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Common Packaging Symbols You Need To Know

Posted March 24, 2023

Are you looking to learn about packaging and work as a business, vendor, or consumer? Well, your knowledge about packaging symbols can help you learn about the ones that matter to you. So, these symbols can do your job easily in this field by helping you understand what your production unit images mean.

Also, you can find out what it means by an indicator on your boxes and packages. All top packaging signs are explained in this blog with appropriate visual descriptions. Also, you can find some universal packaging signs that matter to you and your consumers in different product types.

Importance of These Indicators

Now, symbols need a lot of importance due to their many roles. So, if your package carries an indicator, it can help with multiple things. For instance, you can use them to inform consumers about the safety measures a product needs.

Also, you can convey that you can recycle the product. Moreover, you can tell them to show that they meet certain standards. Knowing and using them can save time and communicate the real message. This way, you make certain claims that improve how well your customers respond to your product packing. So, we will discuss some of these indicators you need to know about to perfect your packing response.

Warning Symbols

We know warnings can be intimidating, but using the right ones can help save a life and a product. So, here are some indicators that can help improve with the right communication:

• You can add an indicator of do not open with a knife warning. It can help save products from damage when unpacking. You can see this as a box with a cross symbol with a cutter.
• Also, you can see a handle-with-care indicator that looks like a hand covering a box from the side.
• At the same time, you can tell about a flammable product. Use this one to help customers avoid any fire accidents. This one would carry a box with a flame, denoting its flammability.
• You can find a symbol for keeping your product package dry as well. This one carries an umbrella to denote what it means.
• Stacking things up one over another can be a problem for your products. So, using an indicator with two boxes stacked with a cross on them can denote this.
• Another sign that indicates a product can easily break can also be handy. This one contains glass with cracks in it.
• Also, using a do not lift symbol can help reduce the chances of your consumers having a backache. You can add a person’s image with lines around their back to show this information.
• A similar one to Do not lift is the one that tells about using a trolly. You can use it by adding a trolley to your box with 2 boxes on top.
• Another warning is to use the “keep-this-side-up” symbol that tells which side of a package will be kept upwards. This one would have two arrows pointing upside down with a line under them.

Food Packaging Signs

Food items use a lot of signs that tell consumers what to care about them. So, ensuring you convey the right information about food can help consumers trying to learn about items. Here are some food packaging signs you need to have:

• You can inform customers that the product is edible by adding a glass and a fork to your packaging as an indication.
• Showing your food as vegetarian-suitable can help improve sales. So, an image of two leaves inside a circle with “suitable for vegetarians” in the circle will show it is suitable for such consumers.
• Also, you can show a green indicator with three arrows in triangle form.
• Indicating a package suitable for a microwave can also be helpful. For example, this one would carry a container with multiple heat waves on top.
• Using a keep clean one can help your audience save the surroundings from waste. You can show a person with a bucket in front of him and paper falling inside it.
• Another similar one carries three arrows in triangle form with PET under it and “1” written inside it.
• A downward triangle with an exclamation sign in the middle shows that the food item contains common allergens.
• Showing a gluten-free product comes with the text “Gluten Free” with “F” looking like a tree branch is also used. This sign tells your product contains no substances that can harm them.
• An ice symbol image inside a square box can show that the product will stay appropriate when frozen.

Cosmetic Packaging Symbols

Women love cosmetics, which means keeping them safe and pretty is crucial. Here are some:

• The period after opening is one of the images you can use to show how long the product will be useable.
• Hourglass sign shows best before a certain date after manufacturing. Therefore, it would also carry a date that will state BBE.
• A green dot with a crescent-like arrow inside shows the producer’s dedication to better recycling. It means they pay a company to take care of their product’s recycling.
• Avoiding fire accidents with a flammable image is widely used in cosmetics. A host of such products can carry flammable contents, which is why it is important.
• Audiences seeking animal testing-free products and companies can rely on the leaping bunny image. This one shows there is no animal testing from the manufacturers.
• USDA organic is another seal that tells about the product that says 95 percent of the product ingredients are organic.

These cosmetic packaging symbols are essential for consumers looking for solutions.

Medical Packaging Symbols?

Now, medicine is a part of our lives that needs to be super safe and offer the benefits we need. Some common ones covered earlier also apply, like keeping it dry, and the best before-date ones do apply here. While some new ones can be crucial in keeping people healthy and safe, like:

• You can show an image of a white factory on your medicine packages, which shows the date it was produced.
• The black factory signs detail product producers and their addresses.
• A sign of 2 crosses inside a circle is used for disposable medical equipment. So, any product box carrying this symbol is useable only once.
• A similar image with Sterilize under it shows you should medically clean it before the second use.
• A triangle with the text “Non-Sterile” indicates that it has not undergone this procedure before.
• An image showing the product’s temper proofs uses a box with one side broken and a cross inside a circle. This indicator shows you should not use the product if already open.

Medical signs indicate and impart a feeling of special communication and trust for your customers. Therefore, the better you communicate these specifications, the more reliable your products will be for them. These medical packaging symbols allow consumers to understand what the packages tell them about products.

Environmental Packaging Symbols

Everyone is talking about safety for the environment and why it matters. People are more into ensuring the planet does not get any more hits from humans. So, any environmental signs about the product are a major concern people care about.

Here are some of them you should know as a business owner and a consumer:

• The corrugated box recycles the image with 4 folding panels inside an arrow in an incomplete circle form showing their features.
• Then, they’re the ones that have a code inside a recycling triangle. They show the types of plastic resins used for production.
• Also, you can find the one that shows the product is compostable. This one would carry a ring-formed plant emerging like a sprout from the middle of this ring.
• Two arrows invertedly pointing towards each other inside a green basket show compostability for the product within the home environment.
• If a product carries a panda image WWF uses, the producers contribute to the organization.

All of these perfectly help improve your customers and audience’s information. Adding such info can improve how good sales you get.

We Care About Product Experience

The Packaging Hub is a player in keeping your customers and consumers safe and informed. We take care of all of these signs to ensure we make your customers’ experience special with these indicators. These food, cosmetics, and recycling packaging symbols can change how they respond to your products.

So, we ensure they get the best experience for your customers.