This new book provides readers with a thoughtful packaging primer that covers the challenges of designing packaging for a competitive market. The book addresses all aspects of the creative process, including ...
By Ron Romanik
Pay-as-you-go mobile phones are a fast-growing segment of the mobile phone market in the U.S. Based in Irvine, CA, Boost Mobile LLC, a division of Sprint Nextel Corporation, offers premium pay-as-you-go wireless phones and services to more than 4.5 million customers with an ever-expanding line of products.
When Boost decided to develop a versatile package that could merchandise their existing products while allowing for future line extensions, they elicited the help of New York City 's Swerve Inc. and managing partners Robert Croft and Martin Short. Croft and Short were excited about the project because of the broad range of ideas that were put on the table when planning the package. They saw the project as a challenge to deliver a blend of ergonomics and engineering that would serve the retail environment needs and customer needs alike.
The key to opening
The goals of the project brought together a broad range of requirements, where Boost wanted the package to: accommodate all current and future SKUs; consolidate the brand; show broad diversity at retail; display the product; have retail orientation options; make it easy to open; create a "reveal" experience during opening; make it easy to reclose securely; construct a handy carrying case; improve pilfer resistance; and maximize a broad billboard facing. "It needed a lot of versatility," admits Croft.
The opening mechanism became a critical component that Swerve believed could make all the other requirements possible. Swerve pursued an injection-molded package because it would allow more engineering possibilities. One retail aspect that had to be taken into account is the fact that sometimes the package is opened by the store staff, activated, and then returned to the customer. Boost wanted a package that would reclose securely and serve as a handy carrying case after opening.
The hybrid solution involves "side" caps with strip seals that secure the sides. A sturdy tab holds the strip seal in the sealed position, similar to those found on the lids of large plastic drums often used for five-gallon paint containers. To open, a snip with scissors releases the tab, and pulling the strip around the outside releases the hinged inner package where the phone is cradled. "It's quite a cool sequence of reveal," says Short.
Versatile today and tomorrow
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