Packaging is the ultimate vehicle for design: industrial, graphic, and typographic design are all put to the test to create an impression so meaningful that it converts currency into consumerism. This ...
In our last Design Forum, we asked if package design could be a significant part of brand protection and anti-counterfeiting strategies. Amy Graver, Amy Graver, president and creative director of the Elements design firm in New Haven, CT responded: "Graphic design elements are an essential part of an overall strategy, but cannot by themselves deter counterfeiting. Only the triple threat of consumer vigilance, retailer engagement, and design solutions (both overt and covert) will create an environment in which it is too expensive and/or difficult for counterfeiters to prosper."
Another reader offered: "Like money, the combination of delicate and intricate patterns with high-quality printing can be a first line of defense anticounterfeiting measure." Dan Matauch, principal of Flowdesign in Detroit, said that it would be very difficult for package design alone to discourage counterfeiting, because any graphic element can be duplicated. "Unless the decorating technique is new or too difficult for the counterfeiter to duplicate," wrote Matauch.
Another contributor chimed in: "I believe package design elements themselves can be effective, if time and money is set aside for overall development, better materials, different substrates, and/or custom packaging materials. If the packaging materials are specialized in some way, that alone will eliminate quick and easy counterfeits. Custom watermarks or custom holographic materials, and custom shaped packages would be harder to copy as well. And being a designer, I would have to include better quality of the overall graphics as a deterrent. If you are concerned about the quality of your graphics and the consistency of your product line, the counterfeits will be easier to spot. I feel a good mix of some/all of the above would be the easiest to implement, and in most cases, be the most cost effective."
Graver concluded: "Counterfeiting is a complex problem that defies single-source answers. As packaging designers, we need to be aware of the latest and best practices, but must help our clients understand that—while we are certainly an integral and important part of the solution—we cannot shoulder the burden alone."
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