PACKAGING THE PROCESS

Millions of people comprise the daily hustle and bustle at shopping malls and fashion meccas around the world where retail shopping bags often blend together, forming an entwined sea of color. Behind the bag, retail packaging design is something that requires thought, foundation and emotion. These fundamentals are what drive the tone of voice a brand projects, and provide a vehicle for self expression to the end user.

Luxury retail packaging design plays a lead role in establishing a brand’s identity in this traffic. Based out of Scottsdale, Ariz., with offices in New York, Houston, Dallas and Hong Kong, international packaging design corporation, Design Packaging Inc., tailors all stages of custom retail packaging from concept development to delivery. Design Packaging assists a range of clients from Alexis Bittar to Z Gallerie, developing innovative and enduring packaging concepts that reflect each brand’s unique DNA. 

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FOR YOUR DAY, GENTS

We were thinking, what would be an awesome Father's Day gift? Ties? Sweaters? Cologne? Poppycock! It's all about bow ties for the gentry gent in the family. Only instead of buying them from the local retailer, we decided to upcycle some retail shopping bags around the office. We experimented with different shapes, folds and various origami constructions until we achieved just the right look.

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How Rest In Pets Offers Dignity

Commemorative set gives your pet a dignified burial.

We've all been there: our small furry member of the family passes away and we're left with more questions than answers. What's the next step? How do we provide a dignified burial?

When Mat Bogust from THINK Packaging approached us looking for a critical eye on the concept, and presentation, we were excited for him and the product. What's been missing is giving pet parents the opportunity to provide their furry family members a dignified burial process, until now.

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Fashion that Filters the Air We Breathe

High fashion meets Sustainability with a dress from Catalytic Clothing that improves air quality by breaking down airborne pollutants coming in close proximity to the surface of the fabric.  Erin O'Connor as HERSELF, still from Catalytic Clothing Film courtesy of Adam Mufti

The term “sustainable luxury” appears to be an oxymoron. However, the coexistence of fashion and sustainability has become a haute topic of discussion lately. In the world of fast fashion, trends change more than ever and eventually textiles flood the earth’s landfills.

Companies like H&M and Puma have taken a position on the matter.  Puma’s “Bring Me Back” program encourages customers to return footwear, apparel and accessories to be repurposed and recycled at I-Collect. Last month, H&M held a discussion at Vogue Headquarters to discuss the future of sustainable fashion with a “Conscious Talk.” The Swedish retailer also created a new ‘Conscious Exclusive’ collection featuring Hollywood-inspired dresses made with sustainable material. The area of luxury fashion however, falls behind as most high-end retailers continue to push desirable yet un-sustainable textiles.

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The Problem with e-Commerce Packaging

E-Commerce packaging from high-end retailers does not live up to the client’s high level of expectation.

When shoppers open the doors to a luxury fashion house, they enter a unique world where the brand experience is best felt through the tangible embrace of a product and the elegance of the interior. Stepping through the online door, shoppers of the digital generation enter a similar world of exclusivity. The final client touch point, product packaging and delivery currently trades this exclusivity for pedestrian presentation.

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A Modern Renaissance of Style

Laser-cut at J. Mendel captured right on the runway. Photo courtesy of Bryanboy (Taken with Instagram)

The rebirth of extravagant textures and intricate layers are breathing new light to the fashion industry. A Modern Renaissance, mainstream couture is experiencing a life of color in opulent textiles. The forward-thinking atmosphere of the early Renaissance revolutionized fashion while setting the caliber for the years to come. With a strong attention to detail, new technologies continue to break the boundaries of fashion today.

Progress in science and mathematics prompted trends of the 15^th century. Around this period of enlightenment, the province of fashion evolved with the inception of lace. Replacing embroidery, lace transformed dresses, evoking a plethora of different styles. Laser cut, a modern cross between cutwork lace and a screen-printing aesthetic delivers highly intricate patterns with incredible levels of precision.

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Fashion Focused

Design Packaging's Summer Journalism intern is the talented Orange County native, Natalya Kadziauskas who currently attends The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at ASU.  Natalya is in her first year at The Cronkite School focusing on PR/Print Journalism.

 Since Natalya snatched her first glossy copy of Vogue magazine, she realized her passion, and fell in love with the visual artistry fashion portrays. Natalya is inspired by the work of Karl Lagerfeld, creative director for the fashion house Chanel. Lagerfeld’s theatrical runway productions continue to provide an enduring influence to her creative process. Natalya’s travels to Paris, Rome, Milan and Barcelona have refined her sense of style. Digging into the global fashion scene has enhanced her keen eye for spotting elevated trends early in their development.

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Marc Jacobs Fall 2013 its in the Bag

Rows upon rows of retail shopping bags waiting for the show to begin.

The beautiful display of shopping bags at a Marc Jacobs runway show are a must see in person or online, either way the artful shopping bag display a classic nod to retail packaging like no other.

 

Design Packaging Awards Gala

The first annual Design Packaging Inc. Awards Gala AKA "the DPI" (pronounced the Dipee) was held this past weekend in Scottsdale's Tatum Ranch. The Oscar themed event saw winners in several categories including "Best Meltdown In Our Creative Department By A Sales Person" and "Best Quote of the Year".  The evening culminated with the Lifetime Achievement Award being presented to John Auten for 10 years of exceptional customer service. 

 We would like to thank everyone that helped make 2012 an incredible year and those that will help continue to propel Design Packaging into 2013. 

Clockwise from top left: Joan, Denis, Kathy, Diana, Evelio, Rob, John, Chris, Alison, Whitney, Kyree, Stacy, and Evelio

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Packaging Pinsperation

Where does packaging inspiration come from?

Simply put, everywhere.

Traveling, a fragrance counter, a child's over-packaged toy, a late night out with friends, news, a memory, and yes maybe even Pinterest.

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Packaging Purge

 

In the midsts of a personal minimalist quest to simplify my life, I've begun "the 100 thing challenge", my expression of design has matured, and I have been fortunate to re-experience many of those collected products purchased or collected for their aesthetic value. I have found packaging, bought, collected, stored, and catalogued in my memory bank to use as inspiration at a later date. Well, as it so happens, that later dates rarely come because as busy as we all are it is easy to forget exactly what we've stored. Not to mention the ease of which you can scour the internet, or drive over to your local luxury retailer for much needed inspiration. As I begin to unearth some of these samples I will attempt to remember to both photograph and share via pinterest or luxcrux before donating, or discarding.

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2012 Olympic Boxing

Deciding to take a break from 2012's holiday peak season and have a little fun, John & Michelle recreated London's 2012 Olympics icon out of folding boxes for the Design Packaging homepage.

Charles F. Worth Reinterpreted

As a 2012 fall intern for Design Packaging, we challenged ASU Graphic Design student Chad Musch to a project that required a combination of design, production, and engineering skills honed in our Scottsdale studio.  While meeting the demands required of luggage in the 1800s and overcoming the branding hurdles of the era, Musch was asked to craft a collection of portemanteaus - French carryalls for clothing - for one of fashion history’s most notable designers, Charles F. Worth.

Overview

As the first designer to be considered an artist in addition to a craftsman dressmaker, Charles F. Worth was known for his simplification of lines and rich fabric selection.  A quasi-feminist, he redefined the fashionable female form by successfully dethroning the crinoline.

Although he was not the first to tailor dresses on an individual bases, Worth’s aggressive self-promotion earned him the title "father of haute couture" catapulting him to become one of the most famed designers of that period.

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Design Packaging Featured in GD USA

We just received our issue of GD USA featuring the American Package Design Awards Sponsored by our friends at Neenah Paper, and are still humbled by how well received our work has been. This issue showcases the best of package design in various categories ranging from health + beauty packaging, food + beverage packaging, to luxury packaging and everything in between.

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Design Packaging Inc featured in HOW Magazine

HOW magazine's May issue features a curated collection of custom packaging designs in their "Package Deal - 10 to Remember" article written by Bryn Mooth and Andrew Gibbs (editor of TheDieline.com). This month HOW wanted to "spotlight 10 projects featuring eye-catching paper choices and distinctive production techniques.

Lady Gaga's Workshop invitation for Barney's New York was featured as one of the top ten. Some of the key production techniques used were debossing, foil-stamping, spot gloss varnish and 5-color offset printing.

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A/W 2012 Fashion Week Trend Recap

Fashion week season is over, and the paparazzi-studded streets, glamorous parties, and champagne have all but subsided. Designers are back at their ateliers sketching and preparing for the next wave of fashion insanity. This year, the retail fashion industry focused on what's haute for autumn/winter 2012. If you weren't able to make it, or watch the streaming shows, here's a few shots from New York Fashion Week behind the scenes, celebrities and athletes like Snookie (yes we know she's not an athlete), and even some retail packaging design!

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2012 AMERICAN PACKAGE DESIGN AWARDS

Graphic Design USA (GDUSA) has named the winners of its annual American Package Design Awards.

Scottsdale Arizona's Design Packaging and LuxCrux creative team are honored to receive 2 GDUSA American Packaging Design Awards for their work on the Barney's Lady Gaga Pop-up Invitation, and the Auberge du Soleil truffle packaging.

For nearly five decades, Graphic Design USA has sponsored design competitions that spotlight areas of excellence and opportunity for creative professionals. Of these, the  American Package Design Awards is the fastest growing. The reason is simple but profound: marketers are challenged as never before to convey their message. Package design — along with the related disciplines of point-of-purchase and instore graphics — is increasingly the difference maker in the purchasing decision. 

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2012 Design Packaging Intro Kit Update

Behind the scenes process photos.

Annually, Design Packaging redesigns our Intro Kit to showcase an essential element of forward-looking packaging including innovative production processes, luxurious materials, and distinctive treatments.  By focusing on the craftsmanship and paying close attention to every detail of the unveiling process, our introduction is elevated to a true collectable piece of art.  We are confident our 2012 edition will not disappoint.  

 This year we focused on the design process itself by drawing back the figurative curtain to reveal the inner workings of our methodology - taking you from brief, through mock-ups, to the finished product; a masterpiece you will soon be able to hold in your very hands. Look for it on your desk Spring 12.

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Barneys This Way

Having conquered the pop music scene, Lady Gaga has moved on to more fashionable endeavors by infiltrating Barneys New York’s Madison Avenue flagship store.  The unpredictable songstress has converted the space into Gaga’s Workshop, her avant-garde interpretation of Santa’s workshop and a wonderland of eccentricities.  Though all are invited to see the spectacle, only a select few will be granted VIP admittance with the coveted golden ticket – an extraordinary invitation conceptualized and produced by Design Packaging, Inc.     

Approached by Barneys New York, Design Packaging, Inc. was challenged with the impossible: deliver a show-stopping invitation worthy of bearing the Barneys name while enticing Lady Gaga fans in just 8 short weeks. 

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Betsey Johnson's "He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not"

As enthusiasts for high-fashion, design, and packaging design, The W Hotel in Scottsdale, AZ was the place to be for all of the above. Betsey Johnson's 2011 Fall Line was exhibited last week in a full-blown runway fashion show. The runway stretched along the W's rooftop pool in an L shape. With the obvious Betsey fans in in the audience sporting their fluffiest BJ party dress; the majority of the crowd was mid-aged, desperate housewives of Scottsdale (is that a show yet?). The crowd seemed perky and buzzed with excited for another one of The W's annual fashion event presented by Steve Levine Entertainment. 

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Exciting News from DPI!

Design Packaging playing tourist in New York City

Since 1984, Design Packaging Inc. has continued to grow by establishing relationships with luxury retailers globally. As part of this growth, we've expanded our creative department, updated our showroom, and launched a new look online.

Design Packaging's revamped site reflects our design philosophy: true luxury is simple.  Carried through the site's aesthetic and functionality is a simplistic styling which is authenticated with minimal copy and transparency in information.  There you can view our packaging gallery, review our logistics offerings, and discover how our design studio luxcrux can serve as your own creative department or become an extension of your existing team. 

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Squeezable Truffle Packaging

Hi my name is Evelio and I am a paper folding addict.

Paper folding has always intrigued me so I’m fascinated by new techniques and love testing anything related to folding paper.

It’s obvious from my sketches that, if the concept allows me to organically incorporate folded paper into a concept, I will.  Unfortunately, most of the time those concepts work their way out of the final piece due to pricing constraints or material limitations in the mass production environment.  But, not this time…

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Surf Inspired Gift Card Carrier

Now that summer is in full swing, we thought it was the perfect time to share a gift card concept we'd been throwing around the studio for a while. The Wave Gift Card design was developed on a trip back to Laguna Beach in 2010, thinking of how we would be able to simplify gift card packaging with equally simple production methods. This concept lived in a sketchbook for nearly a year, until Industrial Design intern John Turner had the time to take a few sketched concepts and give them life in a 3D environment this summer. 

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Safeway Rebrands In-House Snack Packaging "Artisan"

Well, not artisan in the sense of food (though we found it pretty yummy), but artisan in the sense of packaging design. "The Snack Artist" is Safeway's store-brand of snacks that feature clever names and doodles on the food packaging. Frankly, we think it's brilliant.

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Design Packaging Wins GDUSA Awards

We're excited to announce that Design Packaging has been awarded three GDUSA (Graphic Design USA) awards: Our DPI Luxe Kit for Luxury Packaging, the 2010 Chateau Ste Michelle Artist Meritage Series wine box for Wine & Liquor, and the Julia Baker Confections chocolate box for Food & Beverage.

 DPI LUXE KIT

The sleek black & white promotional piece is given to prospective clients, or, anyone interested in our company. The look is modern and contemporary, featuring two main pieces: the sleeve and the a rigid box that houses information. The white patent leather sleeve highlights the elegant subtleness of the debossing pattern while the interior is lined with rich faux suede, giving it an exceptional look and feel. The rigid box is detailed with a spot varnish pattern and nestled inside are loose-leaf pages highlighting our packaging, and a business card. The book-like construction allows the receiver to store it on a desk, personal library, or anywhere else.

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