Innovation Theft and Land Speed Records: What Do They Have in Common? At first glance, innovation and design theft might seem worlds apart from the high-octane realm of land speed records, but bear with me—there’s is a connection. This week, I saw a post on LinkedIn from a packaging expert who I not long connected with. I thought the content looked familiar and could see they had “drawn...
Why Details Matter #2
How small changes drive big impact – Multi-Depth Creasing Over the past three decades, I have written protocols, developed equipment, and supported the construction of three e-commerce supply chain testing laboratories. This has enabled me to conducted some 5,000+ tests for e-commerce packaging, many of which involved focused studies into best practices for structural design. In this one...
The Future of E-Commerce Packaging
Why Channel-Specific Solutions Outperform Adapted Designs With the focus of many e-commerce retailers still heavily on optimisation and sustainability, now feels like the right time to address a topic that has been a slow burning frustration for me over the past four years: adapted corrugated packaging solutions for e-commerce… Understanding Adapted Solutions Before diving deeper into my...
Impact of Design on Sustainability
What impact do Packaging Designers have on Sustainability? In the face of growing environmental concerns, the role of packaging designers has evolved from creating attractive and functional packages to becoming pivotal players in the sustainability movement. This shift is crucial as the packaging industry significantly impacts our planet. By rethinking traditional approaches and adopting...
Complexities of Designing for Omni-Channel
This article covers the complexities that arise when designing for omni-channel packaging and how to navigate the challenges.In a world where consumers expect to be able to purchase when, where and how they like, as well as growing pressure on retailers to reduce costs, omni-channel packaging sounds like the perfect solution. Enabling businesses to manufacture or produce one product and...
Insights & Experience from Three Decades
As I begin my 29th year in design and innovation, I started to think about what I want to achieve over the next year. This had me reflecting on where I had come from, to what I do now and where the hell has the past 28 years gone! For me, packaging design started when I was around 10 years old, I went to a careers evening with my parents for my older brother and there was a stand for St...
Why Competition is Essential for Innovation
Why Competition is Essential for Innovation: Exploring the Benefits of Rivalry in Business Recently in my LinkedIn feed, I saw that an ex-colleague and team had won a number of design awards. Now that they work for a competitor, it was difficult to publicly praise and congratulate them, but as a designer, I dropped a private message, as it was a great achievement and they deserved the feedback...
Being unique in innovation
“Square peg in a round hole” is an idiomatic expression which describes the unusual individualist who could not fit into a niche of their society. The metaphor was originated by Sydney Smith in “On the Conduct of the Understanding”, one of a series of lectures on moral philosophy that he delivered at the Royal Institution in 1804–06: I see a direct connection with this...
Evolution of e-commerce Packaging
** An article written for DS Smith as the e-commerce Design Manager ** Evolution of e-commerce in 25 years: towards sustainable packaging Gavin Mounce, e-commerce Design Manager at DS Smith shares his thoughts on the importance of sustainability in this rapidly growing channel and what part the creative community have to play in shaping the future and helping to protect our environment. Waste...
The power of a millimetre
** An article written for DS Smith as the e-commerce Design Manager ** How making small changes to your packaging design can have a big impact on sustainability Sustainability is a critical topic and a key priority for everyone, but how much difference can packaging make? At DS Smith we offer packaging solutions that are created following our Circular Design Principles, aimed at designing out...