Thursday 5 September 2013

The Visual Hug - The growing need to feel connected

Visually Stimulating and sincere pack design and branding


Visual Sincerity – packaging trend

The Digital era is forcing us as consumers to reconnect with the real world and the result is we want real easy fast yet sincere packaging. With many companies trying to find that niche sweet spot on the shelf, we are seeing a move to a more sincere and rustic feeling graphic and presentation of product. This is almost demanding honesty because you can see the product in all its glory. What we are looking for is the craft and skill in the manufacture of the product and this must be conveyed via the graphic and pack it resides in.



Greek designer Zafeiriadis Christos has looked to recreate the connection between maker and consumer with his packaging design for a limited edition wine. Printed with a silk-screen printing method on paper, illustrations depict the process of creating wine from the harvest to the bottling.


A limited edition packaging for the juice brand Rich also seeks to reconnect the consumer with the life of the product, using a sketchy script style with hand-drawn elements of illustration.


Contrasting sharply with the glossy, mass-manufactured styles usually found in the chilled juice aisle, Rich has an attention-grabbing level of detail, yet uses a very limited palette of colours.

The high-end, UK supermarket brand Waitrose has gone for a Visual Sincerity style on its Good To Go range – it features hand-drawn illustrations and a script-like style of typography. The Waitrose design shows that the trend for raw, sketchy graphics has now progressed beyond small artisan brands and is now being gradually embraced by the mainstream.

Visual Sincerity is a visual manifestation of the consumer need to be reconnected with the makers of the products they consume – whether it’s beer, wine, bread or fruit juice.



Sustainable Packaging - Only so far you can go without technology




Sustainable Packaging

With packaging being such a visual and tactile touch-point between consumer and brand, innovations in sustainability have come thick and fast – from light-weighting glass bottles, to using organically based inks.
However, the Neo-Eco trend has resulted in changing consumer perceptions – sustainable packaging is no longer seen as a bonus or a value added feature. Instead it’s expected as default that brands will produce designs that are lighter, more recyclable and less wasteful.
Such is the value put on sustainable packaging by consumers that a recent survey by IPSOS found that 55% of people would pay more for eco-packaging. Just as interesting is the fact that those in South Africa, Malaysia and India were most likely to say this, as people in developing economies start to put greater emphasis on sustainable living.


In China, Unilever has recognised the growing ecological concern of urban residents and has produced more products in a refillable format to encourage re-usability. The Chinese government has also realised the aspiration among it’s urban population to improve living conditions by reducing pollution, improving air quality and having cleaner city streets. As a result, in 2012 the government pledged to significantly reduce packaging waste and promote recycling by 2015.
A dominant aspect of the Neo-Eco trend is the growing awareness among brands that having a greener approach to their business not only provides a marketing advantage, but also financial benefits too.
For example, British retailer M&S expects to save £70million by 2015 through its sustainable packaging initiative, Plan A.
Other brands have seen rising fuel prices and landfill taxes as key economic reasons to innovate their packaging, with lightweighting and concentrated product formats particularly popular. Such is the drive among companies to reduce their product footprint, that many FMCG brands are reducing the amount of landfill they are responsible for by 30% by 2015 (Mintel).

Coca-Cola and Nestle are two such brands, as they seek to reduce production costs as well as their environmental footprint. The lightweighting of the Coca-Cola glass bottles has been well publicised, as has the efforts by Buxton and Pure Life to reduce the amount of PET used in their bottles by 25%.
Sustainable design cues are also moving away from cliché uses of brown paper and card, with a refocusing on packaging being more intelligent, self-regulatory and adaptive to the market.
In this respect, Neo-Eco packaging has become about the addition of technology, not just the reduction of materials.
The Sustainable Expanding Bowl is one such example – designed by Anna Glancen, Hanna Billquist and Swedish research company Innventia, the packaging expands into a bowl that users can eat from when hot water is added. Created predominantly for freeze-dried food, the pack comes in a compressed state and is made from bio-based and bio-degradable materials.
As consumers increasingly expect sustainable packaging to have intelligent, reactive design attributes, brands will continue to produce more packs with transformational properties.
The perception that sustainable packaging should provide better material properties than the non-sustainable equivalents has even led some premium brands to experiment with new and innovative substrates.
Veuve Clicquot has recently produced a bio-degradable pack using potato starch and recycled paper. Despite obviously being a sustainable pack execution, the key feature is the isothermal properties of the material that will keep the champagne bottle cool for up to two hours after being removed from the fridge.

The use of the materials also allows a handle to be moulded into it, creating a packaging that is convenient, provides better performance and positions the product as well suited for an outdoor / picnic scenario – a considerable advantage over it’s competitors.

Importantly, this shows that using a sustainable approach to packaging can result in better product experience and a move away from packaging that is good because it’s sustainable, and towards packaging that is better through being sustainable.
Sustainable packaging will continue to be a key area of development for brands looking to not only improve their image with consumers, but also provide a better product experience and, ultimately, improve the bottom line. However, Unilever recently reported that global consumer usage accounts for almost 95% of the green house gas emissions associated with its soaps, shower gels and shampoo’s.
This would indicate that the future of sustainable packaging should not only be about becoming more efficient and recyclable, but also empowering positive changes in consumer lifestyles – helping the global consumer lead a life that’s more convenient and aspirational, but with a limited impact on the environment.
This consumer trend was explored by Ben Sillence ben@path-designs.com







Wednesday 12 June 2013

Packaging Guys Interactive Packaging Innovation & Design Blog

Packaging Guys Interactive Innovation & Design Blog

     Hello and welcome to the "Packaging Guys" Innovation Blog.

       My name is Graeme Hawke and I will be your Blog host with updates and historical information added at least monthly about what is going on in the world of Packaging, Innovation, print, marketing, Inks, materials and all things related to your products from packing and filling to the final product standing in the consumers pantry . We are currently looking at ways to enhance your packaging via graphics and coatings, as well as playing around with dollar saving ideas in 6 colour process and high yield process inks.

        For those that do not know me I have been with AMCOR Packaging over 31 years and have extensive knowledge in Structural and Graphic design and pre-press, plate making Tooling, materials, supply chain, manufacturing and all things Corrugated and Cartons. I also have a working knowledge of most packing equipment but have access to some of the best machine people in Australia. I have worked for Amcor Fibre Packaging in Australia and the United Kingdom and for the Cartons group now for the last 14 years.

       Below are some Patented Ideas and products I have been involved with or was the lead innovator

The AMCOR Patented Re-close carton for all your reuse needs.
The AMCOR Patented Fold out Twin Wine bottle Pack - (Beverage)


The AMCOR Patented "QuickPak" Multiple bottle pack auto filled, distribute upright or laydown and sell as a counter display