Art of Packaging

Coffee tins, ice cream pints, hot sauce bottles and pod boxes show up in the portfolio of Art of Packaging, a design practice in Vancouver that describes its field as branding and communication design. Its site names coffee, food, beverage and consumer packaged goods as its focus, and it covers brand, identity, naming and full-service production.

How a project unfolds

The practice says it starts with a conversation and visualisation, then works through feedback and refinement. It develops high-level concepts, finesses them, and guides the chosen direction through to production. Its own statement of philosophy is that what matters most in packaging is whether it looks good, with the other details being part of the design process.

Graphic design that wraps the pack

Graphic design is meant to cover all faces of a pack, with each face designed for how it faces the customer. Product copy plays with the artwork so that a shopper explores every corner, and technical details are made part of the packaging rather than added on. The practice also talks about using graphic design trends in a product category to produce a look that is clear, interesting and new to customers, and about brand logos built to stretch across different packaging formats.

Structural design

Custom structures are a second strand. Examples on its site include a tuck-and-lock folding system that needs no glue, is easy to fold and structurally strong, with flaps and edge tolerances worked out for a snug fit that insulates and prevents leaks. The practice argues that custom structure can lower production, storage and shipping costs and so raise margins, and that it signals quality and authority compared with similar brands.

Brand families and production

Brand identity work includes organising an existing range under a single brand language, or branding one standout product so that variants can be added as the range grows. Production covers sourcing materials and managing printing: examples include food-safe coated papers that allow direct food contact, sourced in sheets for offset printing, B-flute and C-flute corrugated cartons printed by flexo, all-over CMYK printed ice cream pints, die-cut labels for a hot sauce bottle, and uncoated paper for pod packaging. Recent projects include specialty coffee, condensed milk, cold brew, preserves and kombucha, and a Nespresso-compatible coffee pod.