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project

Milliken Layout Composer CD packaging project

Milliken Layout Composer CD

Client: American owned Milliken Group is the world's largest privately owned textile and chemicals company. Many of their products are used as components within other products, however one of the few complete products they manufacture is high quality modular carpet for commercial applications.

Project: Milliken commissioned bd2 to develop a series of CD-Roms incorporating a unique 'layout composer' design tool also developed by ourselves. As part of the project we designed a polypropelene pack to house the CD, a mini brochure and a small carpet sample

more packaging projects >

design for packaging

Packaging has less than three seconds to grab the attention of a consumer. Those three seconds are vital as more than 70% of purchasing decisions are made at the supermarket shelf. Good packaging design should help sell the product, protect the product and facilitate the use of the product.

A thorough research exercise is an essential pre-cursor to any design project so an audit of all competitors in your market is advised to understand their respective positionings and attributes. Then create your own. It's also worth looking at what's happening in markets outside the UK. To look at Europe, the US or Far East, for ideas such as use of materials, that might give you a point of difference.

As designers we have two main issues to consider in how best to grab the consumers' attention - structure and graphics. The pack's graphics must do more than simply look pretty it must work hard to shout off the shelf, and attract a potential buyer. Having done so, the pack needs to carry on working to convey information, about how much they and their contents cost to buy, the ingredients they contain, and whether or not they can be recycled.

The pack's structural design can be used to create shelf standout and help sell the product. It needs to protect the product and to prolong its life. Sometimes it's used to facilitate the use of the product or to reassure customers that it's part of a trusted brand or range.

As with all good design, effective creativity is the big differentiator that will make your pack stand out from the crowd and establish its own personality. It's important that your pack works at all stages of its life cycle, from leaving the factory to ending up in the user's hands and possibly reuse. Design and production mock ups will enable you to test this and to see how your pack would look alongside your competition - it's advisable to test this instore to make sure it really does leap out at point of purchase.

Ideally a pack design will be in keeping with current market trends but also future trends. It also needs to meet any legislation such as recycling needs - sustainability is increasingly an issue - food labelling, MHRA requirements or voluntary codes. It may be advisable to protect your pack from a copyright perspective and make sure it doesn't infringe anyone elses' rights.

our approach

It is important to understand the design process in order to gain the most from it and, as with most things, thorough planning is vital to a successful outcome. A major building block in all successful projects is a clear and unambiguous brief which summarises what the client wants to achieve from the project. But before the brief is written, there are important questions to be considered: Why do you need design? Who are you designing for? What are your goals? How do you manage ideas and concepts? How do you make decisions? How will you make design a reality? How

We work within our own proven, structured processes and will work with you to help answer these questions. Then to manage the complete design process, from concept origination and mock ups, through copywriting and imagery onto finished artwork and the entire production process.

If our approach makes sense and the case studies we've included appeal to you, we'd be delighted to show you more of our work and to discuss how we can assist with your project specifically - why not give us a call or complete the quick enquiry form below.

t: 01942 234900

quick enquiry

contact

bd2
bd2 studios
55 Kenyon Road
Wigan
WN1 2DU. (UK)

E: enquiries@bd2.co.uk
T: 01942 234900
F: 01942 497492

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bd2 is the trading name of
Bentley Designs Limited
Company Registered Number 3521305