Package Design - January/February 2014 - 34

Tear Down
the Fences
How designers use digital printing to
demolish limitations for product marketing.
By Linda Casey

hen Tracy Feldstein
launched her personal care
line, HelloMellow, she felt
as if every package design needed to be
nailed down perfectly on the first run.
Working with her best friend, Missy
Reitner-Cameron, who is creative director at ( iii ) Design, and Innovative
Labeling Solutions' print services representative Beckie Boyden, Feldstein
revamped her package design process.
Today, she can respond quickly to consumer feedback about a package's
design or messaging.
For example, when Feldstein found
that the word "natural" in her on-pack
messaging was hurting sales, she was able
to quickly update her product labels.
"What I was finding in the word 'natural'
is kind of intimidating to the many shoppers because it's so brown and crunchy

For more inFormation, visit
Haney Inc., www.haneyprc.com
HP, www.hp.com
( iii ) Design, www.iiidesign.com
Innovative Labeling Solutions, www.ilslabels.com
Kaleidoscope, www.thinkkaleidoscope.com
Roland DGA Corp., www.rolanddga.com
Wallace Church & Co., www.wallacechurch.com

January/February 2014

and plain wrap," Feldstein
comments. "So people
were hesitant to try the
products."
HelloMellow's new
digitally printed labels are
continuously adapted to
tell the product benefit
story in a lighthearted way,
which Feldstein loves. "I
just wanted it to be an easy
In-house digital printing enabled Kaleidoscope to
test different printing gradations to create a color
fun thing," she remarks. "I
system for Core Power's five flavors.
feel that way about taking
care of yourself and healing
Chocolates, remarks. "What is true in
in all of my practices. It doesn't need to
health and beauty is one thing. If you
be so intense. Let's lighten it up! I think
walk down the beverage aisle, you'll see
that's how people heal."
another set of visual language. When you
Breaking out of the expected for its
walk down the chocolate aisle, you'll
category helped propel HelloMellow fornotice that there are a lot of bold hits of
ward from a small startup to a respected
color. When we create packaging for the
beauty brand sold in brick and mortar
stores from Arizona to Washington and by holiday season, it becomes increasingly
more competitive in that space to try to
online retail giants such as Amazon.com.
stand out."
But knowing how far a field to depart
Retail buyers usually aren't keen on
from a category's design norms can be difgiving shelf space to a sea of me-too prodficult to gauge.
ucts. To ensure that its products resonate
"If you look at the visual language of
with retailers, Emily's firmly rejects the
any product, any category set, there
manufacture first and then sell approach.
seems to be a standard for what is
Instead the designer creates sales samexpected in that particular aisle," Melody
ples on a 30-in. Roland VersaUV LEC
Nealon, lead designer at AMES Internaseries UV inkjet printer/cutter that are
tional Inc., a parent company for Emily's

Package Design - January/February 2014

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