s texture and smoothness. The two back folds are used as the carton’s handle, while the two in the front function as the spout.”
22. Feez Milk Packaging Designed by HvingtQuatre
“A range of milk-based drinks with a take-away size in 4 flavours; Strawberry, Blackberry, Blueberry and Raspberry.
The milk adorns the packaging, the tasty fruit is brought out on the milk and on the opening that enables the drinking.”
23. Schroeder Milk Milk Packaging Designed by Capsule
“We designed a completely new look for Schroeder, one that communicated on three levels. The first level is a clean, white opaque package that communicated a European sophistication. The next level is the use of the words One, Two, Whole, and Skim each scaled reflect the fat level of the milk, The last is the use of rotating, esoteric phrases that spoke to consumers in an anti-marketing language. Phrases like for dreamers and optimists and for those who fall somewhere in between. The early results speak for themselves. Schroeder saw a sustained 15% increase in distribution due to their new packaging and 22% increase in sales of milk during a recessionary economy.”
24. Forest Milk Milk Packaging Designed by Rise Design Office
The cows which produce this milk are free to roam an unused forest all year round. The milk is supposed to taste better, the theory being that happy cows produce better milk. We like the way the tree graphic reflects the typography as well as the simple yet charming addition of tissue paper covering the bottle cap. Nominated for a Japanese 2009 Good Design Award.
25. Milko Milk Milk Packaging Designed by United Power
Interesting work from Swedish studio United Power for Milko, one of Sweden´s largest dairy companies producing milk products.
26. Arla Milk – WWF Earth Hour Milk Packaging Designed by Milk
“Swedish advertising agency Milk has turned the classic white Arla milk carton black.
It is a campaign for WWF’s Earth Hour. A worldwide event encouraging people to raise environmental awareness by turning off the lights for one hour.”
27. Milk Concept Milk Packaging Designed by David Fung
“This was a personal experiment in form, function, and fun. The goal of this redesign was to use a standard milk carton as the canvas to create a clean, modern, and functional design yet still approachable for the average consumer.”
28. Arla Milk Bottle Milk Packaging Designed by Neumeister
“Input: Arla Foods, the leading dairy company in Scandinavia, wanted to reverse the trend of dropping milk consumption in Sweden.
“Output: A portable milk bottle that fitted the lifestyle of younger people on the go. (In collaboration with PriPac Design & Communication.)
“Outcome: Enabled Arla to compete with traditional lunch beverages, reach new target audiences, and generate plenty of publicity.”
29. Milk Collection Milk Packaging Designed by Hattomonkey
Thanks to Hattomonkey for sending us these extremely creative milk packages. They’re so great I think that each one deserves it’s own post, see the others below.
30. Milk Collection Milk Packaging Designed by Hattomonkey
Fantastic Milk Packaging by Hattomonkey
31. Milk Collection Milk Packaging Designed by Hattomonkey
Fantastic Batmilk Milk Packaging by Hattomonkey
32. Arla Milk Milk Packaging Designed by WERK
“Vector illustrations and typographic designs for the Arla Milk packaging.”
33. LAIT Milk Packaging Designed by Marc Praquin
Beautiful work by Marc Praquin. The white, blind embossed packaging really helps give this milk product a sense of health and purity.
34. Cravendale Milk Milk Packaging Designed by Sanna Annukka
Definitely nice illustration—the packaging is seemingly the only thing that really sets Cravendale apart from other, cheaper milk.
35. Student Work Milk Packaging Designed by Holly Canham
Louche Absinth is a fictional absinth product, created to appeal to premium spirit buyers. The packaging design was influenced by the bohemian culture during the 19th Century in Paris. The watercolour spot is a link to the writers and artists who were famously known to drink absinth during this time. The bottle is coloured a milky/beige as a reflection of the name ‘Louche’ (being the milky essence that forms in the drinking ritual) as well as giving a ‘secretive’ feel.
