5 Holiday Shopping Bag Designs

During the holiday rush, especially in urban areas, stores can use their shopping bags as ambient advertising. Consumers will see other shoppers with the bags and the holiday-oriented designs will act as mini-billboards to advertise the store. In New York City, tons of tourists come to view the garish window displays at upscale retailers such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Bergdorf Goodman. You can see people on the street literally  pointing to and "following the trail of bags" to find the stores themselves. A tip for making your own holiday gift bags quickly and on a budget: order plain paper bags from a distributor such as uline.com and custom print stickers with a holiday design to stick onto the bags. Here are eight holiday shopping bag designs for design inspiration: Pentagram designed this bag for the 2007 holiday rush at Saks Fifth Avenue. The design works based the idea that people on the street will see the bag and "follow it" to Saks! The design is very clever and in-tune with actual consumer behavior. [Image via www.pentagram.com] Ted Baker, a London-based clothing boutique designed its 2008 holiday bag in-house. This is a great example of how to use photography to add depth to a package design. [Image via www.popsop.com] London-based designer and illustrator Lucia Gaggiotti designed this 2007 holiday bag for a gourmet Italian restaurant that also sells gift items. You can see how the shopping bag ties in with the rest of the packaging and brochure design on Gaggiotti's site. [Image via www.luciagaggiotti.com] A painting by Tony Bennett graces this 2008 Bloomingdales holiday bag. The celebrity-created image probably generated some extra buzz for the store. The snowy scene captures the pleasure and luxury of holiday shopping in New York, and really makes me want to buy a cashmere sweater! (I guess you could say the bag design works). [AP Photo via source] Sgt. Pepper meets Jack Frost on this psychedelic shopping bag design for Lucky Brand. Lucky actually worked with designer Sir Peter Blake, who did the "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album cover. The clothing retailer is know for its laid back vibe, so the collage design is a good fit with the brand. [Image via www.pressofatlanticcity.com]