A Quick Guide to Packaging Prototypes

If you’ve created an awesome food or beverage product that you’re looking to pitch to buyers, you need packaging. If you’re new to entrepreneurship, you may assume that packaging your product yourself is the right choice. After all, you might save money, and maybe you have a great idea for a clever way to package your product.

But consider this: quality packaging can be the difference between success and failure. A quality product packaged poorly is unlikely to impress the buyers you need to reach. Investors generally aren’t looking to invest in operations that look homemade. And if you do manage to acquire shelf space at a few retailers, you won’t sway picky consumers if your packaging is ugly or awkward.
 

The Solution: Packaging Prototypes

The solution to your packaging dilemma is simple: trust the experts. To find the right packaging design, a quality product packaging firm will discuss your product with you, hear your vision for it, and then create one or more packaging prototype for you to evaluate. Should your product be packaged in soft or hard plastic? Foil? Cardboard? The prototyping process can help you decide what makes the most sense.

The end goal of the prototyping process is to have a real prototype: a physical mock-up of the packaging you’ll use when your product is developed to scale. Professional Packaging Samples Impress
Having real, tangible prototype packaging has numerous benefits. You may be sampling or demoing your product with consumers at this stage. Professional-quality packaging tells them you mean business. Perhaps you’re just getting a foothold in retail. The same thing applies. Or you may be making presentations at trade shows or in front of investors. Realistic, professional packaging shows them you’re serious—even if you haven’t hit mass production yet.
 

Package Prototyping Helps Determine Durability

During the prototyping process you may select a packaging option that packs an impressive visual punch. But in the rigors of the preproduction activities described above you may discover that your chosen prototype doesn’t offer the durability you need, whether in shipping, storage, or on display. Better to learn this lesson now than after you’ve mass-produced your packaging. Prototyping gives you the chance to see which packaging prototypes have the right mix of visual pizazz and durability for your product.
 

The Process of Package Prototyping

The process starts by meeting with a packaging solutions expert to discuss product design and vision. You’ll work together to nail down exact dimensions, weight, and/or volume. You may have a specific vision for how you want your packaging to look, or you may prefer to let the packaging firm’s designers work their magic as far as look. Similarly, you may already have a well-defined brand image or logo that needs to be included in your packaging. Give as much information as you can to your packaging solutions firm, and they will take the lead from there.

Once they know what you’re looking for, they can produce packaging mockups within a few days, typically. Expect this to be an iterative process, where you and they find small details that need to be adjusted. Once you’re satisfied with a mock-up, you can request a small run of one or more of the mock-ups so you can judge customer/investor response.
 

Your Solution for Package Prototyping and More

At White Graphics Inc., we do much more than just package prototyping. We’re a full-service packaging solution for food, beverages, and more. We can take your product packaging from the prototype stage all the way to full-scale production, and we can provide point of sale display solutions as well. We specialize in pressure sensitive labels, stand-up pouches, shrink sleeves, flow wraps and folding cartons, as well as flexible packaging and rigid/flexible hybrid packaging. Whatever packaging needs you have, chances are our team of experienced professionals can help. Contact us today to get started with your package prototyping needs.