How a cost-effective packaging artwork delivery helps in business

Introduction

Most consumers are unaware just how much variety and brands are present in the average supermarket. Consider this: Nestle, one of the world’s leading FMCG companies owns 2000 separate brands. Each brand e.g. Nescafe comes in a variety of sizes and packaging which change across countries, with subtle changes in language, color, etc. In the industry each of these variations is called a Stock Keeping Unit, or SKU. To get a sense of how many SKUs actually exist can be hard. Walmart, in a 2018 investor event revealed it has 75 million SKUs! In this blog lets examine how a cost-effective packaging artwork delivery helps in business. In this blog lets examine how a cost-effective packaging artwork delivery helps in business.

As it begins to dawn on one that each SKU has unique packaging and that marketing cycles are getting shorter, the enormity of creating packaging artwork with industrial precision becomes apparent. No wonder then that large brands have large sized packaging departments which produce their own artwork or manage several vendors to produce it. Nevertheless, to make the entire process streamlined from concept-to-production is a significant challenge.

The Artwork Creation Workflow

Artwork creation in the professional packaging design industry typically involves several stages, including:

Briefing: The first stage is to understand the project requirements, which may include the design brief, target audience, brand guidelines, packaging specifications, and other relevant details.
Concept Development: The next stage is to brainstorm ideas and develop concept designs. This may involve sketching, digital mockups, and/or physical prototypes.
Design Approval: Once the initial designs are developed, they are presented to the client for approval. Feedback is gathered, and revisions are made until a final design is agreed upon.

These first three steps are generally the domain of a design agency, obviously in collaboration with the product’s brand manager. It is a creative process supported by lots of marketing analysis, target audience surveys, brand guidelines, etc. By the end of Step 3, the design agency has usually put together the necessary wireframes (sketches) so the client knows what to expect; however the details are rarely filled in at this point.

Artwork Creation:

At this stage, the designer starts creating the design prototype. Every last detail is now locked in- the design, color palette, and even the texture. However, the art designer rarely concerns himself with the packaging shape or material, focusing instead on providing the final version of the approved 2D file. Now the “ball”, as it were, passes to the packaging pre-press expert. From this point forward all modifications in the artwork are to ensure the designer’s vision can be translated onto the final package, whatever shape, color, and material the packaging might be. For instance, to continue the Nescafe example, consider that various packages are available in glass bottles with paper labels, plastic containers with shrink sleeves, and flexible plastic sachets.

The packaging prepress expert modifies the design and layout of the art file, and does color correction as required to prepare a pre-press file. The pre-press expert is quite distinct from the designer, with different background and skillset. After the final design is approved, the designer creates the final artwork files with vector graphics. He may also produce dielines (dotted lines that show where and how a flat file will be folded to create the final package) and 3D mockups for advertising, shelf-planning and other services.

Prepress:

The next stage is to prepare the artwork files for printing. Note that this “Prepess” is not the same as above. Here the finished, print-ready file may need to be modified again to match the requirements of the printer in question. Each machine has a slightly different output profile, so it is important to adjust the print-ready file to account for that variation. The adjustment might be about color correction, file optimization, etc. This could also be the stage where a “short run” prototype is created.

Print Production:

Once the artwork files are approved for printing, the packaging is produced using various printing techniques such as flexography, lithography, or digital printing.

Conclusion

As is evident, packaging artwork delivery is complex, with multiple stakeholders and moving parts. To keep things cost-effective, brands are keen to look for even the smallest area for cost optimization. One of the “easy pick” candidates here is the packaging pre-press work. This is a skilled, but procedural job. At Manipal Digital, we train our pre-press services staff to come up to speed with brand guidelines very fast. That is the key to creating value for clients. We pay special attention to transparency, customer service and expert opinion availability. As a result Manipal Digital has worked with the world’s largest brands, and now it can do the same for you! Contact us today with your requirements, and begin the journey towards cost optimization.