Aiming to design the perfect ice cream cup? From attracting attention to helping your products stand out from the competition, an effective ice cream cup design can have a range of benefits for your business.

Like all things design related, there are subjective elements to ice cream cup design. However, there are also objective, simple rules that you can follow, whether you’re designing an ice cream cup with lid or a plain, single-serving ice cream cup for use in your shop.

Below, we’ve listed three simple but effective tips that you can use to improve your ice cream cup design and make a bigger impact, whether you’re hiring a professional to design your ice cream cups or taking care of the entire process in-house.

1. Choose a Color Scheme That Matches Your Ice Cream

Here’s a simple way to make your ice cream cups look more appealing to potential customers -- pick a color scheme that, instead of being generic across your entire range of ice cream flavors, matches the specific flavor of ice cream you’re selling.

Flavor-specific ice cream cup color schemes -- for example, pink for strawberry and brown for chocolate -- can help your ice cream products stand out from the crowd, all while producing a more appealing aesthetic for potential customers.

While this strategy does incur some additional costs -- you’ll need to order a larger variety of cups, for example, than you would with a single cup design -- it’s a great way to ensure your packaging stands out from the crowd and results in a more appealing product.

2. Focus on Readability For Essential Information

One of the most common design mistakes, whether for carrying bags or ice cream cups with lids, is trying to squeeze too much information into an overly small space. Ice cream cups are compact, meaning it’s best to focus on essential information rather than every detail about your product.

When you’re designing your ice cream cups, focus on readability. Choose a large typeface for any essential information, such as your brand name and the specific flavor, with smaller text to express minor details.

Then, before you finalize your design, take an editor’s approach to the cup design and cut out any information that isn’t essential to produce a simpler and more appealing design that your target audience will find easy to read.

3. Keep Your Branding Simple, Visible and Consistent

Finally, it’s important to keep your overall brand image in mind when you’re designing ice cream cups for your business. This means maintaining a consistent typeface, visual style, wording, and other details, even if you opt for a different color scheme for every flavor.

Consistency helps consumers identify with your brand, making them more likely to remember it in the future. It also helps your brand stand out from the competition, as consistent design tends to “pop” visually and stand out to people familiar with it.

In short, keep your branding simple, visible and consistent. There’s no prize for having the most complicated ice cream cup design. However, there are significant, measurable financial benefits to opting for a simple, easily visible and consistent brand image.