The decisions that cost the most to get wrong
Most packaging problems are settled before anything is printed — in the board, the barrier and the dieline. These are the questions we answer most often, written out properly so you can decide before you ask.
Materials
8 min read
What a barrier actually stops, and how to specify one
Oxygen, moisture, light, grease and aroma are five separate problems. Most packaging is bought as though they were one.
8 min read
Hot food in a box: steam is the enemy, not heat
Everything crisp that arrives soggy was cooked correctly and packed wrongly. Venting, grease barriers and the ten minutes that decide the meal.
7 min read
What replaced PFAS in grease-resistant packaging
The treatment that used to make paper repel oil is being restricted across every market we ship to. Here is what works instead, and what each option costs you.
6 min read
Recyclable, recycled, compostable: three claims, three meanings
They get used interchangeably on packaging and they are not interchangeable at all. Which one your box can actually claim depends on one decision.
Specifying
7 min read
How a box should close, and what each closure costs you
Tuck, tab, magnet, ribbon or adhesive strip. The closure decides how the box feels to open, how fast it packs, and whether it survives a courier.
7 min read
Inserts: the part of the box that decides whether it works
Movement breaks products, not impact. Platforms, cradles, cells, foam and film — what each holds, and where each is overkill.
5 min read
How to measure a box so the die comes out right
Internal or external, and which order the three numbers go in. Getting this wrong is the single most common cause of a reprint.
6 min read
Rigid or folding: the decision that sets your whole cost base
One arrives assembled and feels expensive. One ships flat and costs a third to store. Almost everything else follows from this choice.
Getting started
8 min read
Packaging a subscription box, where the same box ships every month
One box, twelve times a year, to the same address. That repetition changes every decision — postage band, reveal, storage and the cost of getting it slightly wrong.
7 min read
Everything to settle before your first packaging order
Nine decisions, in the order they actually need making. Most first orders go wrong because two of them were made in the wrong sequence.
Artwork
6 min read
Artwork that prints the way it looks on screen
Color mode, resolution, blacks, and the two things that make a file fail at press. Written for the person sending the file, not for a prepress operator.
6 min read
How to read a dieline without a design degree
Solid lines, dashed lines, the bit that gets glued and the bit nobody will ever see. Five minutes here saves a round of proofs.
Finishing
Cost
6 min read
Your box size is a shipping bill you pay every month
Carriers charge on volume as often as on weight. A centimeter off the box is worth more than most people save on board.
5 min read
Why 100 boxes cost nearly as much as 500
Most of a short run is set-up, not material. Understanding the shape of that curve tells you when to order more and when not to.