According to color influencers in ink, fashion, and photography, the color of 2022 is periwinkle and pink! If you want packaging that is on-trend yet stands apart, print on holographic board or label stock. A pink or purple ink or image printed over iridescent holography will make any image glow.
If you’d like guidance on how to design with holography, email kguarnaccia@mainlineprinting.com; we are here to help!
Start-ups are, by necessity, budget conscious. As such, cannabis packaging designers are embracing the use of holographic board as a way to inexpensively achieve dramatic effects.
For instance, when the cannabis company High Season added a signature extract to their product line, they asked the the designers at DiDio and Associates for a carton design that would stand apart from their competitor’s packaging. They also wanted a package that would appear to be more high-end than their other, less expensive extracts.
With limited funds available, the designers kept the design simple, using just two spot colors and no special coatings. They also developed an adhesive-free folding carton design to minimize fulfillment costs.
The printer also identified a cost-savings opportunity by utilizing the same die for both the new signature extract carton and the cartons for their other extracts. To achieve the colorful playfulness that the client desired, the designers printed the carton on Mainline Holographics’ Swirl3 holographic stock pattern.
The arresting pattern matched High Season’s brand identity so well—and sales exceeded their expectations to such a degree—that the company now plans to print their other signature product packaging on holographic board as well.
To make your packaging memorable AND save on the cost of creating a custom design, utilize Mainline’s brilliant cannabis stock pattern! No minimum order requirements. For a quote, email kguarnaccia@mainlineprinting.com
According to recent market research, global sales of cosmetics are expected to reach $87 billion by 2025. With such a thriving market, this sector is particularly attractive to criminals who counterfeit beauty products and fragrances.
According to another recent study, almost 20% of all products sold online are fake. Moreover, when it comes to cosmetics, consumers are rightfully worried. It is not uncommon for someone to open a carton to test a product in the store and then place it back on-shelf.
So how do you deter criminals from copying your products? How can you give customers the confidence that your packaging has been safely sealed since it left the plant?
The answer is simple.
A small holographic security seal applied to a carton’s opening flap will keep in-store product theft to a minimum. It will also make it easier for consumers to distinguish between a genuine product and a fake. Such seals are easy to apply by hand or inline by your packaging company or labeler.
For most companies, a simple holographic seal will be enough of a deterrent. But what happens if your product is so valuable that counterfeiters may also duplicate the security wafer?
The experts recommend that in such cases, brand owners should design a unique pattern and/or die shape, then periodically change the shape or the artwork.
Want to go all in and make the seal virtually impossible to copy? Just incorporate into the pattern micro text, latent images, or hidden data.
For more info on how holography can provide your customers the security of knowing they have purchased a tamper-free product AND deter on-shelf theft or unapproved product sampling, contact Mainline’s team of holographic experts!
In June, Mainline’s 2021 promotional calendar won two key awards at the Printing and Imaging Association of MidAmerica’s Graphex annual competition: Best in Category (Calendars) and Best Use of Paper.
The Graphic Excellence (Graphex) competition honors outstanding technical achievements in innovation and print production by companies throughout Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas.
“Of all the entries, Graphex’s panel of judges felt Mainline’s calendar best transformed a piece of paper (in this case, holographic board) into a unique tool of communication, thereby earning the competition’s Best Use of Paper award,” says Jana Shanks, Regional Director of PIA MidAmerica. “It was also executed flawlessly, a testament to Mainline’s printing and converting services.”
Mainline’s promotional calendar also beat out over a dozen other calendar entries to win the Best in Category award.
“Hundreds of entries are submitted into the competition every year. So to be presented with not one award but two is quite an honor,” says John Tillinghast, Sales Director.
“We are super proud of our Marketing Director Kim Guarnaccia, as well as of our production team,” Tillinghast continues, “for doing such a stellar job producing the calendar.”
Designed by Guarnaccia, Mainline’s winning calendar features a separate page for each month of the year. Each page is also printed on a different holographic pattern. Each page also showcases a retro, space-age illustration that complements the eye-catching metallic holography.
The calendar, which is still usable through the end of the year, also features a hidden narrative.
“The first few months show images of people seeing UFOs in the sky, aliens landing on the planet, and rocket ships blasting into space,” Guarnaccia explains. “This suggests that the earth had been invaded by an alien race so to survive, humanity must flee to neighboring planets.”
“The narrative then moves onto space exploration, where space monsters attack the astronauts, leading to humanity’s takeover by robots,” Guarnaccia continues. “Finally, the last image shows a man wearing VR goggles, suggesting that the storyline all along may have been just a computer simulation.”
In March 2021, Mainline Holographics launched a new art competition to showcase the most creative and unique visions of the future.
Each winning entry will be printed on various patterns of holographic board and will be compiled into a calendar for 2022. Up to 14 winning entries will be selected, one for each month, as well as one for December of 2021 and a cover.
“It’s been a difficult past few years for businesses across the globe,” says Mainline Holographics’ Marketing Director Kim Guarnaccia. “So it’s the perfect time to look toward the future.”
The calendar competition will showcase the most creative perspectives of our future, whether it be retro Steampunk, UFOs, robots, or a Blade Runner-like dystopia. Holography is often seen as a cutting-edge technique, says Guarnaccia, which makes it ideal to combine with futuristic imagery.
Artists, designers, and illustrators can submit up to five designs at 11” x 17” size and each entry is FREE. Each winning artist will be publicized within the calendar, on the Mainline website, in trade magazines, and on social media. Winners will also receive free copies of the printed calendar and a frameable awards certificate.
“Few artists know how well holography augments a design or illustration, as they’ve had little or no chance to experiment with it,” explains John Tillinghast, National Sales Director at Mainline. “By printing their work on a colorful holographic background, competition winners will gain a wider audience for their work AND get the opportunity to play with this phenomenal medium.”
Entry deadline is June 1, 2021.
For submission guidelines, visit: www.mainlineprinting.com/competition/.