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!
By Kim Guarnaccia
In 1984, National Geographic made news when it became the first national magazine to feature holography on its cover (a label of an eagle). The following year, they applied a holographic label of a skull to a printed cover. Then in 1988, they published the first-ever ink-free, entirely holographic cover.
Each of these issues have since gone on to become collector’s items. But holography, which was once desirable for its cutting-edge appeal has, in the following decades, lost its glamour. Consumers have become used to seeing the tiny holographic stickers on their credit cards and checks. And the public’s fondness for innovative technology has shifted to QR codes and augmented reality (AR).
Even so, holography remains a useful tool for package designers, helping to solve tricky design challenges as they arise.
Growing up on TikTok, YouTube, and other bits of digital wizardry, Millennials and Gen Z’ers have a shorter attention span than their less tech-savvy forebearers. In fact, according to one report, Millennials have a 12-second attention span but Zoomers just 8. As such, marketers must now identify new ways to attract their attention while being innovative, relevant, and fun.
When Lit Co. challenged Jamison Perkins of Jamison’s Design to design the packaging for ceramic shot glasses for 20-somethings, he was up for the task.
To complement the glass’ pastel colors, he chose to laminate rainbow holographic paper to corrugate. The corrugate protected the breakable glass from damage during transit while the eye-catching holographic litho-lam appealed to younger buyers.
Although younger audiences respond well to bright colors and bold patterns, holography can also be the ideal surface for luxury brand packaging.
In 2016-18, social norms and fashions shifted to a more casual, athletic vibe. As such, Victoria’s Secret, which had remained steadfast in its branding since the 1990s, began losing market share. In an effort to stay relevant, VS shifted their strategy from the glitz, glitter, and glamour they had previously embraced to a more elevated, upscale aesthetic.
Although holography is often considered to be most relevant to a younger demographic, when given the right design treatment, it can also be the ideal surface for luxury branding.
In the case of Dream Angel’s perfume packaging, the original carton design featured pastel clouds on holographic foil. Unfortunately, this no longer fit VS’ rebranding initiative. Moreover, the team needed to reflect the refractive fragrance bottle and the “rainbow glow” scent in the packaging.
The solution? Packaging team Design Director Stephen Moss made the actual rainbow holographic board the hero of the redesigned fragrance box.
This was a wise choice. The pop of color appealed to younger generations while mature consumers appreciated its more formal composition and understated elegance.
Sometimes the best designs are developed when designers seek to mirror the actual product. In such cases, holography may be the perfect solution.
Don Romine of Impress Communications found this to be the case when Jeffree Star Cosmetics asked him to collaborate on a design for their Liquid Frost Highlighter.
Romine wanted to represent the highlighters’ oil-on-water appearance on the actual packaging. After much experimentation, he achieved the effect by printing the carton onto holographic board that featured a swirl pattern. Since the pattern is random, each carton became a unique, one-of-a-kind statement piece, the perfect reflection of the product within.
Since holographic effects are unlimited, the technique can also revitalize a tired packaging design. Holography also adds dimensionality to cartons that are restricted to a certain size, such as with DVD case jackets or game boxes.
Tasked by a film studio to design a DVD case that stood out from the hundreds of others with the same dimensions, Debbie Bishop of DB Design went out on a limb. She decided to overprint holographic board with designs that allowed the holographic pattern to show through. The holography enhanced the DVD’s shelf presence AND ultimately transformed the DVD into a collector’s item!
Today, holography is no longer just used to make a statement about cutting-edge technology; rather, it can solve tricky design challenges, elevate a brand, reach younger audiences, and even to gain an advantage over their competitors.
With Mainline Holographics‘ new white holographic technique—and recyclable holographic board on the horizon—the art of holography has become an indispensable tool for designers the world over.
In March 2020, Mainline Holographics launched a new holographic pattern specially designed for the ever-expanding Cannabis and CBD oil industries. Composed of a repeating series of varying sizes of marijuana leaves, the pattern is shim-line free so is well suited for use in packaging, print collateral, and labels/security seals. As such, the pattern may be of most use for Cannabis dispensaries, CBD oil companies, growers, or even artists and musicians.
“It’s an honor to be the first company in the US to provide the Cannabis industry with a distinctively unique option for packaging, print, and labels,” says Mainline Holographics’ COO John Parker Jr.
Although the new holographic design is currently stocked as 28 x 40” sheets of 16, 18, and 24pt board, it can be cut to size or applied to label stock, security seal wafers for packaging, and even to paper for printed collateral, such as promo flyers or direct mail campaigns. And if a customer wishes to alter the Cannabis pattern, Mainline’s team of holographic experts can adjust the existing design—or can create an entirely new one—to meet one’s branding needs.
Unlike most other holographic companies, Mainline has no minimum order requirements, and can warehouse jobs for customers currently experiencing supply-chain bottlenecks, reduced hours of operation, or temporary closure.
“Our Cannabis pattern is so eye-catchingly beautiful,” explains National Sales Director John Tillinghast, “that consumers won’t be able to resist picking up the package or product for a second (or third) look. This sort of enhanced experience will undoubtedly increase sales and grow brand awareness.”