Designing Bespoke Packaging: 3 Steps to Choosing the Perfect Product Packaging

If you’re looking for a company to design and provide high-quality bespoke packaging for your product, here’s how to go about making sure you’re satisfied with the results.

Creating bespoke packaging for products is an in-demand service used by both large and small companies, from internet retailing giants to SME distributors and retailers. To make life easy for you, here are some simple but highly effective steps you can follow to get the perfect bespoke packaging for your product.

Step 1 – Discovery

This first step deals with asking key questions. It’s essential that any bespoke packaging company you are considering has the essential information and specifications. Be prepared to answer the following questions:

  • What product do you want bespoke packaging for?

  • What size is the product?

  • How do you ship it? (Cardboard boxes? Envelopes? Bags? Wraps?)

  • What volume of products do you ship annually?

  • Are there any specific considerations? (Labelling? Security needs? Hazardous materials? Compulsory regulations or requirements?)

  • Are there any known issues with existing packaging or shipping?

Considering the above will put you in a good position to help develop a good packaging specification for your product.

Step 2 – Specification

With a precise and realistic specification, designing and manufacturing your bespoke packaging should present no problems. The following factors should form the core of your bespoke packaging specification:

Materials: choosing the correct material in relation to your bespoke packaging is critical to its success. The material chosen will determine much of the design and printing options for the finished product packaging. For example, if you choose carboard, its thickness and grade (usually in ‘microns’ or ‘gsm’) will influence the overall strength, durability, and design, as well as how the packaging can be used.

Dimensions: You want the bespoke packaging to fit your packaged product ‘snugly’, with the exception of cases where you need the packaging to house various different items, in which case void-fill can be used to achieve a snug fit, and avoid undesirable empty space.

Printing: The options for direct-printing on your product packaging will be mainly determined by the material, dimensions, and overall structural form of the bespoke packaging.

Specific Considerations: Will your product require any special focus on, for example, security features? Will it require, for example, a peel-n-seal strip to facilitate returns by customers? Do you want your bespoke packaging to be recyclable, or at least reusable in the customer’s home? It’s worth spending time on such considerations to ensure your product packaging delivers everything that’s expected of it.

Design: This, clearly, is probably the most critical element of the process. It should incorporate all of the points discussed above.

Manufacturing Limitations: Be realistic; there’s no point in seeking something which, from a manufacturing perspective, is impossible or prohibitively costly for your bespoke product design. Your final specification should be something actually ‘achievable’ in terms of manufacturing capabilities.

Step 3 – Estimates and quotes

Before finalising your decision, expect to receive a comprehensive and detailed estimation of costs, time of production, etc. and see a mock-up of the final packaging. Take time to review the proposed design and ensure it meets all the needs for your product packaging before moving ahead with a full production run.

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