package design | Printed By Erik

13Jan/100

Learn to Love Math

When I was 8 years old, I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up – a package designer.

From the moment I entered the action figure isle at Toys ‘R’ Us, I knew. I saw all of the cool illustrations and photos plastered all over the packaging. I said to my mom “When I grow up, I want to draw the comics on the front of the boxes.” So, all through school I kinda ignored all of my classes besides art. I slept though Math, English and sketched during Science. Well, I got a rude awakening when I started my professional career.

The first few months were pretty easy. I was using existing templets and products, updating artwork and redesigning outdated materials. Then, my overly ambitious thoughts started to kick in. I wanted to create something from scratch. Not just a resized box, but something that I hadn't seen before. So, I decided to create the Snoopy Dog House out of a single piece of card-stock that folded up easily.

The first attempt didn't turn out so well. Neither did the second or third. I sat there wondering why my folds and tabs didn't line up. Or how I was going to get the roof to have an awning without gaps. It took WAY too long to find the solution. The final die-line turned out great, but it took entirely way too long.

My problem was math. Yes, basic everyday problems that a 12 year old can do. I sure as hell wasn't smarter than a 5th grader and it was kind of embarrassing. I always hated math, never even took the time to give two shits. "Why do I need math? I'm an artist." That was my second favorite line, behind "I go to art school." Now look who's the idiot. After that, I took the time to buff up on my math skills. And it has paid off in a big way. I feel very confident when I start to tackle a complex die-line.

I use math problems every day to create complex die-lines, converting units for the content weights, and things as simple as adding and subtracting. I use math so much that I didn't even realize how much I used it until I started writing this.

One digit can cost you or your company thousands of dollars. All it takes is “NET WT .15 OZ (4.5g)”, when it should be .14 OZ. That right there means that 30,000 new packages need to be re-printed. Or, a new screen charge to fix your mistake. However, not all mistakes cost you at the printer, some waist time – and time is always money.

So here's a tip for anyone interested in getting into package design – take extra math classes and LOVE IT! Well, maybe not love it, but at least pay attention. The more you can do in your head the better.

NewJack

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Tagged as: box, die cut, fold, math, money, package design, score, sketch, time No Comments

29Dec/092

Marketing For Men Only!

In today’s marketplace there are a lot of consumer products that are marketed towards men and men only. Before I officially got my foot in the door as a package designer I often wondered ‘what makes a product just for men?’ And now that I have two years under my belt in the women’s bath and beauty industry I can tell you…Packaging and Marketing. That’s it.
The perfect example of this is AXE. In my opinion, AXE has paved the way for Men’s personal care. As a man, think about what you used before and what you use now. Before, we had the options of bar soap and generic unisex body wash. Or, you could suck up your pride and buy something like Dove’s essence of woman, packaged in a pink bottle with lilac and cherry blossom, depicting pretty pictures of flowers. The latter of the three worked the best in my opinion, but what man wants that in his shower? Women’s products have been tested over and over again to give them the nourishment and essential ingredients that they need to keep their skin looking and feeling healthy. That’s not very manly though, so the manufacturers decided to take out all of that crap and keep it simple. They just made sure that it cleaned your skin, killed germs, and didn’t make you smell like a woman.

About 10 years ago bar soap was about as masculine as you could get when it came to soap, but a majority of them left your skin feeling itchy and dry – the generic body wash wasn’t much better. Now, if you look in the aisles at your local stores you will see an entire section dedicated to men’s bath and body. You will find everything from age defying creams to body washes – all for men.

One day, some guy (or woman) decided, “Hey, men need to take care of their bodies just as much as women do. We should make *$#^@ for men!” And just like everything else in consumer goods, someone made some money and people realized that they had something and the rest followed.

The perfect comparison for men’s versus women’s products is shaving razors. Take a look at a men’s razor and a women’s razor. They consist of the same basic components; razor blades, a moisturizing bar, and a handle. What makes them different other than the color? Nothing! It’s the SAME! So why is one for men and the other for women? The same is true for a very large number of other products.

Packaging and Marketing, that’s what makes a product "just for men." I should know because I design packaging for both men and women. I am the one who writes the ingredients on the back of a label that no one really reads. We use Latin words, scientific words, coded numbers and everything under the sun that the government requires us to put on there. If you took a bottle of women’s shampoo and a bottle of men’s shampoo and looked at the ingredients, they are basically the same. They just have different technical names for the same ingredient. And they do the same thing – clean your hair. But, are you going to buy a shampoo bottle in pink or black? What about the commercials? Imagine a white background with classical music playing and a woman in the bathtub versus a guy getting mobbed by women because he is using a certain shampoo – it’s the same stuff with different commercials. But, which is going to make you more inclined to buy their product?

The way that I see it, we are all human beings. We all need the same things when it comes to personal hygiene – clean healthy skin, hair, and teeth. We all need to shave one part or another. And we all need to smell unoffending. So why act like a tough guy and say “Body wash is for *$#^@%, I’ll take bar soap any day!” or “Only chicks use lip balm, I’m a man. I don’t get chapped lips.”

So now you know. Go out and buy some body wash and an AXE detailer (aka loofah). Get yourself some CHAPFIX+ for your lips and a good skin moisturizer. Just make sure that the packaging is black and labeled for men.

NewJack