The craft beer movement has left people with a wealth of options, but how do you decide which craft brew to buy in-store? According to new research, a lot of it lies in the packaging. But not everyone reads the label – it’s eye catching images and logos that make products stand out.

High-end beauty packaging specialist Texen has teamed up with E Ink to create digital packing that lets people customise the exterior of make-up compacts and perfume bottles – no doubt appealing to the 41% of people who are influenced to repeat a purchase by a product’s appearance.

People generally like pretty things, whether that’s a shiny Pink Lady apple or fancy fine china. But can products be too pretty? Canvas8 sat down with Freeman Wu, a doctoral candidate in marketing at Arizona State University, to find out why people don’t like to use aesthetically-pleasing items.

Packaging doesn't just protect contents and indicate ingredients – it now talks like we're best friends. It’s friendly, cheery and even cheeky. But do we really want our food and beauty products to hit on us? What makes successful chatty packaging, and when do we want it to shut up?