International Packaging Requirements

By Sanchita Kapoor

Packaging needs vary with the demographic variations of a place and with the ever growing export market and opportunities the importance for international packaging has increased all the more. Mentioned below are four key considerations which should be kept in mind while catering to the international market.

Market Knowledge
With International packaging requirements the very first thing to consider is the kind of place or market wherein the product is being marketed. Small little thing like the popular design trends, consumer purchasing patterns, competition etc. play a major role in the development of a package design for a particular country, city or town. You might never know, how your ignorance about the target place can backfire you. For example, you might end up using a symbol or color which is not considered well in the particular culture of the particular country and thus, it might affect the sales of the product. Hence, make sure that you have an in depth knowledge of culture, tastes and preferences of your target market, before making a package design decision.

Regional Translations
Since the languages differ with the geographical variations, translating the copy on packaging becomes almost indispensable. Though it is important from the legal aspect too, but the problem arises when the actual copy gets deluded in the regional linguistic nuances. One should always remember that language is subjective and thus, can be perceived differently by different people. So it is wise to scrutinize the copy multiple times or even go for a second opinion so that the important copy like tag line etc. comes out exactly the way you expect it to be.

Rules and Regulations
The rules and regulations of the targeted country should be given foremost importance as one is expected to maintain the professional ethics in another country all the more. Thus, follow the rules prescribed by the country authorities regarding packaging and designing and try to give your best shot at international Packaging within the marked limits.

Color Tones
Be sure of the color tones well in advance if you are planning to outsource the printing project to the international vendor, as the color tones differ at different places. For example, US uses Pantone 186 while this is not the case in the Asia and Pacific rim thus 'crimson red' might have a different tone in US printing presses as compared to the Indian presses. Hence be sure with it in advance to maintain the design and color aesthetics of your product package.


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The Important World of Packaging and Strapping

According to Wikipedia, the free online encyclopaedia, packaging is

"the science, art and technology of enclosing or protecting products for distribution, storage, sale, and use. Packaging also refers to the process of design, evaluation, and production of packages. Packaging can be described as a coordinated system of preparing goods for transport, warehousing, logistics, sale, and end use. Packaging contains, protects, preserves, transports, informs, and sells. In many countries it is fully integrated into government, business, institutional, industrial, and personal use."

This certainly is food for thought for those whose vision of packaging may begin and end with supermarket shelves or pretty wrappers on their Christmas presents.

In actual fact any kind of material the purpose of which is to protect its contents from damage or from perishing falls into the ambit of packaging. Storage containers on cargo ships that enable goods of irregular shape to be stacked into regular patterns are packaging, of a fashion.

It doesn't take a great deal of reflection to appreciate just how important packaging is in all our everyday lives. Goods we've ordered arrive by post in one piece because they are packaged in such a way as to ensure that they will not be broken in transit. Food can be stored in bottles and tins, sometimes for years, which would otherwise have perished within a week. And the labels on the tins tell us what they contain - an obvious statement maybe, but without this additional item of packaging we would be completely unable to distinguish between a tin of soup and twelve ounces of pineapple rings.

Similarly furniture, machinery, indeed more or less anything that we take for granted both in a domestic and an industrial environment, arrives surrounded by packaging - usually polythene bags, irritating shavings of polystyrene and a sturdy wooden or cardboard box surrounded by strapping.

Some of the more inspired inventions in the world of packaging would include shrink wrap and stretch film, and often on an industrial scale these are applied through the use of dedicated machinery. It would not be an exaggeration to say that packaging has itself become an industry and a field of expert endeavour.