Whip up a Tornado !

Last time this friend of mine had organised a party, I was left with just one everlasting impression

' Energy '. There was so much of energy in the event that, one could not but have a great experience. Packaging is all about the energy that one brings to ones work, right from the word go.

It is a career which is as exciting as one can make of it and each time the returns are manifold. The returns not just in terms of the outcome but in terms of the journey and all the fun while at work.

So, put in the energy in the designs, just not accept the ordinary, keep on the search for the best. Let the team experience the search for the unknown ,the undefined territory and the high of finding it. let there be a perpetual hunt for innovation and a quest for raising the bar.

Whip up a tornado and see for yourself what great fun Packaging development could be.

If the graphics are coming right, think of what inks could do, if the graphics and inks are coming out brilliant, think of what embossing could add and if all that is looking outstanding, do a quick inhouse test and check if the output is good enough. If the output is not actually good enough , do not go to bed dejected and giving up but sleep on new ideas and new solutions.

It is all about the attitude and your sheer love for your own work, the energy that you impart to the work generates the energy around for the others, who in turn compound the effect , with the experience becoming memorable.

Once everything is done and ready, bring in visible energy in your presentations, the excitement in every design that you showcase, the views that you generate ,the concepts that you challenge and the new directions that emerge for your development.

Think of it, with so much energy in your work, you will still never be tired and looking forward to more and plenty. Rainbows day after day.

2 mm to the left !

How often we come across the request , well the design looks brilliant and actually perfect but could we just move this text VERY VERY slightly to the left, maybe about 2 mm. Sometimes the request is even for 0.5 mm to the left or right or top or bottom and so on.

The question is , does this make a difference and if so, how much. We need to answer this as very often a lot of iterations are undertaken and a lot of time and money is spent in just these very fine adjustments. So it is important to understand if these inputs are IMPORTANT !

The perfection in design comes with a fine balance and alignment based upon some well understood design principles but very often in the eye of the beholder and more often than not in our minds. Lets examine this, if it is to ensure congruence with a well established design principle, well yes , it is then not only desired but one would say mandatory for the developer to correct the shifts and positioning in decimals of millimeters. If it is in the eye, it could be subjective but definitely needs attention, one should try to execute the recommended change and debate the rationale. If it is in the mind, the issue becomes critical, how does one establish if the recommended suggestion makes sense. More often than not, if it comes from some one very senior in the Organisation, whether with any sense of aesthetics or not, the Packaging developer just tends to give in rather ' better to surrender ' .

I define this kind of development as ' Design by Ego'. This happens all the time, a wonderful design developed is often ruined as it goes up the Organisation ladder if the principle of ' Design by Ego ' is constantly at work. Sometimes these small Millimeters shifts, shaving offs , stretching etc. can lead to not only delays but also ultimately a BAD design.

The developer needs to bear in mind that he/she holds the responsibility of not only the development but sensible development, not only output but meaningful output. To ensure that one must have logical reasons to implement these so very subtle reasons and also very logical reasons to to 'Say No' if and when required. Lets be honest to our work and to ourselves, lets be guided by the necessity and not just subjective desires and lets be able to stand up and defend our own creation.

The big danger is that there is a very fine line between ' being honest to oneself ' and being 'Close minded', let that not happen to the developer. Getting close minded could be not only detrimental to your work but also lead others to discard your defense for the design, branding you as ' Close minded '.

The big advantage of giving due attention to often the apparently ' Design by ego ' is that it could be challenging a very well established design principle and perhaps changing the rules of the game rightfully. In such a case you need to examine the 0.5 millimeter shifts as who knows there could be a breakthrough which you may completely miss out. So let that not happen to us !

Breach of confidentiality - 'The cat is out of the bag'

Despite so many precautions and binding agreements, it is not very unusual to have a breach of confidentiality or the leakage of the project. There is definitely shock and disbelief on having a well guarded design or project leak out into the market , the net outcome is to do a hunt asto who could be the culprit, often with no clear answers.

However in some cases there are clear answers but one does not know as to what action to be taken. Here is a case with the names changed to avoid the ' Breach of Confidentiality' !

Alto was a big company in India selling a premium brand of Biscuits. Alto wanted to do a celebration series of their Brand and source packaging from a very reputed company in UK , Parkville Inc. The Packaging team in Alto tied up all the aspects of the confidentiality agreement and the development progressed with full speed. The project head at Parkville built in a clause that the packaging would be ultimately sourced from a company in China to ensure lower costs and speedy delivery. The prototypes were developed and changed several times. Ultimately the prototypes were approved by Alto but the bulk delivery did not happen as the Brand plans changed and the project got postponed.

Several years later a company from UK, Briganza, selling similar packaging participated in an International Packaging fair in India. The packaging team of Alto who were visiting the fair got a complete shock and were in for a disbelief when they saw their project prototypes displayed by Briganza with great pride , indicating as if it was their development. On checking out Briganza explained to Alto that they had not manufactured it but had got it done from a company in China who are their partners for such packaging. On further checking out the Chinese partner turned out to be the same as the one Parkville had used for the development. There was more to the story, the project manager from Parkville had moved to Briganza and claimed rights over the development.

The net result for Alto was a leakage of their project and thus a breach of confidentiality. The answers one need to seek is that who should be blamed for this and what action could be taken.

Is Parkville to be blamed , the Chinese party, the project Manager or the Briganza who were trying to pass it off as their work.

Such breach of confidentiality is not uncommon , the challenge comes asto what action to take and against whom, specially when one is working across continents and encounter diverse laws.

Packaging has to take lessons from such experiences and work out the proposals and agreements trying to prevent the 'Cat to be out of the Bag'.

Best Outside vs Inside - The dilemma with no answers

All of us have this question facing regularly- should we do the Packaging design development in-house or should we do it with an outside Design agency, or should we have both work in parallel and 'let the best one' win. Often the cost and time constraints help to decide asto what should be the way forward, as the in-house is much faster and time saving. However if costs are not a constraint, one wishes to explore the best that could be possible Globally.

The fact remains that the knowledge that the in-house team has on a product category is far superior and thus their ability to develop designs which hold critical relevance to the brand is far higher. The other view could be that the Outside design agency has a much wider exposure across Brands and categories and perhaps bring in a much needed fresh air. In many companies the in-house packaging team are well exposed and with experience , they are able to handle some of the most challenging of the projects. Often with a motivated team and with the right leader the in-house team can work towards the just right synergy of the Outside idea and the in-house specialism.

The entire exercise can be fruitful and rewarding if the Organisation provides the Credits and acknowledges the contribution of the team that rightfully deserves. Very often the in-house team may do excellent work and clear all the Consumer tests, however there are residual 'desires' , wishing that the design had the name of a Global name or of the best in the industry. In such a case one must not demean or forget the good work that the in-house team puts together consistently and with considerable amount of hard work and commitment.

Do not forget to accept asto who has done what, if the credit is given deliberately or inadvertently to not the deserving, the packaging team could be left extremely de-motivated.

The fact remains that we all like the association with the Brand names and the tags that go along with them, so even if the in-house team has done the best, we end up saying ' we did this from the best design house in the country and our in-house team added value to it '. The worst case would be if the in-house team has done all the work right from the start to the finish and then they have to hear similar comments, they would never again like to take any project seriously.

The truth is that there is always a dilemma with no clear answers, the approach and the methodology has to change. One needs to go back to the Consumer and check asto which is the best design and thus link back to which team deserves the recognition. Let us all be truthful and honest to ourselves and give the credit to the team that deserves rightfully.

In case we believe that for us the Brand name of the design house is extremely critical, one must stop the development in-house and be prepared to spend the time and the costs that go along with it. More often than not, the work may start with the Outside agency but the time pressures compound, the in-house team may have to step in to salvage the project. In case we believe that we will not be able to give the credits to the in-house team, let the time pressures not change the course of action let us continue the work externally, as that is what we wanted deep down in our hearts!

And off course the deserving get their credit some day and with the full interest !

Creative collaborations- the Journey of the unexpected.

There has been a lot of excitement around the process of creative collaborations, wherein the packaging design gets designed not by a Brand designer but by a designer from another stream, e.g a Fashion designer, a Photographer, a Contemporary artist, an Architect and so on.

The idea is extremely exciting and filled with immense possibilities, as a different kind of mind looks at the Brand personality and may come up with amazing new approaches.

Some large Brands have used it regularly and very successfully and continued to enhance the salience of their Brands.

The journey is of a different kind, you may end up meeting the top most fashion designer of your country or the top most Canvas Artist and may need to brief them about the exercise.

Off course the first worry comes in, that very often such creatively arrived people have very little patience to handle the so called corporate complexities. Infact they may have very little patience to even listen to the brief, let alone understand it to get back to you with a debrief.

The worries are compounded when you have to work out the price of their priceless work and try to draw very sharp timelines.

Once the work is embarked upon , the experience perhaps may get more and more interesting and rewarding. The challenge still remains asto how to work within your brief and the 'so well done' Brand Architecture.

Perhaps the best option in such a a scenario is to expect the unexpected, to let the fresh wind blow into your design and to condition your self to take to the market the unimagined experience. While you may condition yourself and the design team to look forward to the absolute unusual, the larger issue remains of convincing the other functions and the teams working on the project. One gets so used to the ' Focus group' studies and the research analysis that it almost a decision to be taken with complete blindfolds.

If one is prepared for this and can handle the twists and the turns, the Journey of such creative collaborations could be immensely memorable and fruitful.

Driven by Objectives - Whose !

The Objectives setting exercise in an Organisation is a mandatory one and every Packaging Manager needs to set his/her Objectives in the beginning of the year and work towards it or rather get driven by it.

The question that one has to often answer as to where should he/she draw his/her Objectives from, should it be from the Marketing strategy or the Technical strategy or the overall Corporate strategy.

The obvious answer is that it has to be completely and clearly aligned to the Marketing strategy as ultimately that is aimed at delivering the consumer needs and packaging is one 'P' in the complete marketing mix. While there is a clear positive to this, there are several negatives as well. The Brand strategies more often than not are focused on short to mid long term as the pressures of competition are very live and have to be dealt with NOW ! . The other very stark reality is that the Brand Managers come and go with the stints lasting a maximum two years, where their energies are locked with dousing the immediate fires and delivering the obviously expected.

Packaging today is becoming more and more complex and has a much wider implications not only on Brands, Organisations, Countries but on the entire humanity and infact on the Planet Earth itself. If the Packaging Manager has to look at the very long term issues of packaging he/she has to set Objectives which can look much beyond the immediate Brand needs.

Today more and more Corporates are setting Objectives which are aimed at not only delivering the bottom line but becoming more and more inclusive towards delivering the larger cause of the humanity and the society. Should the Packaging Manager allign himself/ herself to these larger goals and contribute in the Overall corporate Objectives, if yes how should he/ she set the Objectives, budgets and the targets.

The reality is that while many Organisations do talk a lot of the societal and the global objectives the here and now continues to get the larger focus. Hence even if the Packaging Manager were to set Objectives of greater implications, he / she is time and again dragged into the here and now. There are also the parochial perspectives which are purely what appeals to individuals and

to 'Me' , which often one has to contend with.

The answer clearly lies in bringing in fresh perspectives , putting together proposals of universally challenging nature and pushing more and more functions to see the benefits. Lets keep the search on and keep on building Ones Objectives with the very large and long term goals for packaging in sight. The challenge is to not just get driven by the Marketing objectives or the Corporate Objectives, one has to set ones own Objectives , have faith and conviction in them and work towards making others also see reason in them. Yes it is difficult, but then what is easy !