Apple never ceases to amaze.

Anticipation, impatience, and excitement are just some of the emotions that Apple wants its customers to feel as they are about to open their brand new Apple product. Many of us know that the packaging that holds our new product is great, but what many of us do not know is how serious Apple is about keeping its packaging a secret by lock and key.

Apple clearly cares about creative, well-designed packaging, and with each new product there are countless details that make the packaging special and unique. Every Apple device comes in an elegant, simple-to-open box that makes us feel as though we are ruining a masterpiece by tugging it apart. The experience in opening an Apple product is unlike any other experience, which is exactly the feeling that Apple wants.

This, and other inside details of Apple were recently revealed in an advanced copy of Adam Lashinsky’s book, Inside Apple.

According to the book, Apple has a secret room that is accessible only by security badges that is dedicated to hundreds of different kinds of prototype product packaging options for Apple products such as the iPad.

“To fully grasp how seriously Apple executives sweat the small stuff, consider this: For months, a packaging designer was holed up in this room performing the most mundane of tasks – opening boxes,” NetworkWorld’s iOnApple blog quoted from Lashinsky’s book.

Apparently, packaging designers open every prototype box to test the positioning of the invisible stickers stuck to the top of iPod boxes. Lashinsky explained that the invisible tape must be placed exactly every time.

Late co-founder, Steve Jobs, who passed away in late 2011, took packaging very seriously because he wanted Apple customers to have the complete experience with the product and wanted customers to feel a certain emotion upon opening Apple products to add to the Apple mystique.

Unlike other technology companies, Apple’s package design have sophisticated utilization of white space. MacRumors quotes Jonathan Ive, Apple’s senior vice president of industrial design, from Walter Isaacson’s bio on Steve Jobs: “You design a ritual of unpacking to make the product feel special. Packaging can be theater, it can create a story.”

Be sure to check out this video courtesy of Mashable:

Source: http://www.mashable.com

Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey has always had a bottle design that sets them apart from the rest and I think it is safe to say that many people can instantly associate the distinct package design with Jack Daniel’s. When Jack Daniel himself first entered into the business, he wanted to have a package design is unique and Mr. Jack said he wanted “a square bottle for a square shooter,” because he was a square shooter himself.

I have always been a fan of the aesthetic appeal of the Jack Daniel’s brand whiskey bottles, from the classic style to the Tennessee Honey and now, their newest bottle design is no exception. Jack Daniel’s recently released their newest bottle design for the Jack Daniel’s Winter Jack Apple Punch. The drink and bottle are a special edition winter drink from Jack Daniel’s that was originally made for the German market, and hopefully it will keep you warm this winter.

The bottle and design continues to embody the classic square bottle with fluted neck as it always has while featuring a wintery feel. Since Mr. Jack first introduced the eye-catching bottle, the Jack Daniel’s brand has continued to carry on his legacy by issuing decorative bottles from time to time. The bottles have come to either represent Mr. Jack’s accomplishments or to “capture the spirit and style of the time they represent,” which is exactly what Jack Daniel’s Winter Jack Apple Punch has done.

Sources: The Die Line,  Jack Daniel’s

Popular cosmetics and beauty brand, L’Oreal, recently redesigned its on-shelf bottles for its Pureology brand professional hair products. L’Oreal has a strong understanding that package design is crucial to the success of a beauty brand.The brand hopes to combine sustainable packaging with the professional, sleek looks expected in the beauty industry.

The Pureology brand professional products features shampoos, conditioners, masques, and treatments. The brand has not been redesigned since being bought by L’Oreal in May 2007, so the French brand based in Paris decided it was time for a new, modern, and fashionable look.

The brand professional products have been literally flipped over on-shelf and are contained in pearlescent toned, multi-tasking bottles in order to reflect their 100 percent vegan formulation and sustainable packaging.

The Pureology redesign, by Robert Bergman, the founder of Mpact and former L’Oreal creative director, takes the form of a curved set of bottle designs that are manufactured from a single mold. Bergman has a rather simple philosophy for when it comes to package design.

“No matter what a brand’s tone or message, a package must always be stunningly beautiful,” he says. Bergman, whose appreciation for beautiful aesthetics came from working in fashion, says, “Image and status are so important in fashion and beauty, so package design is especially crucial to the success of a beauty brand.

The creative brief for the package redesign presented two challenges to the team
1. Give the brand, whose original structure was inspired by classic olive oil bottles, and had not been redesigned since its purchase by L’Oreal, a modern, upscale look cool enough to be sold at Colette, in Paris
2. Correct a structural design flaw in which the thin-necked bottle prevented the popular flash-foam effect of the luxuriously viscous liquid.

“L’Oreal wanted the new Pureology bottle to appear organic and natural in form, while looking different from all other salon products. Toward that goal, Bergman made dozens of exploratory sketches before rendering the finalists in 3D. “If there is a name for that bottle shape, I would call it ‘organically professional,’” said Bergman. “I’m constantly aware of masculine and feminine package design cues; Pureology is definitely feminine, yet highly functional with its wider neck and flip-top cap allowing for easy one-handed use in the shower.”

“It’s a complete redesign, from shape, to color to graphics, and it has to appeal to current Pureology users while attracting new customers so every nuance must be carefully considered to achieve the brand’s growth goals.”

iPhones are becoming increasingly popular with mobile device users, on that same note, the packaging and casing that surrounds the device is also becoming more popular. Monolith has created a small startup launch of prototypes and packaging for a wooden iPhone replacement panel. The new design is unique and cost effective while providing proof that good branding does not need to be expensive or overly elaborate.

The Monolith packaging features just a little emblem of a mountain. Designer John Tolman wanted to create a package that was attractive enough to warrant further use. A solid wooden panel replaces the glass back panel on the iPhone 4 and 4S. Underneath where the solid wood replacement panel sits, a screwdriver is provided in order to have quick and easy installation. Monolith’s Tolman further explains in an interview with “The Die Line” the inspirations and ideas behind the wooden creation for the modern technology.

“When we searched for a similar product for our own iPhones, we were disappointed in the high price of the existing offerings and decided it’d be easy enough to make our own. It didn’t take us long to decide to keep making them.

The goal of the packaging was something that was recyclable and economical on a small scale, yet attractive enough someone wouldn’t mind keeping around since it doubles as safe storage for the original iPhone glass back panel. We designed and constructed the packaging from laser cut corrugated cardboard with cutouts to accommodate the screwdriver provided for installation. A laser cut sleeve features a logo cutout to expose the wood grain of the back panel.”

What inspired your packaging concept?

John Tolman: In general, I was inspired by minimalist packaging that doesn’t have a lot of waste or less renewable materials (i.e. plastics). A good recent examples I came across is the packaging for the glif iPhone tripod mount by Studio Neat. I found a few companies that offered design/fabrication of laser cut packaging, but I really wanted to make our packaging in-house. I wanted a design that could be rapid prototyped and produced on a small scale without sacrificing design aesthetic or resorting to make-shift off the shelf packaging.  I think it can be intimidating sometimes for a small startup such as myself when you consider the possible large setup costs involved with more traditional custom packaging such as die-cut cartons and molded fiber. I think a lot of people including myself owe our ability to make such packaging in-house to newer and cheaper rapid prototyping technologies such as CNC laser engravers/cutters.

What is the price point of the product?

John Tolman: The price point is $55 for any of the wood species and iPhone 4 or 4S and we have plans to offer custom engraved designs as well as more exotic wood species in the next few months.

Do you have a background in product or package design or is this your first venture?

John Tolman: I don’t have any experience in packaging design although my background is in mechanical engineering and some of my education focused on industrial design. I’ve always had an interest in graphic and industrial design though, and nearly went into one of those fields.

I love the simplistic approach to branding, but does the packaging or product say “Monolith” anywhere?

John Tolman: The back side of the sleeve does have a laser cut/etched design with more detailed branding, although not on the prototypes (below). We are making a production run this weekend which will have those final touches.

Source: http://www.thedieline.com

Packaging presents great opportunities for companies to engage customers with your brand.  Whether it is mazes on the back of the cereal box or QR codes on the packaging of the product, the packaging is encouraging further engagement with the brand rather than just seeing the package and disregarding the brand shortly thereafter. A great example of packaging interaction opportunities is presented in the partnership with the Star Wars enterprise and  PepsiCo.

Star Wars fans not only have the releasing of “Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace 3D” to look forward to in this coming month, they also have a chance to add to their collectors items with the addition of a new bottle with its packaging featuring Star Wars. PepsiCo is seeking to take advantage of a great national marketing campaign  by joining forces with the 3D theatrical release by featuring the release on their Brisk iced tea and its other juice drinks.

The new product packaging features Darth Maul, who is a Sith warrior best known for wielding a double-ended lightsaber, taking over the Brisk Raspberry Iced Tea 24-oz can and one liter bottles. The Darth Maul packaging will feature a web link that hopes to drive consumers to UncaptheApp.com, where they can download and play the exclusive mobile game, Brisksaber.

All other Brisk Tea products will have under-the-cap codes that give fans access codes to unlock new lightsabers, characters, and objects when they play Brisksaber. The marketing campaign and limited-time packaging featuring Darth Maul will be available for purchase until April 30, 2012.

“The Brisk team has done a great job developing new, innovative ways for people to interact with Star Wars—staying true to classic, fan-favorite characters while giving them a fun twist,” says Kayleen Walters, senior director, marketing, Lucasfilm. “We are excited that Brisk is partnering with us to spread the excitement about.”

By creating a new form of packaging for their Brisk iced tea, PepsiCo is not only pushing for more sales of the drink, but they are also engaging Brisk ice tea drinkers via social networking and mobile gaming through the packaging of the product. The partnership between the two enhances and encourages consumers to interact with both the PepsiCo. brand as well as the Star Wars enterprise, all the while promoting the hyped up release of “Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace 3D.”

In the packaging world, efforts are constantly being made to create packaging that will benefit consumers as well as the environment. By reusing packaging, there is a great stride in creating an environment that is more geared towards sustainable packing. In an effort to encourage companies to reduce waste and reuse more, eco-friendly packaging company, Globe Guard, invented Globe Guard® Reusable Box Sealer™. The patent-pending reusable box sealer “Makes Every Box a Reusable Box.”

The product is designed to help companies reduce packaging waste during testing, product development, shipping preparation and other applications. The sealer does not require any sort of wasteful packaging materials such as packaging tape or glues. Instead, the product allows a box to be sealed and reopened many times until it is ready to be shipped. The reusable seal also allows you to open and reopen a box without any knives or scissors. In turn, this allows for a considerable amount of reduction in the amount of corrugated waste that companies produce.

As described by Globe Guard themselves, there are two very common scenarios in which the Globe Guard Reusable Box Sealer is particularly important:

1. “The box is going to be handled or shipped internally (closed loop) and not shipped via UPS, FedEx, or USPS.”
2. “Immediate or repeated access to the contents is advantageous or necessary.”

The sealer works very easily and quite simply. It works by slipping the reusable sealer between the top major flaps of any box and holding them closed until the box is to be reopened again.

Quite simply, the Globe Guard® Reusable Box Sealer™ is a great new product and a great way to motivate companies to create a more eco-friendly work environment by promoting reusable packaging.

Attention all Star Wars fans:

Mandy Brencys has presented her new series of custom designed Star Wars themed bottles for French mineral water company, Evian. Each bottle features a different character from the film series with a shape like the end of a light saber.

“Star Wars by Evian, is an innovative intergalactic take on design packaging. Shaped to be wielded like a lightsaber, and striking enough to distinguish which side you have chosen — Jedi or Sith, these glass water bottles will take you to a galaxy far far away.”

There is no news to if this bottle design will be making a run for retail stores soon, but we’re willing to bet some collectors out there would love to get their hands on this. Unfortunately, it does sound like this is an unofficial collaboration that will not be available any time soon.

On December 14th, Kraft Foods shared their results of a multi-year study of the company’s total footprint on climate change, land, and water use. Kraft Foods, in partnership with Quantis Inc, was reviewed and analyzed by World Wildlife Fund and the University of Minnesota’s Institute of the Environment. The results, although not surprising, validated that Kraft Foods needs to  focus on working towards sustainable agriculture.

The results found that over 90 percent of Kraft’s carbon footprint comes from outside of their plants and offices – nearly 60 percent is from farm commodities, more than 80 percent of its land impact is from agriculture, and 70 percent of its water footprint comes from growing raw materials.

“Having the ‘big picture’ of our total footprint—from farm to fork—validates the focus of our sustainability efforts, particularly advancing sustainable agriculture,” says Roger Zellner, Kraft’s sustainability director for Research, Development & Quality. “Experts say climate change, land and water use may be among the biggest challenges in feeding a world of 9 billion people in 2050. As we continue our sustainability journey, we now have more insight into where we can make the greatest difference.”

“This study shows that to make meaningful change and conserve nature’s valuable resources, companies need to work with their suppliers to reduce the impact of producing raw materials,” says Dave McLaughlin, VP of Agriculture at World Wildlife Fund. “This means forging long term partnerships based on shared objectives, creating a transformational supply chain, a key strategy of WWF’s market transformation initiative.”

Kraft, which is the largest packaged food company in the country, said, “while the company does not own farms, the survey supports the work of its sustainable agriculture efforts on key commodities to improve crop yields, reduce environmental impacts and improve the lives of many of the farm workers and their families.”

The press release states that based on 2010 figures, Kraft Foods has set the following goals for 2015:

• Increase sustainable sourcing of agricultural commodities by 25 percent
• Reduce energy use in manufacturing plants by 15 percent
• Reduce energy-related CO2 emissions in manufacturing plants by 15 percent
• Reduce water consumption in manufacturing plants by 15 percent
• Reduce waste at manufacturing plants by 15 percent
• Eliminate 50,000 metric tons (100 million lbs.) of packaging material
• Reduce 80 million km (50 million miles) from its transportation network

Although Kraft has a lot of work to do towards becoming more sustainable these next few years, they have already made significant progress  towards reducing energy, CO2 emissions, water, waste, packaging and transportation across its global operations.

• Energy use is down 16 percent
• CO2 emissions are down 18 percent
• Incoming water is down 30 percent
• Net waste is down 42 percent
• Packaging is down 100,000 metric tons (200 million lbs)
• 96 million km (60 million road miles) have been removed from its transportation/distribution network

While wandering through any retail store, we often find ourselves attracted to products that have a packaging design that catches our eye. When a particular design grabs our attention,  we find that there is often a desire that is formed within us that makes us wonder how great the product really is. A truly great and effective packaging design influences our decision to purchase the product.

At Sunrise Packaging, our knowledge of the psychology behind what a consumer looks for in the packaging when purchasing a product reflects what blogger, Chapell Ellison, at The Etsy Blog writes in her latest blog post, “Unboxing Desire: the Psychology behind Packaging“

“Countless studies have concluded the same thing: the better an object looks on the shelf, the more likely we are to take it home. Just consider a store display of iPods — rows of impeccably molded plastic cases, almost just as desirable as the product inside. So what is it about packaging that compels us to fetishize it just as much as the product housed within?

There is, in fact, a deep-rooted history behind the psychology of packaging. When Henry P. Crowell packaged what would later become Quaker Oats, he marketed them as ‘pure’ by comparison with oats sold out of barrels in late 19th century general stores. By the 1950s, purity became a symbol of civilized supermarkets, where bruised fruit and dented cans were quickly removed. ‘In theFirst World,’ writes Susan Willis in a study on commodity packaging, ‘the package is a fetishized sign of the desire for purity, which, in the fullest sense, is also a desire for security.’

The desire to rip open the packaging and pull out the object in proud wonderment is engrained in buyers from an early age. It is an act that, when considering product packaging, you might equate with gift wrapping. However, as Willis reminds us, the two are radically different: ‘The anticipation we associate with the gift-wrapped present is for the unknown object. In anticipating a plastic-wrapped commodity, we imagine the experience of its use since its identity is already revealed.’ When it comes to the imagination, we simply can’t help it — when we see a shiny, packaged product on the shelf, we envision putting it to use and how it would potentially improve everyday life.

We’ve all had our run-ins with effective packaging design. You might have oohed and aahed over the unboxing of a new iPod, opening its packaging as if it were a jewel case. Or you are all too familiar with the maddening frenzy that results from a seemingly impenetrable, heat-sealed plastic shell. Like a primate struggling with cracking a coconut, we resort to sharp objects — scissors, car keys — to free our purchase from its PVC prison. Perhaps nowhere is this hysteria so well documented as it is in a scene from Curb Your Enthusiasm, in which Larry David sinks into pure desperation as he struggles to release a new GPS system from its packaging (see link below).”

Larry David Vs. Bad Packaging

Packaging is an essential ingredient in determining how well a product sells. With this ingredient in mind, De Hortus Bontanicus Amsterdam recently unveiled a new package design for their rare De Hortus Honey; only 200 pots of this honey are made a year! The honey is made in their own botanical gardens, which is one of the oldest botanical gardens in the world today. Made by the bees in their garden, the honey has a unique taste, which is exemplified in the distinctive design of the custom packaging.

Designers of the packaging, PHontwerp, explain,

“Every drop of this rare honey captures the taste of an amazing amount of different flowers from all over the world. For 1 pot of this honey, the bees need to make 2.000.000 visits to various flowers. Every drop is valuable! We wanted to capture this essence into a graphic representation of a honey drop. The cut out shape in the outer box leads to an inner shape that actually holds the ball shaped honey pot. Every year the colour and transparency of the honey is different. We want to show it to the buyers of the honey. Who definitely want to see and enjoy it. That is why we made a design that enables the light to go through the packaging from two sides. A true gift.”