Tridimage
Buenos Aires, Argentina • www.tridimage.com

Front left to right: Virginia Gines, principal and design director; Hernán Braberman principal and design director; Adriana Cortese, principal and chief creative officer.

Back left to right: Guillermo Dufranc, graphic designer; Sebastián Garillo, structural designer; Javier Lopez Pereyra, graphic designer; Álvaro Martinez Florez, structural designer.

Not pictured: Graphic designers Mónica Olsiewicz and Alejandro Mangas and structural designers Ivan Gorodner and Tamara Bobrow.

Three partners started Tridimage in 1995 in Argentina with the vision that structural design and proprietary shapes should mean as much as graphic design for consumer goods packages. The three partners—Adriana Cortese, Virginia Gines, and Hernán Braberman—are trained as industrial and graphic designers and have a passion for all aspects of package design.

"Packaging should seduce and communicate in three dimensions," Braberman sums up Tridimage's philosophy. In the last five years, Tridimage has seen its international business expand, and now 40% of its business is from overseas. In 2005, Tridimage was the first design firm to win the prestigious Argentine Export Award for its outstanding achievements in the export of design services.

The partners feel that Buenos Aires is a strategic place from which to build an international presence because the culture there is very diverse. Buenos Aires offers a culture that is a blend of styles, influenced most strongly by a combination of Latin roots and European heritage.

"I think being in Buenos Aires is an advantage because consumers everywhere are becoming sophisticated and international," Braberman explains. Their designs run the gamut from the vibrancy of bright Mexican colors to the minimalist trend of European design. The diversity of ages of the partners—55, 40, and 35—also gives them a nice combination of different views and different generations. "We have to be very flexible in terms of aesthetics," Braberman says.

Braberman explains that Argentina has a lot of export-oriented companies who are not sure how to market Argentina culture overseas. He says that these companies often need some encouragement and reassurance that there is great value in showcasing original and local Argentinean flavors and designs to the world.

Tridimage finds that the firm has been "partnering" more and more with their clients, integrating their input earlier and earlier in creative design exploration. "It's very important for our clients to understand our methodology," Braberman says. Tridimage brings together three key elements in their design solutions: 1) 360° creativity; 2) 2D and 3D branding strategy; and 3) technological know-how for manufacturing reality.

The larger national and international brands they deal with might redesign packaging every two years, while smaller companies are often five years or more. Braberman says that for smaller companies with limited budgets, "It's very important for us to see into the future."

The three partners oversee and direct all the projects that come through Tridimage, though they tap as many perspectives as possible from their staff on any given project. "We try to start from scratch, involving both graphic and structural teams," says Braberman.

Tridimage's strength is glass and plastic bottles and integrated structural and graphic packaging for food, beverage, wine, cosmetic, household and spirits brands. Whatever the project, they try to see the brand with fresh eyes and create designs that are both visually stimulating, structurally relevant, and functionally sound. As Braberman puts it: "Packaging is really a window into the soul of the brand."