Posts Tagged ‘wigs packaging’

Best Packaging Colors for 2013

Thursday, December 27th, 2012

The expression ‘balancing act’ is something we all relate to as we strive to find harmony in the frantic pace of our everyday lives. The same can be said for fashion as we look for balance between light and bright, classic and new. This season’s color palette emphasizes this need for balance, while at the same time allowing for individuality, self-expression and excitement.
- Leatrice Eiseman, the Executive Director of the Pantone Color Institute

The New Year is here and it’s time to start it off with a beautiful palette that will color our entire year from fashion to packaging and shape our moods and inspiration for the next 12 months. Pantone just released its latest color report for 2013 and, keeping its spring agenda in mind, the palette is full of pastels and bright colors but with some welcome surprises.

Pantone Colors for 2013Deriving inspiration from the New York Fashion Week, the colors selected allow for self-expression, balance and renewed energy. Lemon Zest, Tender Shoots, Nectarine and Poppy Red are vivid, exciting and full of youthful vigor while Emerald, Dusk Blue, Grayed Jade, African Violet and Linen add calm and serenity to the mix.  Monaco Blue sticks out from the pack because of its dark accents that add a touch of mystery, toughness and sexy to the 2013 palette- Spring would have been too wholesome without it!

As always, we have come up with some color schemes for you, using Pantone’s selection for 2013, that you can use to design your packaging and stay ahead of the trends in the New Year.

1. Lemon Zest and Poppy Red

Lemon Zest and Poppy RedFor the ultimate eye-catching packaging, we combined two of the most vibrant colors on the list- Lemon Zest and Poppy Red. If your target customers consist of young people who like excitement and bright colors in their lives, your hair packaging can reflect that personality type with this color scheme.

Use this color scheme carefully though. The result can be dangerously volatile!

2.  Dusk Blue and Nectarine

Dusk Blue and NectarineThis is quite the unexpected combination (suggested by Pantone themselves) that can produce rewarding results. Dusk Blue captures the calm that falls at the end of the day and provides serenity while Nectarine adds some fun to the mix by providing a dash of tangy flavor. Together the colors represent the balance between our needs for peace and excitement.

3. Linen and Tender Shoots

Linen and Tender ShootsLinen is airy and neutral. Tender Shoots is bright, active and cheerful. Together, they make for an understated combination that can be as open and nude as Linen or as invigorating as Tender Shoots. This is a safe color scheme if you aren’t sure what will connect with your customers as the combination will resonate with all age groups, genders and consumer types.

Once you have gone through the 2013 colors and decided on your favorites, do ask our hair packaging professionals for advice and further guidance. Depending on your specific packaging needs, we will be able to incorporate your color picks into a modern and functional packaging design that is high on aesthetic and on top of 2013 trends while still fitting your business needs.

How to Choose the Best Colors and Typefaces for Your Hair Packaging

Monday, October 15th, 2012

The packaging for your hair extensions, wigs and other hair products plays a very important role in the success of your hair business. However, when it comes to planning your packaging design, you might find yourself overwhelmed by all the different design options and various looks you can choose from. Two of the biggest concerns in packaging are picking the right colors and typefaces. To help you pick what’s best for your hair business, we compiled the following tips:

Know your brand

The colors and typeface you will choose for your packaging design will not only represent your brand personality but also become an inseparable part of it. Therefore, before you dive into packaging decisions, it’s important for you to fully develop your products’ identity. Are you catering to the masses or an exclusive clientele? Does your target audience respond best to sleek and minimal designs or ornate patterns and celebrity shots? Do you want to position yourself as female brand or establish a generic unisex line? Answers to questions like these will help you pick colors and typefaces that correspond best to your brand’s individual identity.

Understand color theory

How to Choose the Best Colors for Packaging

How to Choose the Best Colors for Packaging

The colors used in packaging design aren’t picked just because they look ‘pretty’ or they are the packaging designer’s personal favorites. Each and every color invokes a particular feeling and gives off a different vibe. Pink can directly make your brand more amenable to a female consumer base, black can be used to represent sophistication and exclusivity, and bright colors like reds and oranges are often used to achieve a fun, youthful look. Depending on the brand image you are going for, your color palette might be anything from a burst of many different colors to a solid black.

Choose between serif and san-serif

Typefaces can be widely categorized into serif and san-serif types. Serif typefaces have tiny feet to their alphabets while san-serif fonts don’t.  For instance, the over used Lucida Handwriting is serif whereas the always dependable Helvetica is a san-serif typeface. Serif fonts are often seen as feminine, flowery, elegant and/or ‘handwritten’- which make them very popular for hair businesses. Generally, san-serif fonts are used to give off a modern, professional and/or corporate look.

As with colors, typefaces can also give a distinct impression that can augment or clash with your overall brand personality. For instance, you might be going for a ‘sleek, modern and sophisticated’ look but if use ‘Comic Sans’, you might end up being counterproductive.

Of course, you could always leave these decisions to professionals like us. We hear out your ideas and goals, and then design hair packaging that’s just the right fit for your business. Contact us now for advice and a free quote.

Best Packaging Colors For 2012

Tuesday, June 5th, 2012

Pantone recently revealed its selection of the trendiest colors for 2012 and it’s a mix of bright hues full of vivacity and deeper shades dripping with fantasy. The Fashion Color report comes ahead of the New York Fashion week and since hair packaging is all about fashionable and good looking product packaging, these colors should give you a lot of ideas and inspiration for your hair packaging. Check them out!

Packaging Colors for 2012 Pantone Colors Hot Colors

Packaging Colors for 2012 Pantone Colors

“By playing to consumers’ practical side with versatile neutrals and boosting their confidence with bold, spirit hues, this skillfully balanced palette has something for everyone”

Leatrice Eiseman, the Executive Director of the Pantone Color Institute

 

Our personal favorites are French Roast, Honey gold, Olympian Blue, Pink Flambé, Tangerine Tango, Ultmarine Green and Rhapsody- all of which are great fits for some really eye-catching and trendy hair packaging. In fact, we came up with some color schemes for you based on these colors that you might want to consider for your packaging:

1.       French Roast and Honey Gold

The French Roast can be used for the requisite ‘hair like’ dark background and the Honey Gold can be used for lettering that really pops out! This scheme is a nice variation- but yet sufficiently similar- to the classic black and gold combination. The colors are different enough to make you stand out but the color combination has roots in a tried and tested successful match!

2. Pink Flambé and Rose Smoke

These beautiful pastels are perfect to give your hair packaging a classy, vintage look. The pink is feminine and vibrant enough to be interesting and appealing, and the Rose Smoke is demure and understated enough to offset the packaging looking like a hot pink extravaganza. This color scheme is also perfect for the dress your real or illustration model wears on the packaging. For best results, compliment these colors with browns and golds.

3. Tangerine Tango and White

For a clean, modern look, use a white background, a healthy dose of Tangerine Tango and pitch black silhouettes of models and hair for your packaging. The white will make everything look clean and fresh, the Tangerine Tango adds plenty of color and personality, and the dark silhouettes will add a sophisticated artistic look.

Once you have a general idea about the colors you like and the approach you want to take with your hair packaging, go over your ideas with our professional hair packaging designers. We will advise you on the best color schemes for your packaging after considering your product and target market, your personal preferences and the year’s trendiest colors!

“By playing to consumers’ practical side with versatile neutrals and boosting their confidence with bold, spirit hues, this skillfully balanced palette has something for everyone”

-          Leatrice Eiseman, the Executive Director of the Pantone Color Institute

Designs for Print vs. the Web

Thursday, March 1st, 2012

Many design companies like HairPackaging.com offer design services for the print as well as the web. To most people, a graphic merely represents a graphic whether it’s used on a website or printed out as a poster. But, actually, a lot more goes down behind the scenes before a graphic can be optimally used for either medium. Here are some key differences between designs for print and those for the web:

  1. 1. RESOLUTION

While digital printing is now reducing the problems caused by resolution, it has long been one of the key differences between designs created for the two mediums. Virtually all web graphics are created at 72 ppi (pixels per inch) – which is sufficient for optimal display across most varieties of browsers, operating systems and computers. However, the printing process require graphics to have a resolution of 300 dpi (dots per inch) which basically means that the graphic has to be several times larger in its digital form than it is when it’s finally printed.

  1. 2. FONTS AND TYPOGRAPHY

With print designs, you can go crazy with your typeface. You can use whatever font you want to and it’s completely possible for your printed result to look exactly the way you designed it on your computer. However, font choices are much more limited for website designs. Because text appearance is handled by the browser at the user’s end, you need to use a font in your website design that your user’s browser can display. This restricts your font selection to a small list of standard choices that deprive you of the creative choices you get with print design. If you absolutely must display YOUR creative font on the web, the text will need to be exported as a graphic or produced through a paid service like Typekit.

  1. 3. OVERALL APPEARANCE AND SIZE

Similar to the fonts dilemma, designs for the web are highly dependent on the conditions at the end user’s end. Depending on the user’s browser, operating system, screen resolution and computer etc, you web design might end up looking nothing like you want it to. Your best bet is to test your web designs across as many popular platforms and settings as possible and hope it doesn’t get ‘lost in translation’. With print design, you can take WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) pretty much for granted. However, you have to keep certain things in mind. The kind of paper your design will be printed on, the limited range of user-friendly sizes it can utilize and the color palette it has access to are all important considerations for print design.

To ensure your designs, whether they are for print for the web, are fully optimized and effective, you should hire the services of a professional design company like HairPackaging.com.

Attending the Bronner Bros Hair Show? Give HairPackaging.com a call at 404-884-6880

Sunday, August 14th, 2011

Atlanta will be playing host to the 65th Bronner Bros International Hair Show this summer from August 20 – 23. The longstanding event (dating back to decades prior) is the #1 place to be for any and all men and women if you’re in the hair industry or even if you are just interested in taking care of your own hair- whether its with products like relaxers and weaves or by finding out how to create stylish looks for natural hair.

If you’re not already attending the show, we would definitely recommend copping tickets for yourself and your family and friends. The upcoming mid-summer Hair Show looks very promising and is set to start off with a bang thanks to an opening concert featuring none other than American Idol winner Fantasia, followed by over 300 exciting exhibitions and stalls, and over a 100 free seminars and classes conducted by experienced industry professionals- all of which, needless to say, provide you with immense information on the hair industry as well as hair products, the latest know-how on styling techniques and an entertaining experience you won’t forget. And, of course, the Bronner Bros Hair Show is an excellent opportunity and platform for meeting peers, clients and suppliers in the hair industry, trading information and goods and entering into new business relationships.

If you’re planning on attending the show, be sure to give us a call at 404-884-6880. We would love to set up an appointment with you to help you get the most out of your time in Atlanta. During your appointment, you will be able to discuss your hair packaging needs in detail with our representatives. You’ll be able to find out why and how hair packaging plays such an important role in the success of this billion dollar industry. You will also receive professional consultancy on what would constitute the most effective packaging for your particular hair products. 8 Consulting & HairPackaging.com have a vast experience working with makers of hair products so you can rest assured that you will be dealing with consummate professionals.

Packaging is not the only design aspect you can expect to discuss with our representatives. 8 Consulting & HairPackaging.com also offers top-of-the-range design facilities for logos, stationary, websites, flyers, brochures, postcards and, of course, hang tags.  No matter what design service you require for your hair products, we are sure to have a solution! So wait no more- get your tickets for the Bronner Bros Hair Show today and gear up for a great time in Atlanta. We will be waiting eagerly to meet you there!

What your packaging says about you

Thursday, July 14th, 2011

Appearance and presentation play a very important role in the modern and highly visually-oriented world. The exterior has acquired as much significance as the interior and this is particularly true for the business world. Whether you’re a manufacturer of physical products, a service provider, a marketing head or an advertiser, we all know that now, more than ever, packaging and presentation is one of the most important aspects of a product.

Packaging plays a key role in attracting customers and generating long-term profits.  When your potential customers visit a store, your product packaging is going to be their first encounter with your product- and that’s why it needs to create the right first impression straight away. Because so many purchase decisions are made at the spot, an attractive packaging can encourage customers to find out more about your product and even try it out. Your product packaging is fundamental in how your customers perceive your company and your product. So much so that the modern customer is able to form a very solid idea about what they can expect from the product by just looking at the packaging. Here are just some of the things your packaging says about you:

THE LEVEL OF QUALITY

If your packaging is well-designed, impressive looking and made from high quality material, the customer will automatically assume the same attributes for the product contained within. Poorly designed and low quality packaging will, of course, carry the opposite connotation.

DEDICATION TO CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

Customers always appreciate convenient packaging that ably protects the product during transportation. Such packaging gives the impression that your company truly has the customer’s best interests at heart. So while you should always try to make your packaging as good looking as possible, you also need to consider practical issues related to product safety and handling. Is the packaging a secure container for your products-especially fragile ones? Is it easy to handle, store and transport? Does it easily unpack and re-pack if needed? Can it serve any other useful purposes for the customer related or unrelated to your core product? These are some important questions you should consider when designing your packaging and if you’re able to answer with ‘yes’ to any- or all- of them, you’re definitely going to make your customers very happy.

COMPANY ETHICS

The modern consumer is increasingly knowledgeable about environment-friendly choices. If your packaging is made from ‘green’ and recyclable materials, avoids excessive usage of resources and still manages to look good, you’re definitely going to get some cool points with the consumers who only support environment-friendly companies. If you have a ‘green’ product and/or packaging, don’t be shy in boasting about it on the wrapping. Your packaging can say a lot of things about you and if one of them is that you’re a socially responsible organization, then that’s an asset you deserve getting noted for.

The 5 Benefits of Using Hang Tags

Monday, May 16th, 2011
Hang tag for hair packaging definition and quote

About Hang tags

Boxes and plastic enclosures are two of the most common methods for hair packaging but before you make your final choice, you should definitely consider a great alternative: hang tags! Here are the 5 benefits you get when you use hang tags for your hair packaging:

 

1. GREAT FOR NEW START-UPS

If you are just starting out in the business or you have a small enterprise, making the significant investment that’s required for box and plastic enclosure packaging can be a huge risk. You don’t want to pour so much of your budget into packaging when you’re just trying to break into the market. And that’s when you’ll really appreciate the convenience and affordability of hang tags. Hang tags can be produced at just a fraction of the cost you have to bear if you choose boxes or plastic enclosures.

Maya Hang Tag for Hair Packaging

Maya Hang Tag for Hair Packaging

2. EASY TO CUSTOMIZE

Because printing and cutting out hang tags is so easy, you can go crazy with creativity. Your choice of colors, shapes and sizes is endless. You also have sufficient space on the hangtags to insert product information. For instance, your hangtags could carry details like the texture, color and length of the hair. Tip: For a more professional look, use a label maker to print the information.

3. CONVENIENTLY PRODUCED

Not only are hang tags cheap to produce, they also have a faster turnaround. In fact, even a bulk order takes no longer than a couple of weeks. You get to save money, effort and time all at once!

4. FLEXIBLE AND COMPATIBLE

One of the best things about hang tags is that they can be used in so many ways. For the simplest packaging, you can just attach them at the end of a basic plastic bag. But you can also use hang tags to add flair to more sophisticated packaging like boxes.  Other popular hangtag-compatible choices include zip-lock and organza bags. No matter what your packaging type is, there’s always room for a hang tag!

5. GOOD LOOKINGLast, but certainly not the least, well designed hang tags enhance the entire look of your packaging. The right choice of hang tags helps your products stand out from the competition and give an elegant impression. In a world obsessed with appearance, your products can definitely benefit from great looking hang tags!

Rochana Hang tag for Hair Packaging

Sample Hang tag for Rochana, Australia.

The 5 Biggest Mistakes in Product Packaging

Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011

Product packaging is increasingly becoming one of the strongest selling points for a product. You can have a great product but if it isn’t marketed and packaged well, you’re bound to lose a huge chunk of your sales. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that one of the biggest mistake marketers make is failing to understand the benefits of effective product packaging. The mistakes don’t stop just there though. Even when you want to invest your time, effort and money in coming up with great packaging, there are a number of things you have to do correctly. To create great packaging, here are 5 of the biggest packaging mistakes you must absolutely avoid!

1. LEAVING PACKAGING DECISIONS FOR THE VERY END

When you are in the initial stage of planning, designing and developing your product, packaging decisions might seem like a distant consideration but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Your product packaging can help make or break your product so there’s no sense in ignoring it till the end of the process. There are so many material and vendor choices to be made that it can overwhelm you if you put it off extensively. Therefore, start planning your product packaging as early as possible.

2. NOT DOING RESEARCH

Packaging decisions are never as simple as “Let’s just put our product in this box”. Depending on your product type, there are both good and bad packaging choices. It’s always a good idea to venture out in the market and do some research about the packaging options for your product type. You can get information by researching your competitors, suppliers, distributors, retailers and customers. Remember that the same type of material, look and feel can not be applied to all types of products- after all you wouldn’t package ice cream and hair extensions the same way!

3. CARELESSLY CHOOSING THE MATERIAL

Quite possibly the most important packaging decision, your choice of material for your packaging is crucial to the success of the entire initiative. While there are some obvious popular choices (like plastic bags or cardboard boxes), picking just the right shape, size, quality and type for YOUR product isn’t simple.  And while you can just choose the same material that your competitor uses, you still need to consider how you would make your packaging stand out.

4. DOING IT ALL ON YOUR OWN

Packaging in itself is a big industry- and for good reason. There are so many excellent material suppliers and packaging designers out there that your choices are endless. So don’t try to do everything yourself if you think your product would benefit more from professional input. Also, even when you are making and pursuing your own packaging decisions, you should always be open to suggestions from your colleagues, employees, industry people, family and friends.

5. NOT BEING REALISTIC AND FLEXIBLE

Your packaging decisions must be strictly in line with your overall business plan. You need to consider your finances, production quantities, industry and customer trends, and the possibility of creative new ideas. Therefore it’s always best to start small and always allowing for change. In practice, this means that you should not order 10,000 boxes for your product packaging when you only plan on manufacturing 4,000 units of your product in the first batch. After your first roll-out, the feedback you will obtain will be highly valuable for future packaging decisions.

Packaging is one of the most important aspects of your product. By smart and careful decision making, you can avoid the biggest packaging mistakes.

10 Tips on Great Hair Packaging

Friday, December 3rd, 2010

Before you dive directly into designing the packaging for your hair products, make sure you spend sufficient time in planning it. Here are 10 tips for designing great hair packaging:

1. BENCHMARKING

Benchmarking is the marketing term for setting a standard for your self. The best way to do that is by carefully evaluating your competition. Analyze the packaging designs and strategies employed by the market leader in your category and look at the general conventions in packaging design. Once you’ve done that, you can incorporate your competitors’ strengths into your own packaging and take it to a whole other level by improving on it and adding your own brand of uniqueness and differentiation.

2. TARGET MARKETING

What is your target market? Who does your product cater to? Is there a specific demographic your product appeals to? Or does it cater to many different demographics? Are your potential customers young or old? Are they male or female? Profiling your prospective customers by answering such questions will go a long way in designing great hair packaging- as it will be created by keeping the customer’s preferences in mind.

3. CONVENIENCE

Your packaging design should be inventive and appealing- but it should never be unnecessarily complicated. There is only so much patience a customer has with troublesome packaging. The ideal hair packaging is attractive, protective and convenient to use and store.

4. APPEARANCE

From creating a great logo for your company to incorporating it into an eye-catching design onto the packaging print- the design process for your hair packaging starts with your company’s visual identity and ends with the final look of your product and packaging. Everything from your choice of fonts, themes, colors and styles will determine your packaging’s attractiveness. Make sure that your company’s name/logo is well-displayed on your hair packaging and your design motifs and color palettes are highly attractive for your target customer.

5. THEME

Closely related with the individual appearance of your product’s packaging is the overall theme for your entire range of products. While all of your products can carry your company logo and the same motifs, you can use an overall theme for a product family (with slight differences to signify variations). In the same product category, you could tweak the design and color choices to indicate a difference between prices and types of your products.

6. COPYWRITING

Your promotional text- from the brand slogan to the product description- is known as your ‘copy’. Your packaging design will include a good chunk of your copy and you will need to make sure that it is appealing, professional, comprehensive and easily understandable. If your product requires instructions for use, detail them in an easy-to-follow manner. If you are not sure about the best way to communicate with your clients through the written word, hire a professional copywriter.

7. PROTECTION

Depending on the exact nature of your hair product, you might need to design packaging in a manner and material that protects its content. A sturdy packaging will protect your products from damage which will mean less trouble for you (when shipping) and for your customers (after their purchase).

8. ENVIRONMENT FRIENDLINESS

Customers are increasingly appreciative, and demanding, of green packaging- which means that you should use as little resources and material in creating your packaging as possible. You earn bonus points with your customer if your packaging is made of recyclable material.

9. LEGALITIES

Before you decide on the material, size and other attributes of your packaging, ensure that your packaging design will be compliant with legal requirements.

10. QUALITY

Don’t compromise on packaging material and print quality. There is no use of designing great looking packaging if it will be transferred to poor quality material (that is ineffective in protecting its contents) and passed through low-quality printing.

2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa: Our Most Fun Project

Friday, August 6th, 2010
Wig Box packaging and Headbands packaging for 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa

The Final Products - Wig Box packaging and Headbands packaging for 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa

The World Cup hasn’t been the only thing that’s been keeping us up last month. We had the opportunity to work on an amazingly interesting project for a great client and we poured all our creative juices into it.

Hair & Accessories Inc. contacted us and laid out what they wanted. The project covered some broad fields but with a lot of hard work and some kickass ideas, we were able to get it all done- with spectacular results. Here’s the story!

Okay- so what we had to do was design a variety of headbands, Afro wigs and Mohawk wigs. Moreover, we were to design the wigs packaging. And these were not going to be just any type of headbands and wigs- these were going to be FIFA and world cup themed. And so the hair wig packaging also had to be similarly designed.

We started with a grand brainstorming session.  All of us pooled in our ideas for the illustrations, created mock-ups and then picked the best ones. We did all the design sketches in Adobe Illustrator. About the design itself: because FIFA represents global union, fun and celebration, our aim was to design products and wigs packaging that reflected just that. So we used vivid and bold colors and a design so vibrant and attractive that it leaves you no choice but to notice it. Like the official FIFA 2010 logo, our hair wig packaging (and the products inside them) utilizes lots of reds and yellows and a design that makes the most of bright, colorful broad strokes. All of this is set to clean white backgrounds for maximum accentuation of the design’s powerful colors. But it didn’t just stop there. We also went a step further and created a number of product images. After creating the headbands and wigs, we used Photoshop to affix them to images of models so customers could see how the products would look when actually worn. Our end results would surely attract customers to make purchases- a goal that governed our entire process.

Once we were done with the design, we adapted it to a variety of marketing tools. These included:

  • Catalogs
  • Posters
  • Postcards
  • Business cards
  • Fliers

We also promoted our clients’ products on many different websites. To showcase everything we created to our client, we put up a simple website so they could see and review everything in a convenient manner.

From designing the products and packages to creating all the marketing material, the project was laborious enough to keep us up for 3 consecutive nights at times- but it was all so much fun to work on that we enjoyed every moment of it! It’s always great to see the fruit of all your creativity and efforts turn out so well.

Final word: We have to say- given how successful this project was (not to mention how much fun we had while working on it) we would love to take on more work like this for, both, national and international events!

Afro Wig Mock-up on Model for Spain - the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ South Africa Champions

Afro Wig Mock-up on Model for Spain - the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ South Africa Champions

Afro Wig Illustration for Spain - the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ South Africa Champions

Afro Wig Illustration for Spain - the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ South Africa Champions

Mohawk Wig Mock-Up on Model for England

Mohawk Wig Mock-Up on Model for England

Mohawk Wig Illustration for England

Mohawk Wig Illustration for England

Mock up of Headband on Model for USA

Mock up of Headband on Model for USA

Black Headband Illustration for Italy

Black Headband Illustration for Italy