Where the Rubber Hits the Road

In today’s intensely competitive consumer environment, a package is considerably more than an inert enclosure or container for a given product. As marketers compete for shelf space and consumer dollars, packages have become dynamic, high-performing marketing tools.

From a design perspective, the creation of a package involves two distinct but intimately related workflows representing structure and graphic design. And, while graphics continue to play a critical a role in boosting a product’s visual appeal, the practical and functional advantages of a well-engineered package should never be discounted. Indeed, the lexicon of box styles—reverse tuck, same tuck or rollover end, crash bottom, snap-lock bottom front, auto-bottom hinge front, auto-bottom pop-up, auto bottom with fifth panel, folder, simplex tray or tray with frame, and many more—rivals the competitive vocabulary of Olympic figure skating and can be as difficult to execute as any triple toe loop.