I took yesterday “mostly” off since I had a wedding Saturday/Sunday and all I can say how beneficial that was! I still blogged, caught up with emails, cleaned/cleared equipment and culled through both weddings so they are ready to edit today but more importantly, I was able to clean up my house! You know that awesome feeling of cleaning up your home and waking up feeling super refreshed? Love it! With the season being super hectic, I have not been able to take care of personal things like laundry and tidying up my home in a few weeks. So embarrassing! I was even considering hiring a cleaner for just this one time … but no! I specifically booked in my calendar, TIME OFF so I can take care of these personal things. 🙂 <= Thanks for the suggestion Katelyn!
Taking a little mini break away from sharing photos on the blog (until tomorrow) and wanted to share how to design client packaging. Or I guess the steps I took to designing my client packaging. Just recently, I decided to spruce it up a little bit and I am so excited to debut it soon but I have to wait for all of my products to ship in the mail. 🙂 It seems like about once a year I redesign and update, which I had already done the beginning of this year. However, I felt an artistic urge to refine even further with my designing. It’s important to really identify what you want to achieve with your packaging because this is a huge impression on your business! It’s definitely worth the splurge too!!!
First, it’s important to identify three words that describe your business. After taking Justin and Mary’s “Walk through a Wedding Workshop”, they really had me thinking about my three words. 🙂 During the workshop I came up with “classy”, “personal” and “romantic”. These three words really best describe the experience for my couples from the design elements to the interaction. That’s what we call branding. 🙂 What I do from there is make three columns on a sheet of paper and make the three words as a category for each column. Start brainstorming and branching off of your three categories to identify what they mean to you. Brainstorm as much as you can and then go to your thesaurus with your words and dive even further. Once you feel accomplished all you can do, dive in even FURTHER by keyword searching online and Pinterest. This is your next step! You’re taking your “buzz words” and forming them into visual inspiration for your new packaging! Here’s an example of what I started with when brainstorming my three key words:
Please excuse the messy handwriting, I wasn’t anticipating on sharing this when I was first putting this together. 😉
Next, it is time to bring your inspiration to paper! I use the same notebook every time to update, refine and explore new ideas for my business. You may never know if there is an old idea that can turn into a fabulous new idea! 🙂 It’s important to keep costs in mind when designing your packaging because it’s all about being realistic. How much profit are you making from each client if you are splurging on gifts and packaging for every special occasion? Do you research to purchase in bulk (but not TOO much)! A couple places I love to buy in bulk are ULINE and Paper Source! Both have a great combination of things that can make a successful package! Besides researching supplies, think in layers! I love thinking this way because it reminds me of Christmas! This means suspense, excitement, unexpectancy for the clients, creating a great experience for them when receiving their final product. Here’s an example of my sketching from my recent updated packaging:
And again, excuse the handwriting … I really wasn’t planning on sharing this on my blog. 😉 Haha!
Let me go off tangent for a second … Delivering photos online is a huge thing now. It’s great for the photographer and for the client because as soon as the photos are done, the client has them that instant. However, I believe if you want to really create the “awe factor” for your client it’s important to create that experience for them. So delivering a package with their images decorated with your branding style as a present creates a fabulous last impression of your business and how you care for their images. THIS is why I love packaging! Well, I guess it also comes from my graphic design background. 😉 However, it is also important to deliver in a timely manner. My typical turn around for weddings/portrait sessions is one week. Every Friday I take the time to package all of the sessions/weddings I had that week so they have it ASAP. Creating a fast turn around also makes for a happy experience for the client! Remember this!!! If you are procrastinating on editing, figure out what is making you procrastinate and push your way through those thoughts.
When you have figured out the perfect packaging scenario, put together a mock up to see if it achieves not just all of your three key words but the “awe factor”. As Justin and Mary said in their Walk through a Wedding Workshop, you want to stimulate the five senses of touch, smell, taste, sight and hearing. Although, hearing isn’t necessarily something we have to worry about with packaging, the other four senses are definitely something to pay attention to! For instance, for touch I have in my new packaging embossed logo on my envelopes. For smell, I spray a hint of rose scent in my packaging. For taste, I include Godiva chocolate bars. For sight, I include layers upon layers of packaging to build the excitement (wrapping paper, ribbon, boxes, lace wrapping, etc.). These are all things to think about that will create a successful package design!
As artists, we will never be settled on just ONE design through our career. Be sure to not stock up on supplies that will last you years because ultimately, you will refine, tweak and possibly rebrand. This is an exciting thing to keep expanding and brainstorming because it’s important to grow and mature through the years of being a business owner. If you have any questions, feel free to comment below! I’ll be sharing my new and updated packaging soon on the blog when the season starts to slow down. 🙂
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