Packaging design must overcome a major obstacle. Consumer attention is a limited quantity. Decisions are made in seconds. By itself, beautiful, practical design is not enough. To overcome this barrier, packaging designers are turning to novel and appealing shapes. The idea of shape usage, cited in a March 2016 Creative Bloq piece, has many implications…. Read more
With Labelexpo Americas only days away, packaging industry experts are focusing on the “how” of label design and production. That is as it should be. But label and packaging pros should also be aware of market forces. Lately, product label transparency is one such force. I don’t mean literal transparency. iC3D does give designers the ability… Read more
I have been involved with the printing industry for over four decades. The smell of ink and paper still takes me back to my first apprenticeship in Naples, New York. My nostalgia fuels a desire to see printers succeed, even when the tide of digital and economic change is against them. Despite predicted growth in… Read more
As the consumer product supply chain becomes more sophisticated, we find new ways to make packages better. Sometimes the changes—like food safety or RFID tracking—have little impact on a package’s appearance. But other developments in smart packaging can have a profound impact on design. Consumer Product Companies (CPCs) need to be ready. CPC brand managers’… Read more
When it comes to environmental sustainability, consumer product packaging often has a bad reputation. After all, landfills do contain plastic packaging that will take eons to disintegrate, and the debate over oceanic “garbage patches” rages on. Consumers are increasingly sensitive to packaging sustainability issues—to a degree that affects their purchase decisions. It’s not always a… Read more
