While younger Americans value paperbacks as digital-detox tools, some older folks have quietly become e-book fanatics. A millennial explores the counterintuitive divide. This article, by Perri Ormont Blumberg, originally appeared in the Wall Street...
In this Q&A, branding and design columnist, Vicki Strull, sits down with the host of the podcast Sustainable Packaging with Cory Connors. Below is an excerpt of their conversation Vicki Strull: Cory, you’ve interviewed so many...
Branding and design columnist Vicki Strull offers tips for moving the conversation beyond price Let me paint a picture that’s probably familiar to most of you: You meet with a client or a brand...
Vicki Strull: Cory, thank you for having me on your podcast today and letting me ask you questions, too! Let’s jump right in. I’ve noticed that you ask every guest: Can packaging be sustainable?...
In Part 1 of this series, I introduced The Business 6,™ a very short glossary of the top six business terms that help creatives shift a conversation from a subjective opinion on the aesthetics of a design to...
As designers, we are accustomed to fielding questions about resolution, pixels, PMS, typography, kerning, Lorum Ipsum, hex codes, UX, CMYK— it’s as if we have our own language. But do you speak the language...
There is nothing we label and packaging designers love more than discussing what makes a great design. We can go on for hours about typography, embellishments, color, brand story, product goals, sales drivers, convenience,...
How many Apple product boxes have you saved? In your home. Right now. If you’re an Apple fan, I bet you have at least one empty box sitting on your office shelf or in...
I can hear the head slap of every designer, brand owner and print manager in the world as they ponder life without prototyping. Because prototyping gives designers and brands the ability to explore ideas...
Prototyping is a crucial stage of the packaging design process. Like many roles in the business world, I do a lot of my ‘pen to paper’ work alone. At my desk. With two giant...
Wouldn’t it be great if all of your design ideas and print projects came with a “try-before-you-buy” option? That’s essentially the purpose behind prototyping. Prototyping’s superpower is the ability for designers and brands to...
How many ways has your life changed during the pandemic? For me, a short list includes how I work, shop, travel, celebrate, mourn, gather with others – not to mention the health, safety and...
One of the domino effects of the recent pandemic is the global disruption in supply chain across dozens of industries – a loss of more than USD 3 billion in 10 CPG categories alone1. From...
Do you value your customers? Do you want to keep them around? (Two silly questions.) The question isn’t if you want to keep your customers; the question is how to keep them in an increasingly competitive...
Your brand’s package has arrived at your customer’s doorstep. What a relief. The e-commerce transaction is over, right? Wrong. Delivery is just the beginning of your package’s potential. The primary purpose of a shipping...
Choice is a wonderful and complicated thing. It’s easy to choose when you’re given only two items to choose from. Black pen or blue pen? Easy choice – I’ll take the blue pen, please....
It may come as no surprise to you that e-commerce sales grew during 2020. But just how dramatic that increase was may blow you away, with a rise of 83 percent from April to...
It may come as no surprise to you that e-commerce sales grew during 2020. But just how dramatic that increase was may blow you away, with a rise of 83 percent from April to...
When we look back at 2020, we will remember many things. The boundless baking of banana bread. The endless days of Zoominars. And the many companies that pivoted quickly to support their teams, their...
As time goes on, things naturally change. When something major happens, like a global pandemic, things change faster. Think about your lifestyle before the pandemic began compared to now. How often did you order...
This article is written by Tim Sweeney In 2020, designing great packaging is about more than just standing out on the retail shelf or leaping off the page on Amazon. Here we take a...
It’s day 89 of working from home and I’m finally taking some of this enforced downtime to clean out my inbox – after being guilted into it by colleagues who told me they did...
In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, e-commerce has become the primary method of shopping. According to an April survey of 8,200 consumers conducted by Prosper Insights and Analytics, 72 percent of consumers defined...
I have this notion that design can change the world In the midst of recent protests, pride marches, plastic-free campaigns, political division and the Covid pandemic, more brands are taking a stand on the...
Even before the COVID-19 outbreak pushed online ordering to unanticipated new heights, e-commerce was rapidly gaining ground as a popular alternative to brick-and-mortar shopping. Data cited by AICC, The Independent Packaging Association, indicate that...
I typically buy my favorite perfume at a retail store near me. Unfortunately, the fragrance has been discontinued and my go-to retailers are out of stock. So, I shopped online. The first time I...
Converters supplying labels to cosmetic brands are under pressure to keep up with new finishing technologies, relay the brand message and meet expectations of eco-conscious consumers. Beauty and personal care products’ labels perform a...
People are fickle. Need proof? Just watch the way they consume streaming content or scan social media. Studies show that humans have an attention span of eight seconds. To put that in perspective, goldfish...
If you’re shopping for a product and deciding among several choices, would you pay more for a brand that is environmentally responsible? A recent Nielsen study found that 50 percent of Baby Boomers, 75...
The typical supermarket has more than a dozen aisles, hundreds of shelves, and thousands of products in their own uniquely branded packaging. Much of that packaging is plastic — from soda bottles to zippered...
Any brand worth its PMS colors knows that it takes multiple touchpoints to engage consumers and create a loyal following. And you may be thinking that most of those touchpoints today are e-driven, because...
As I write this piece, millions of people are marching for climate change, in 4,500 locations and 150 countries. This is the first year of the school strike for climate movement, inspired by 16-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg,...
Editor’s note: Labels & Labeling is thrilled to bring a new branding and design voice to the pages of the magazine. Vicki Strull is a veteran design strategist and is frequently called upon to...
Labels are small in size, but they’re immense in terms of brand communication. In many cases, the label on the product on the shelf is the only form of visual marketing promotion that the...
Not all brands are alike. That might seem like a “no brainer,” but the reality is, smaller, boutique brands tend to have very different needs when it comes to their packaging than the larger...
Billions of consumers peruse an array of products on a daily basis, meaning brands are faced with the challenge of making their products stand out in a sea of competition. Adding to the difficulty...
In a world where the average person receives 121 daily emails, seemingly endless hours of video are available at the click of a button and instant gratification rules the day, it’s becoming increasingly important...
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