Reshoring, insourcing, near sourcing . . . Lots of talk these days about bringing manufacturing “back to the USA”. How do you figure out and compare costs when making the decision on where to buy your products and/or packaging? The Reshoring Initiative has a Total Cost of Ownership Estimator program that is free – go [...]

My recent visit to San Francisco could have been called the Tour of the Brave. These customers are the ones with an idea, the guts, the power of persuasion plus the money to turn that idea into a business! Here are a couple of companies and people I met. For the most part, I am [...]

Just back from Chicago and GraphExpo 2012. Print is dead you say? Au contraire! Print just will not die – it will adapt and work well with other communication methods. Trends in print and packaging were talked about and seen on the show floor this week. Here’s what I heard the most as it relates [...]

Sometimes it’s just not right to cover up your product with a box. And sometimes you still need that box for protection, ease of packing and fulfilment. Windows on your folding cartons can solve that situation for you! When specifying a window, you can choose to have an open window, a patch window or a [...]

You’ve got your grandmother’s recipe or a great idea for a new product and now you’ve got to put it into a some kind of packaging. I have lots of people call me with their ideas and I love the entrepreneurial spirit, the courage, the new ideas, the promise of success. There’s a lot to [...]

I’ve had the pleasure of working with Lucy, Charlie, the staff and all the pet dogs at  The Honest Kitchen for several years.  When we first got together, they were no longer just a startup,  so they knew what they wanted in packaging but just didn’t have it finessed quite yet. Working with their team and [...]

So you’ve designed the folding cartons for your retail product. Now you’ve got to design the corrugated shipper! You’ve got a new set of rules when printing on corrugated. Designing for print on this substrate is a a bit different compared to designing for print on SBS or other paperboard. The fibers and formation of [...]

How about getting a lunch box full of your favorite Bare Escentuals cosmetics?! One of the sets is available at Nordstrom now! The material makeup of this box is actually a litho lam box: it’s printed on 12 point SBS first and then laminated to single face corrugate. This type of folding carton gives you extra strength [...]

A while back, I wrote about the redesign of Uinta Brewing’s 12 pack litho lam boxes. Here are some of their case shippers. You’ll notice the typography and graphics are related, but with corrugated print parameters in mind.

Saw this display last month in the window at an “Irish” pub.  One of those Guinness pubs. Folding Cartons, Tins and Rigid Set Up Boxes! Packaging has always been the shelf talker, it’s just become a bit more sophisticated.

I wanted to highlight these folding cosmetic cartons for the production steps they use. First, these are printed 4 color plus one color (custom luminous beige) and one Pantone color on the inside – all in one cost effective pass through the printing press. The finishing techniques (embossing and foil stamping) are what set this carton apart from [...]

Here’s a yummy way to promote your brand. Dress My Cupcake. I met the sweet people at Dress My Cupcake at the 2012 Fancy Food Show n January. Standard designs are available, but you can also do custom! Regular, Mini and even Jumbo sizes are available. They even have reusable and metallic wrappers. Custom cupcake [...]