Importance of Packaging

6 tips to make your packaging stand out

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Packaging isn’t just about making a box. There’s a science and an art behind all forms of really good packaging and packaging sells. In fact, this is one of the few marketing components with which every potential customer interacts, and it’s one of the most important factors in consumer purchasing decisions. With nearly 76 percent of purchasing decisions being made at the point of purchase, a product’s design must immediately stand out from the competition. Here are six tips to help you achieve this.

Target Audience

Always take the time to keep your target audience in mind, put yourself in their shoes to see what motivates them to buy – what is their age, their gender, their economic status or their education level. Determine what message you want the packaging to send to your buyer, whether it be luxury, professional, elegant, serious, make sure you are sending the right message.

Colours – Colour Psychology

Your choice of colours will set your product apart from your competitors’ products. This is one of the most important elements when designing your packaging. Always choose the colours that truly reflect your Brand, this is key to building awareness and keeping customers loyal.

Clear Front Design

Consumers usually spend only a few seconds looking at a new product. This doesn’t give you much time to hold the buyer’s attention, make sure everything is compelling and clear. Avoid using fonts that are difficult to read and always use high resolution images. The front should include only the most essential information.

Use Premium Quality Materials

The branded packaging experience for the consumer is so important! How this looks and feels will play a big part in whether or not someone buys your product. You want the quality of your packaging to reflect the quality of your product. Spend time considering the board you will be using, this can make a big difference to your finished product including the choice of gloss, silk or uncoated material where vibrancy and colours are an important consideration.

Foiling and Embossing

Foil finishing options can provide the ultimate in Product Packaging . You are not limited to gold and silver foils, this also extends to an impressive range of pigmented, pearlescent, opalescent, holographic and security foils. All of these can be combined with embossed images to produce a product with varying tactile effects – any one of which will uplift your product and provide great shelf appeal.

Why Packaging is much more than just a box

There can be many elements to well-designed branded packaging and the experience you give the customer. Here are a selection of ideas which can deliver the best experience and value to your customers: promotional material, business cards, tissue paper, branded stickers, small gifts or samples.

Packaging sells!

At MRP we deliver more than standout packaging. We’re here to make it easy for our clients. We don’t just print and deliver, we add value through design, fulfilment or multiple despatches and much more.

If you are looking for a solution and would like to discuss it, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Please call 0115 955 1000 or email katet@mrp.uk.com

https://mrp.uk.com

It’s One call, One company, One solution!

L’Occitane’s BLOOM: the box opens up like a blooming flower! Designed by Shanti Shiue, a student attending the Art Center College of Design.

Beauty UK 2016

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We have had an excellent time visiting Beauty UK 2016 at the NEC! It is always great to see world’s Beauty Companies showing off their latest product ranges, including makeup, skincare, male grooming and treatments. We always take great inspiration from this show, the glamour and atmosphere give us lots to work with when we are back in the office and we love passing new ideas on to our clients. We are proud to see the stands and displays full of packaging and printing we have produced. We look forward to working with our existing clients and many new brands through 2016 and beyond.

https://mrp.uk.com/packaging-printing-nottingham.html

MRP NEW VEGA 100 GLUER

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We are proud to announce the installation of our second gluing line, a Vega 100 which will complement our current Vega Junior by offering even more versatility. With ever-increasing demands in efficiency and performance, the VEGA 100 can glue a vast array of products including Straightline, Sidewall, Lockbottom/Crashlock and 4 Corner gluing. With HHS Xtend Glue line detection & Bar Code/Pharma Code scanning, this checks every code to ensure that there is no cross contamination of products. Other features include the MPC Pafra 3 Gun glue system and electronic backfold 4 corner unit. The VEGA 100 can glue cartons as small as 110mm flat up to 1000 wide. 
 
Did you know we specialise in packaging development and design? Please check out our blog –
‘Frequently Asked Packaging Questions’ https://mrp.uk.com/frequently-asked-packaging-questions/ and see how we can help you or alternatively please contact us for further information.
 
Customer quote “Just received my parcel of samples, so many thanks again. Everyone here is most impressed with the quality and you sent me enough copies for me to divi them up amongst the sales force to allow them to show prospective new customers what can be achieved with this method. So much more interesting than boring brown boxes. Hopefully, this will lead to more business for us both.” Megapak

Top Tips to design your artwork

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Sharing a few tips and advice for preparing artwork before sending it to print. At MRP we always take the time to check any artwork supplied to us, offering the best advice if needed, I hope these help.

Fonts

Don’t go overboard with your fonts, as a rule, limit them to 3 sizes – headings, sub headings and general text. Include all fonts when supplying artwork or embed them within PDFs. Try to avoid Truetype fonts.

Logos

Should be supplied as vectorised EPS files and set up as either Spot colours or CMYK depending on how they are going to be printed.

Images / Photos

Make sure your image is saved as 300dpi (please be aware, any enlargement of this image will reduce the dpi). This should also be set up as CMYK, do not leave it as RGB which is a PC format and not suitable for printing litho. Try not to use images found online as these will probably be low resolution.

Layout

Bleed is an essential part of creating your artwork, if any images or elements touch the edge of your page, 3mm bleed on each edge will need to be added to avoid any of your artwork being trimmed off.

Colour

Please be aware that colour can appear differently on screen to when it is printed. It is advisable to have a digital proof which allows you to check images, layout and colour. Alternately you can press pass your job at no extra cost. Set up all artwork as CMYK only unless using Spot Colours.

Proof Read

Finally it is important for you to proof read your project to make sure it is perfect and ready to go.  Get your colleagues to have a look with a fresh pair of eyes. We have an internal proof reader who also checks all your work and we preflight every job for you.

If we has missing anything out or you are unsure about anything, please don’t hesitate to contact us directly where we will be happy to explain any of the above.

Image from:

https://rooseveltgraphicarts.wordpress.com/projects/create-a-geometric-animal/

In PrintWeek’s Top 500 Companies again

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We are really proud to be named as one of the top 500 printers in the UK again for 2016 by PrintWeek. Building on over 47 years of experience, we pride ourselves on our professional service and the long term relationships we build with both our customers and our loyal team. We feel we are small enough to remain personal but large enough to provide a professional standard of service.

Sharing some interesting printing facts and figures:

  • £600 Million – spent in Capital Investment
  • The UK is the World’s fifth largest producer of printed products
  • £13.5 Billion – Turnover
  • 122,000 – Employees
  • £750 Million – Positive Trade Balance
  • £6.1 Billion – Gross Value Added
  • 8,600 – Companies in the UK

Please see http://www.printweek.com and http://www.britishprint.com for more information.

Carbon Balancing Your Printing

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Carbon Balanced Paper

Carbon Balanced Paper provides the total environmental solution, with high credibility and integrity, for customers and their clients to reduce carbon impacts in their paper based communications.

What is Carbon Balanced Paper

Carbon Balanced put simply, is where the carbon impacts of that product or service has been estimated and an equivalent amount of carbon is either prevented from being released or is absorbed from the atmosphere.

Balancing is facilitated by the World Land Trust, an ecological charity which ensures you and your clients the peace of mind in the credibility and integrity of how carbon impacts are balanced.

Carbon Balanced Paper products

Howard Smith Paper Group have 4 ranges, think4, Regency, Greencoat 80 / 55 recycled coated and Greencoat Offset, already with the highest environmental kudos, are offered as Carbon Balanced Paper as an inherent part of the products’ features and benefits.

Furthermore, all products can be offered as Carbon Balanced Paper as an opt-in feature.

Artwork

When you choose Carbon Balanced Paper you can include a specially developed logo on your print run: an instant, high-visibility seal that conveys your commitment to reducing your carbon impacts, and enhances your brand.

For more details

Additional information about Carbon Balanced Paper please give us a call or visit:

www.carbonbalancedpaper.com

www.hspg.com/carbon-balanced-paper.html


Toy Fair 2016

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We have had an excellent time visiting the 2016 Toy Fair at the Olympia Exhibition Centre, London! It is always great to see world’s toy companies showing off their latest product ranges, including action figures, board games, toys and other great treasures.

We are proud to see the stands and displays full of toy packaging and catalogues we have produced. We look forward to working with our existing clients and many new brands through 2016 and beyond.

https://mrp.uk.com/packaging-printing-nottingham.html

Review by Clarity Cleanse Organic Skincare

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Excellent review from Clarity Cleanse Organic Skincare:

‘I cannot recommend this firm enough !! Catherine has lead my project of new labels and boxes for my beauty range clarity cleanse with up most attention to detail and going above and beyond expectations ! If you are wanting a quick turnaround with competitive prices and outstanding quality then MRP are for you !! Thank you so much guys !!!!’

After meeting Jolene Field and discussing her new range of beauty products, we created her packaging and labels from initial concept to completion, adding gold foil to emphasise her luxury brand. Please check out her range at http://www.clarity4food.co.uk/clarity-oils/

Products

Ursula Kelly Photography Review

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MRP loved working on this Makeover and Boudoir Marketing for Ursula Kelly Photography.

‘Shout out to Kate Tew for the super fab printing job she did on my Makeover & Boudoir promotional material. Kate made suggestions on the weight of paper, the size to shrink my vouchers down to so they would fit inside the tri-folds ( which I hadn’t even thought of) and even managed to get me extra business cards more than requested whilst turning it around on time & budget! All done with super efficiency and a smile. search for domain names view history Bonus for me it turns out we are only 5 mins away from each other. A big thank you – no need for me to shop online for my printing anymore’.

Thank you for your great feedback, look forward to working with you in the future.

7 Reasons Print is Essential to Your Marketing Strategies

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Many businesses have completely migrated their marketing efforts to the web because of its speed, flexibility, cost effectiveness, exposure potential and convenience, but print still remains a powerful and necessary component of any initiative. When looking for printers Nottingham you should consider the following:

Print advantages over digital:

Tangible – Print items are physical objects. Magazines, brochures and leaflets can be found in homes or offices for months or years, while Internet adverts and email tend to disappear instantaneously.

Credibility – Printed items are often perceived as more legitimate and trustworthy. The sheer quantity of information on the web can be overwhelming and the fear of spam, scams and viruses tend to make people hesitant and wary.

Branding – Print is excellent for solidifying your brand identity. To establish brand recognition, make sure your communications have a constant look to them in terms of fonts, colours and imagery. From this comes a sense of familiarity and trust.

Targeted – Placing adverts in publications such as speciality magazines and sending direct mail can effectively reach niche audiences that may be more difficult to target online.

Engagement – Consumers are more engaged when reading printed material than they are on the internet, with viewing lasting 15 seconds on average per visit. Hence people are more likely to take in what you are saying.

Less saturation – With more and more businesses relying solely on the Internet and email, the decline of printed materials can actually be used as a marketing advantage allowing your communications to stand out.

Integrating print and digital – Placing your personal URL on printed pieces is an excellent way to bridge the gap between print and web. Finding the right balance between various media will ensure a steady revenue flow, increase sales and capture new business.