North American Carton Box Contest Shows Four Trends in the Industry

Some of the trends in the design of folding cartons and corrugated boxes presented at the recent 2017 North American Cardboard Packaging Contest, although the final list of winners will be announced during the PPC Fall Meeting in October, but the overall trend it reflects It should be able to help paper packaging processors and brands further consider how they can produce products that are more in line with the development of the industry, and think more about where the future development of carton color printing packaging will take place.

1 ColorZone: Short Label Production

This year, many customers asked their cardboard packaging manufacturers to create designs that would destroy the overall effect of store shelves. These processors use cardboard's robust qualities to create unique structural designs at the retail level. For example, many of the short-listed products include "bow" or round scribed to create an attached panel in front of their package. This not only provides a unique arched structural element, it tries to eliminate its monotony in retail, but also creates additional space for brands and graphics. (See the curved silver panel between the front and top panels above the Milk Bone carton on the Hub Folding Box.) Other destructive designs include scan curves and pyramid shapes. Some packages are also deliberately designed to be taller or wider than the average folding carton.

2 Sustainable development is the standard

Paper is renewable and recyclable, so the cardboard packaging industry has always been very sustainable. However, for many years, processors have been trying to achieve such goals by adopting sustainable manufacturing practices such as reducing materials, using clean energy, and managing forest procurement. As of today, the industry has reached a turning point—every single product of each competition has somehow combined sustainable development! For example, many entries show that the product material comes from FSC and SFI certification, responsible for the management of the forest's cardboard to process cartons. This shows that sustainable development has become an integral part of the design of cardboard packaging and there is no need to mention it specifically.

3 Expanding the senses

As of now, packaging needs to bring more experience to consumers. Brand owners don't just want to visually attract consumers. They also want packaging to bring more sensory experiences to consumers, thereby extending and deepening packaging and enabling product and brand interaction. PPC pointed out that many products in this year's competition products reflect this quality and can feel an increase in packaging experience. In tactile experience, soft touch is king. Nearly 100% of the cosmetics cartons and about 30% of the finalists achieved a soft touch, which gave the package a rich velvety feel.

Five years ago, there may be three or four finalists with soft touches, all of which may receive special awards. Having a sense of touch has become a priority, especially in the cosmetics field. Some products also add audible elements to design elements. Some carton products also have the function of sounding when they are opened and closed again when the consumer closes the package. The judges were very satisfied with this unique feature for two main reasons. First, because the audible click sound allows the consumer to ensure that the package is properly closed, and secondly, because it allows a smooth and aesthetic interaction of the carton, the consumer can open and close the package over and over again without tearing it.

4 more digitized

Last year, PPC released a report showing that folding carton manufacturers are increasingly adopting digital printing, this trend is even more evident this year. Most of the digitally-printed carton products are tailored to meet the needs of customers with fast time-to-market and fast turnaround. As digital printing technology becomes more mature and operational, more and more processors appear to be turning Digital presses, and provide customers with speed and flexibility advantages.

If digital printing continues to grow at the same pace over the next few years, PPC may even introduce a special digital category. Another area of ​​interest is that more and more companies are using laser cutting instead of traditional die cutting. This new device allows processors to add very detailed and complex cutting decorations to their paper boxes. In many cases, these cuts look like they are printed, and the results are very good without careful observation. The development of digital printing defines more possibilities for paper packaging.

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