The main thing is to decide what problems you want to solve. Designer individual packaging will help you stand out from the crowd. The standard will make it possible to achieve a reduction in packaging costs with acceptable guarantees of the safety of the investment. The collapsible box is easy to transport to the point of sale, and easy to store, providing the best options for scaling the packaging to changing product dimensions.
It is obvious that boxes differ in geometry, design, dimensions, and materials of manufacturers. How to make a choice and understand which of the many options and solutions is most suitable for your product? What is more important – originality or functionality? Let’s try to figure it out and make some analysis of typical tasks when choosing a box.
However, first, let us count the money.
This parameter sets all the other characteristics of the future packaging – appearance, material, risk to product safety and, consequently, losses, logistics costs, and, ultimately, consumer satisfaction and willingness to re-apply for your product.
Based on the cost of the goods, it is necessary to form a conditional coefficient to determine the price of the future box. Rarely, but it happens that the cost of packaging is comparable to or even higher than the price of the contents, but, in most cases, the box should solve quite standard tasks of preventing damage to the product, having an attractive appearance for the target audience, corresponding to the market segment, and having opportunities for naming: packaging must communicate clearly about the brand and product.
The change in cost factor is the result of customization and a balance between custom design costs, the quality of the materials used, and the type of box construction.
Attention to these details drives up the value of the product, but more importantly, high-quality, well-executed, customized packaging will provide the best consumer experience with your product, remain an accessory on the home shelf and its value picture in the mind, increasing loyalty and the likelihood of repeat purchases. sales.
This is a necessary stage in the consideration of the packaging design project, because the use of budget solutions will help save a significant part of the funds, but can cause hard-to-predict damage to the brand, image, and safety of the product.
On the contrary, standardized packaging solutions, as a rule, have the best ratio of key parameters to the price, but they are completely devoid of recognition due to their mass character.
Secondly, it is necessary to consider and decide on the packaging material.
Traditionally, various derivatives of cellulose materials have served as the main material for the production of packaging, but sheet plastics have gained a prominent place in the latest trends. To be honest, after the novelty effect wears off, their use has somewhat declined, and for good reasons. Many types of polymers are not chemically inert, have a lower range of thermal stability, and require special equipment for printing and finishing operations. Plastic is out of the competition if, for example, the transparency of the box is needed, or the task of increased moisture resistance or resistance to shock loads is being solved.
Most custom and standard packaging designs involve the use of paper and cardboard as the working material. The technologies of their production do not stand still, modern cardboard opens up extremely wide possibilities for design delights with types of printing, their combination, and a palette of post-printing processing. Cardboard packaging is about “spectacularly”. In most cases, it is relatively inexpensive and very convenient for targeted product promotion. At the same time, the strength and rigidity of cardboard packaging – most often these are boxes – does not give reason to doubt the integrity of the contents.
The next thing is to determine the scope of the packaging, its task, and the type of cardboard.
The most expensive products in terms of cost or simply in terms of their visuals, such as gifts, luxury goods, and electronics, are most often combined with packaging called “bottom lid”. This is a classic box consisting of two parts, sometimes combined into a box. The box consists of, in fact, a lid and a bottom, most often rectangular, but nothing prevents them from being oval, round, or polygonal. In addition to high strength, this solution offers many options for external design, primarily due to a combination of types of printing, types of post-print processing, and additional elements. The main material for such a box is binding cardboard; its main characteristics are high density and rigidity.
The second most commonly used material is chromersatz or, in other words, thin cardboard. Chromersatz is produced in many versions – multi-layer cardboard, coated and uncoated, coated, with the addition of pigment. Despite its smaller thickness, it has high strength and high water resistance – in the manufacture of this cardboard a wood resin is added into the pulp and lignin is removed. The image is applied to the cardboard by direct printing. The common name for such a package is a “cut-out box”. A die-cut box made of thin cardboard is much cheaper than a lid-bottom box, it is easy to transport and store when folded. The smaller thickness and therefore flexibility and customization of such packaging allows for dozens of design solutions, and hundreds of designs and allows you to adapt the box to any task.
Most often, a die-cut box is chosen for packaging food, cosmetics, stationery, pharmaceuticals, and haberdashery.
A special place in the packaging is products made of designer cardboard. It is always elegant, very beautiful and definitely expensive. Design cardboard is a great way to declare the exclusive status of the packaging and the exclusivity of the product itself. If the product is expensive perfumes and cosmetics, premium alcoholic drinks, or other chic items, the designer will certainly use the visual and tactile capabilities of designer cardboard for a unique design and complex print. The functionality of a box made of designer cardboard is comparable to boxes made of thin cardboard similar in design, except for less moisture resistance – aesthetics are achieved due to the complex composition and structure.
The last position in the list of individual packages is boxes made of MGC (micro-corrugated cardboard). The area of their use is most often transport packaging. However, since the MGK allows direct surface printing and is also easily laminated with a printed liner, many manufacturers ordering small package sizes choose the MGK box. Boxes made of micro corrugated cardboard are light, extremely durable, easy to transport and store when folded, inexpensive, and due to the accumulated design solutions, they allow you to close everything except the gestalt.
The questions listed above are obviously basic and do not require complex analysis to solve them. It is much more difficult to decide on the idea of performance, graphic performance. The role of packaging, if we are not talking about a shipping or packaging box, is purely a marketing message. In this capacity, a retail box of a bright and attractive accessory reflects the company’s corporate identity, and product positioning becomes a brand ambassador and a key information message.
The right packaging works wonders, subtly assisting your business’ core mission of getting money out of someone else’s pocket without resorting to violence.
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