Sometimes you don’t have the luxury of printing near you or even in the same country. For larger corporate clients it’s a cost savings and a logistical solution to print overseas. In the case of K•SWISS the process for this was already in place.

Get a dieline from the overseas manufacturer and take apart the box you have and see where the issues are and give detailed feedback on how to improve it in order to solve the problem you may see. Some things are in your face and others are subtle. But any recommendations need to go through your project manager or whoever is your in-office point person so they can convey the concerns. Some people call it office politics but I call it respecting everyone’s contribution to the process. It’s important when working on packaging to have someone get approval for your recommendations and see if it’s a must-do or a nice-to-have. In the case of the shield logo I identified a method of creating the file so it can print with 3 pantone colors and still look 3D like the 4C process version did. Because of this I reduced the amount of ink and color plates in order to print the box and the box actually looked better and brighter and the shield looked 3D with shading and we only used Red, Blue and Black. This saved the company millions of dollars over time since they literally were printing millions of boxes ahead of time for getting a better print cost from the manufacturer. So my change was a must have since cost was always an issue for a small footwear company. Sure we could have gone 1 color like Nike. But they’re printing billions of boxes. And we had to visually compete on the walls of some stores. We needed to have our our look and feel. our boxes could be spotted a mile away. ;)

Build a mockup by hand on a small scale for yourself and see how it works and show it that way so people can quickly see how it works from all sides. Computer screens don’t always show you how something will act in real life in real light. Holding it and turning it will always be the best method to judge packaging. Ultimately the customer will do the same in order to decide to buy it or not.

Approach projects from the customer experience and imagine they have no idea who you are and only include the info that will make the most sense to the customer. Designwise anything goes (as long as your design aligns with the company brand direction). When I first worked on the classic box and performance box I designed over 100 designs that filled a large 30 foot conference room table and each variation had others underneath to address specific design details and variations on a specific idea.

We eliminated one at a time until we agreed which design served the brand best. But it even then with an approval I felt something was missing. I had a dream that stripes needed to be added and when I woke up I quickly sketched it and reworked it when I got to the office. They approved it immediately! And the 4-stripes next to the word K•SWISS that wrap the box were born.