As a business owner, you’ve done the hard part. You’ve invested time, effort, and money into developing a high-quality product. The formula is perfected, the function is flawless, and the form is finalized. Now comes the final, important step: the product decoration, which is where many businesses run into challenges.
Getting your branding and design onto the package is far more complex than it seems. The decoration process involves navigating a complex mix of materials, technology, and application methods. Just one poor decision can devalue your product, making a premium item look cheap, easily scuffed during shipping, or unable to meet critical environmental or regulatory standards. To protect your organization and your brand, it’s key to understand the challenges ahead and, more importantly, how to solve them.
Common product decoration challenges
Business owners and their teams often face the following obstacles related to product packaging design and application:
Challenge 1: Matching the design to the container material and shape
Material compatibility is often the first obstacle in packaging design. Perhaps you’ve already selected your container — a sleek glass jar, a flexible plastic tube, or a rigid metal tin. But each material comes with its own set of challenges when it’s time to apply your design, from adhesion and printability to durability and finish.
- Glass: Printing directly on glass requires specialized inks that cure properly and resist chipping.
- Plastics (e.g., PET, HDPE): Some decoration methods, such as heat transfer, can cause plastic containers to warp. Additionally, ensuring labels adhere properly can be challenging on certain flexible plastics.
- Metals (e.g., aluminum, tin): Metals require a compatible design application method that won’t scratch or flake off the slick surface.
The shape of the container adds another layer of complexity. A tapered bottle or curved jar can cause paper labels to wrinkle and bubble. To solve this and similar issues, you must understand how materials interact with adhesives, inks, and finishes. Otherwise, you can’t select the right design process. Also, without the right technology and expertise, your design might fail before it ever reaches the users.
Challenge 2: Standing out in a saturated market
Your product is surrounded by competitors on both physical and digital shelves. In this crowded market, your product design must be able to attract users. This fight for attention presents two major challenges.
The brand color conundrum
Your brand identity may be tied to a specific Pantone color. However, achieving that exact color consistently across different materials, projects, and print runs is a major challenge. For instance, a red on a white plastic tube may look different than the same red on a clear glass bottle. An off-color packaging might make your brand look unprofessional and erode consumer trust. Your team needs a process that delivers precise, consistent color every time, without errors.
Textures and finishes that users value
Today’s users demand more than just visual appeal; they seek a tactile experience that communicates premium quality. Consumers want to feel the detail in your product’s decoration in their hands.
To meet this demand, designs must incorporate tactile elements, such as spot varnishes, soft-touch coatings, embossing, or debossing, to create a lasting sensory impression. This not only enhances the user experience but also sets your brand apart from your competitors. Achieving this level of detail takes both creativity and the right production tools.
Challenge 3: Ensuring durability throughout the distribution journey
From your facility to a distribution center, to a retail shelf, and finally to the customer’s home, your product endures a grueling journey. It’s packed, stacked, shipped, and handled repeatedly. Each stage introduces durability challenges that can damage the product’s appearance and affect the customer experience:
- Scuffing: Labels rub against each other in a case, creating unsightly marks that obscure key information and make the product look old or used.
- Fading: Inks can fade under harsh retail lighting or sunlight, making your design look old.
- Peeling: Labels on squeezable tubes start to peel at the edges after just a few uses.
- Moisture: A shampoo bottle’s paper label disintegrates in the shower, creating a mess and frustrating users.
Your packaging design must be tough enough to withstand its entire life cycle. That starts with choosing the right decoration process, whether it’s durable screen printing for glass or laminated labels for plastic, to ensure your product looks just as good on the shelf as it did when it left your facility. Getting this right leads to a better customer experience and reduced instances of complaints or returns.
Challenge 4: Scaling production without sacrificing quality
Rapid business growth, while desirable, often brings challenges. Sudden surges in demand can quickly overwhelm in-house teams, leading to costly errors such as color inconsistencies, misaligned labels, and production delays.
However, investing heavily in specialized equipment and training for tasks that aren’t needed year-round is inefficient. That approach wastes money and adds unnecessary complexity to your operations.
True scalability requires access to flexible tools, technology, and support that can seamlessly adapt to your fluctuating business needs, especially when you’re managing multiple projects simultaneously. Ultimately, an agile decoration process translates directly into reduced waste and lower overhead costs.
Challenge 5: Striking the right balance between quality, cost, and overall impact
Many brands face the challenge of achieving premium design goals with limited budgets. High-end design techniques often come with steep setup costs and high minimum order quantities, making them impractical for smaller organizations or limited-run projects.
The key isn’t choosing the cheapest packaging design solution but the smartest one. Aim for a design approach that delivers a premium look, outstanding performance, and cost-effective solutions tailored to your specific production requirements.
Challenge 6: Designing for sustainability and evolving user needs
Sustainability is no longer optional; it’s expected. People now actively seek recyclable and eco-friendly packaging. They want to feel good about their purchase, so they prioritize brands that support these needs.
The design challenge arises when packaging decoration interferes with recyclability. A shrink sleeve on a PET bottle, for example, can render it nonrecyclable. To solve this, brands must use eco-friendly inks, recyclable label stock, and wash-away adhesives. By making these choices, businesses reduce environmental impact, build consumer trust, and strengthen their reputation.
Challenge 7: Navigating changing requirements and compliance
In highly regulated industries such as food, pharmaceuticals, beauty, and cannabis, packaging decoration isn’t just about brand appeal; it’s about meeting compliance standards. Labeling regulations often demand tamper-evident seals, multipanel labels, and unique identifiers.
The cost of noncompliance is steep: recalls, fines, and a loss of brand trust. Ensuring every package is compliant requires specialized tools, rigorous quality control, and dependable support to guarantee accurate execution.
Partner with experts to solve your packaging design challenges
These challenges may feel daunting, but you don’t have to navigate them on your own. Pro-Motion Industries helps organizations create packaging solutions that directly address user needs, avoid errors, and outperform competitors.
Our expert teams combine advanced technology with decades of hands-on experience, so you can trust us to effectively support your business. From material selection and design development to final execution, we make the process easier, helping you bring your design vision to life.
When you partner with us, you gain:
- Access to quality decoration tools and a wide range of techniques
- Reliable guidance to manage cost and maximize the value of your packaging investment
- A final product design that stands out against competitors and builds your brand
- A trusted partner committed to your brand’s success
- Reduced stress for your team and peace of mind that every product meets quality and compliance standards
If you’re ready to invest in your brand and elevate your packaging, contact us at 856-809-0040 today. Together, we can create packaging that drives sales and business growth.