Phygital design, in brief, is a fusion of physical and digital elements in product or service design. It's the latest trend due to its ability to deliver enhanced customer experiences, whether in-store or online.

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Step into the phygital world, where the physical and digital blend effortlessly. Coined in some marketing brainstorming sesh, this term is no longer a fancy buzzword. It's the blueprint for creating smart, interactive brand experiences. In 2025, it's the norm, not just a trend.

Imagine walking into a store, and a cake box starts chatting with you. Or a deodorant can launches a mini video game. Or a mirror mirrors more than just your reflection; it helps you choose the perfect outfit. That's phygital, and it's reshaping how we play, shop, and design.

Caspar Thykier, cofounder and CEO of Zappar, a UK-based computer vision company, sees phygital as more than just a curious mixture. "It's about turning passive moments into interactive ones," he says. Zappar has helped everyone from Betty Crocker to Lynx create phygital magic with packaging turning into digital portals.

Transforming Crisis to Opportunity

When the pandemic hit, many British retailers had to adapt quickly. Liberty London, a 150-year-old fashion icon, began offering virtual consultations for lipstick to linen, moving one-on-one styling appointments to Zoom. The result? A surprisingly human experience that mixed elegance with digital utility.

Phygital provided a solution: why choose between tradition and technology when you can have both?

What's remarkable is that all this can be done without an app. It's all powered by WebAR, a form of AR that's becoming the default for brands who don't want their customers jumping ship at the App Store.

"Every second of friction costs you," says Thykier. "So it has to be instant. Tap, scan, play."

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This means a simple tap can create an experience that reaches a large audience, while using the same creative assets that might power a full AR app or VR environment behind the scenes.

Take baking brand Betty Crocker, who recently used Zappar's services to add AR functionality to their packaging. Point your phone at the box, and bam! You get an on-box tutorial complete with step-by-step baking instructions, videos, voiceovers, and even play areas to customize your cake. The cake mix isn't just a product—it's content.

Brand ties like Lynx (AKA Axe) turned products into playable experiences. Scan a can, trigger an AR competition, maybe with a rapper like Aitch, all while encouraging participation. The kind of campaign your teenage self would've never believed, and your CMO would've been drooling over.

The Phygital Edge

The real magic of phygital design lies in its spatial genius. It's not just digital stickers slapped on a screen; it's stuff that unfolds around you. Think of it as designing for context, not just clicks.

"We're used to designing in rectangles—billboards, phones, packaging," Thykier says. "Now we're designing for tables, walls, shelves, parks. You have to think: Where is this being experienced? What does it feel like when someone walks around it?"

This shift—from flat to 3D—forces creative teams to think more like set designers and less like UI builders. It's about choreography, motion, surprise. And it's also incredibly democratic. A designer working on a box of cereal can now stage an interactive scene in someone's kitchen.

Phygital isn't just visual. Sound is crucial. So is texture and motion. Zappar's run campaigns where scanning a bottle reveals animated characters and ambient music that shifts as you rotate the label. These aren't ads; they're micro-brand moments.

Timing is Everything

So, why now? Tech, culture, and expectations. First, the hardware's up to speed. Phones are AR-ready from the moment you unbox them. WebAR means no apps needed.

Second, we're all living hybrid lives these days. Since COVID, we order groceries through apps, attend Zoom meetings, and wander virtual showrooms. Phygital gets it—it's about bridging the gap between IRL and digital.

Third, people are tired of being sold to. "Advertising has to earn attention now," Thykier says. "Phygital lets brands offer value, useful, beautiful, sometimes weird experiences that make you stop and smile."

It makes sense commercially too. These campaigns are measurable—clicks, dwell time, scan rates, they're not voodoo tricks. They're business tools. And they can collect user data too—the gold dust for our CMOs.

Until recently, phygital experiences were seen as creative experiments or nice-to-haves. But a wave of European legislation is turning this hybrid design space into a compliance-driven priority, giving phygital some serious teeth.

The Digital Product Passport (DPP), part of the EU Green Deal, is about to make it mandatory for consumer goods to carry a digital identity—a scannable source of truth that reveals where a product came from, what it's made of, and how to recycle or repair it. For designers and marketers, that means packaging can no longer just look good—it needs to communicate clearly and interactively. Enter phygital.

Meanwhile, the European Accessibility Act—coming into force at the end of June 2025—raises the stakes even further. It requires that digital services and interfaces (from e-commerce sites to product labels) be accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities. That's a wake-up call for anyone creating AR, WebAR, or interactive content. Inclusion isn't just good design—it's the law.

For brands, these shifts mark a turning point. Phygital isn't just a creative playground; it's becoming the most effective—and increasingly essential—way to meet regulatory requirements, reach wider audiences, and design with purpose.

In the phygital world, a brand's packaging can transform into a digital portal, as demonstrated by Zappar's collaboration with Betty Crocker, turning a cake mix box into an interactive tutor.
Phygital design goes beyond flat rectangles, encouraging creatives to think like set designers, considering the spatial context, motion, and surprise of an interactive experience.
Brand ties like Lynx (AKA Axe) have used phygital experiences to engage consumers, turning their products into playable experiences, such as AR competitions with popular artists.
The digital identity of consumer goods will soon become mandatory with the implementation of the EU Green Deal's Digital Product Passport, pushing packaging design towards clear, interactive communication.
The European Accessibility Act, coming into force at the end of June 2025, requires digital services and interfaces to be accessible to all, which includes creating phygital content that is inclusive to people with disabilities.
The upcoming legislative changes are turning phygital design into a compliance-driven priority, making it the most effective and increasingly essential way for brands to meet regulatory requirements, reach wider audiences, and design with purpose.
Phygital experiences offer value to consumers by providing useful, beautiful, and sometimes entertaining interactions, something that is crucial in an era where people are growing weary of traditional advertising methods.
The CEO of Zappar, Caspar Thykier, views phygital not just as a curious mix, but as the key to turning passive moments into interactive ones by using WebAR technology, making instance interactions possible without the need for separate apps.

Phygital design, in brief, is a fusion of physical and digital elements in product or service design. It's the latest trend due to its ability to deliver enhanced customer experiences, whether in-store or online.