DEMO — fictional range. Local brief only, NOT SENT. No personal data is collected or transmitted.
PACK
The journey decides the pack, not the product.
Most packaging is specified from the product outwards. It works better the other way: start from what happens to the parcel, then work inwards to the product.
The four questions worth asking.
They are asked before tooling, because each one changes the pack rather than the drawing.
- How far does it travel
- A local delivery and an intercontinental shipment are different specifications
- How many times is it handled
- Each transfer is a drop, and the count matters more than the distance
- What sits on top
- Stacking load is usually larger than the drop load, and it acts for longer
- How is it opened
- A pack that is cut open cannot be returned, and that is a design decision
Where each decision comes from
| Journey | What it decides | What it costs to get wrong |
|---|---|---|
| Single parcel | Drop height and cushioning | A damaged unit and a return |
| Palletised | Stacking strength and alignment | The bottom layer collapses |
| Container | Humidity and board stiffness | Cases that were fine in the trial and soft on arrival |
| Retail shelf | Print and opening | A pack that cannot be merchandised or resealed |
The expensive mistake.
Specifying from the product outwards. The pack is sized to the product and then asked to survive a journey it was never designed for, and the failure appears as a damage rate rather than as a design fault.
And the one that looks harmless.
Assuming the trial shipment is representative. A trial is packed carefully and often travels alone; production travels with everything else.