Packaging Formats – Brand Imaging Solutions

Whether you are selling a cosmetic, food, beverage or non-food product it is important to ensure that you are designing your packaging to align not only with your brand but also with the printing process in mind. Knowing about packaging formats can help you to understand more about the print process.

Print processes vary for different packaging formats. Understanding the different constraints, advantages and disadvantages of each type of printing process will allow you to get the best possible design. At Brand IMS, we are experts in not only producing that artwork and managing it for our clients, but creating the right designs for different packaging formats.

With that in mind, let’s look at some of the different types of packaging formats, and why it’s important to understand the process of each one.

Print processes refer to the different types of technology necessary to print on packaging. Because there are so many different types of packaging, different processes are required to align with each one. From a packaging point of view, the main types of printing processes are:

• Litho – The most common form of printing for card, paper and cartons. A variety of different substrates can be explored to add depth, texture, or shine to your creative.
• Dry Offset – Is used to print on formed substrates such as cans and yoghurt pots. The main area of difference is inks can not be applied one on top of another so you gap the colours rather than grip them.
• Flexo – Flexographic printing is a print process that utilises a flexible plate. Typically it is used when you need to print a large volume of labels and certain types of packaging such as wrapping paper or bags. We are leaders in Continuous-in-the-Round Technology and our deep technical expertise delivers perfect registration, reduces time for press set-up, provides superior printing quality and continuous design with no plate lift from the butt joints. Flexo printing is also commonly used for the production of corrugated print. Because of our deep understanding of the constraints of corrugated printing, we are always looking at how our flexographic screening expertise can be used for premium corrugated.
• Gravure – Primarily a high speed, high-quality long print run method. Fine detailed images are engraved on a metal cylinder, the cells hold the ink which is then transferred onto the substrate. You can produce high-quality details and fine screening however flexo is becoming more innovative and technological advanced and is challenging Gravures prestige position.. This form of printing is used with our client Westland

Not all packaging formats are created equally. For example, printing on cans is different than printing on standard paper or cardstock. Typically, instead of gripping the inks together on a can, they actually can’t touch. The colours are ‘spotted’ and can’t be mixed. However, with technological advancements, that’s changing. Digital printing on cans is becoming more popular and more of the ‘norm,’ allowing branding companies to really expand their artistic visions.

And Brand IMS, you can see a perfect example of this in our work with Coca-Cola. We were able to deliver the first HD can in all of Africa with pictures of footballers on them. What’s interesting about these cans is that they tend to shy away from the traditional simple, bold branding Coca-Cola is known for. Instead, the images of footballers on the can look like actual pieces of art, or paintings. While you typically have to concern yourself with colours mixing on a can, this process made it easy for the colours to blend in a flawless way, without ‘bleeding’ into one another.

It can also be a challenge to print on flexible bags, like pet food containers. Ensuring colour management, consistency, and quality for every bag is our top priority with those items. Bottles, plastic packages, and even food packages all require different processes in order to ‘get it right’.

Again, consistency is the key to any brand, which is why different processes are required to create the same type of imagery on specific packages across brands. Brands require that familiarity to reach their customers and clients.

When it comes to representing your brand, Brand IMS has the industry experience and expertise to work with a variety of different packaging formats. We are leaders in reprographics and we understand the importance of utilizing different methods for different formats to fit your brand’s individual needs.

We are more than just a ‘print production company’. We pride ourselves on full product immersion, so we really get to know your business and what you’re looking for in terms of design. Whether you are a small start-up, challenger brand or a global superstar we are with you each step of the way sharing our experience, technical know-how and industry relationships – we can make it happen!

If you have packaging needs, no matter how unique they might be, feel free to contact us for more information. We are always trying to push boundaries when it comes to revolutionary packaging formats. With technological tools at our fingertips, Brand IMS aims to be able to design and print on just about any type of packaging, creating unique and innovative results that can’t be matched anywhere else in the world.