Manufacturing container or tube from paper; or other manufacturi – With printing or photographic reproduction
Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-11
2004-02-10
Kim, Eugene (Department: 3721)
Manufacturing container or tube from paper; or other manufacturi
With printing or photographic reproduction
C493S321000, C700S097000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06689035
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to package design and more specifically to systems for designing and creating a comprehensive model of a package.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
Some of the subject matter herein is disclosed and claimed in the following U.S. patent application, which is incorporated herein by reference:
U.S. Patent Application entitled “METHOD FOR MAKING EMBOSSED PACKAGES AND OTHER ARTICLES FROM SHEET MATERIALS, BLANKS MADE THEREBY, AND SHEET MATERIALS FOR USE THEREWITH”, filed on Mar. 27, 2000.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Virtually all consumer products are sold in packages, such as cardboard cartons, boxes, bags and other types containers. A package has two very distinguishing features: a structural design and a graphical design. The structural design of a package is defined by the package's structural features, such as the dimensions, geometric shape and work material of the package. The graphical design of a package is defined by the colors, artwork and other images applied thereto. The graphical design preferably identifies the packaged product in a manner which is aesthetically appealing to potential consumers.
A package is typically formed from a sheet of corrugated board, carton board, or other work material upon which a graphical design is applied. The graphical design may be applied by many known processes. For example, the package may be printed with an ink-jet printing device or a vinyl sheet having a design may be laminated to the package. Many packages are printed lithographically, while still others are printed with flexographic or rotogravure techniques. Small-format, high-value-added folding cartons often include hot stamped metallic foils and/or embossed designs.
The applied graphical design may be simple, such as those created with normally printed ink or vinyl, or more complex, such as prismatic or holographic images. Flexible packages such as bags and wrappers may incorporate holographic, pearlescent or prismatic effects even for inexpensive packaged goods such as toys and candy. Many packages furthermore require special colors, and roughly two-thirds of all packages require spot color, typically a Pantone color. Although only about a third of packages require process-color photographic images, dot-based patterns are commonly used for vignettes.
Finishing operations such as cutting and creasing transform the sheet of work material into a package having a desired structural design. Cutting and creasing corrugated and folding cartons is an expensive process which necessitates the production of steel rule dies, counter-cutters and other tools. Further operations may add additional features to the package, such as operations which add embossing, labels, stickers, windows or blister packs. These additional operations increase the cost of producing the package.
Although there are numerous types of packages in existence today, new packages are constantly being designed and created. The great demand for new packages is due in part to common activities such as launching new products, re-launching an existing product, providing an existing product with a new identity, introducing new sizes of an existing product or extending a range of a product line. Further demand for new packages arises from the desire to reduce the costs of existing packages. Finally, many companies are aiming at increasingly smaller market niches, a marketing strategy which requires more careful product development and marketing, and thus more specialized packages.
Designing a package is a precise process requiring consideration of competing goals: aesthetic appeal and minimal cost. The most appealing package design may be prohibitively expensive, perhaps even more expensive than the product to be packaged. Several parties must collaborate closely in order to-design a desired package which is both inexpensive to produce and appealing to potential customers. Parties who are involved in the design of a package include Print Buyers, Graphic Designers, Separators and Converters.
A Print Buyer is the party who desires a package. The typical Print Buyer is a consumer goods company which requires a package to contain and promote its product. The Print Buyer (and/or their advertising agency or marketing consultant) define the desired “message”, and thus the preferred “image”, of the packaged product. This message serves as a broad package design specification.
A Graphic Designer is a specialist in the field of artistic design who is charged with creating the graphical design for the package and refining the packaged product's image. The Graphic Designer is hired directly by the Print Buyer or indirectly by an agent of the Print Buyer, such as an independent design firm dedicated to package design. The Graphic Designer creates the graphical design in the form of computer-based images and printed or digital color specifications.
A Separator, typically a trade shop or commercial printer, provides production-ready, color-separated films by combining images, text, and layout specifications provided by the Graphic Designer. The films are used in printing the graphical design on produced packages. Once the Separator has provided these films, a Converter prints and die-cuts the final package. Many Converters produce their own printing plates and die-cutting plates, including nesting and sample-cutting plates. Other Converters outsource these services to tool-shops.
Unfortunately, the parties who must collaborate typically do not have a thorough understanding of the tasks of the other parties. This greatly complicates the process of designing a package, driving up costs and total design time. As may be. seen from the description provided hereinafter, the conventional package design process is slow and repetitive. The process of designing a package is even more time-consuming and costly if collaboration between the parties is weak.
Prior art systems for designing a package start with the desires of the Pint Buyer. Since the Print Buyer is almost always a company, rather than an individual, the step of establishing desirable package features involves coopertion among many departments, such as product purchasing, quality control, merchandising, retail marketing, distribution, and legal counsel. Once the Print Buyer establishes desirable package features, the Print Buyer's package specialist and package buyer produce a Package Design Brief based on these features.
Generally, the Package Design Brief is a set of goals for guiding the Graphic Designer in creating the graphic design of the package. The Package Design Brief generally provides the following information:
the underlying objective of the packaged product;
the product type, such as a major design project (e.g., launching a new product), a line extension (e.g., introducing a new size or adding to the product range) or a minor image modification (e.g., re-launching the same product);
any special requirements (e.g., legislation or regulations covering the subject. product or package, environmental considerations, any preferred colors or package considerations, space and display requirements, number of options, chemical, physical and distribution requirements, and special promotional requirements);
essential copy information to be included (e.g., brand name, product names, size, capacity or weight, unique selling points, care and use instructions, any legal copy required and appropriate recycling symbol); and
a brief review of the competition in order to provide such information as other types of packages and accepted colors.
In certain circumstances, the Package Design Brief is intentionally drafted broadly to afford greater latitude to the Graphic Designer. In such a case, the Print Buyer effectively leaves control of major marketing decisions to an outside agency. However, the Print Buyer may want the Graphic. Designer, who probably has more experience in package design, to assume greater responsibility for managing the package design process.
Once a Package Design Brief is drafted and approved, t
Gerber Scientific Products, Inc.
Kim Eugene
McCormick Paulding & Huber LLP
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