Packaging : Because it's Hard

Perhaps the most difficult project type in all of the graphic arts is packaging. It is difficult because it can involve complex engineering to ensure the products and their wrappings arrive in perfect condition after circumnavigating the globe. After that, the boxes, bottles or tins (in our case) must be ready for display on the shelves of grudging retailers, both small and immoderately large. Once placed on that shelf, the packaging must extol (in seconds) all of the attributes of the brand, the product, the contents, the manufacturing techniques or ingredients and the quality of the product. It must shine when placed beside competing products and convey greater utility, desirability and worth. Fortunately, our clients – whether they make fine French cookware, boutique wines, Italian olive oil or Canadian eau de vie – lavish the same attention to detail when they make their products as Viva & Co. does when we accept a packaging assignment. This makes our job somewhat easier, but it is still a big challenge. To paraphrase a great American (tongue well in cheek), “We chose to do packaging not because it is easy, but because it is hard.”