Branding, Packaging and Presentation
The All Hallows’ Eve Tarot being prepared.
I’m a slow learner. Yes, you read that right, and I openly admit it. I used to be a little embarrassed that I do not pick up things as quickly as others, never wanting to admit that I have this…flaw? Is that the right word? As the years roll on I realize that trying to hide it is a bit redundant, and so…well, I may as well embrace it.
Packing my own products was one of those slow learning situations, a bit of trial and error over the years. It took me awhile to grasp the concept of packaging, the importance of it.
I’ll let you a little into my thought process, or I should say, my arrogance as a younger man. I used to feel that since I illustrated the cards to the best of my ability (good product), and designed the very box that the cards are held in (good packaging), that that was mission complete. The product was good, quality wise and visually (at least to the best of my ability at the time), and likewise the box (packaging) and so I couldn’t wrap my head around the idea of needing great presentation. Don’t get me wrong, I packed the product up to the best of my ability, but it didn’t have “presentation”, It had no wow factor.
When you have a small art studio, you are the creator of the product, but you’re also the promoter of the product, via social media, adds, videos etc. You’re also, often, the one sending out the final product, and it took me awhile to understand that that might be the most crucial part of the whole process. While it’s true that a good product by itself might forgive poor presentation, and great presentation might forgive a bit of a mediocre product, combining the two, and performing the both to the best of your ability, I think, is key.
We even have our Halloween edition stamper which I am bringing out upon the release of our All Hallows’ Eve Tarot.
It was around January of this year (2025) when I had a bit of an epiphany. I wanted to create an “experience” for our customers the moment they open their package. Well, that is a little inaccurate. I wanted to create that experience long before 2025, but the limitations of our mailing practices made that a little difficult.
It was the beginning of this year however that we started investing in boxes to ship out products, as opposed to the bubble wrap mailers that we used to send out. It had been something I was wanting to do for some time, but boxes, as a baseline, generally cost a bit more compared to mailers. When it comes to investing in our art studio, Christine is usually very good at figuring out whether something is going to be too costly or not in terms of overheads. So you weigh up the pros and cons.
Sometimes my ideas are bit extravagant, and not really feasible financially, and so sometimes it’s “back to the drawing board” so to speak.
After a bit of persuasion, we agreed to try bringing boxes on board, as a temporary thing to see how things would go. I think this really upped our game, and with the introduction of branding, things began to take shape. I’m absolutely positive that there will be a company out there who will mass print (brand) our boxes, but for now I stamp them all by hand with a stamper I had invested in from Get Stamped, a UK company.
After the stamper, we thought about introducing gift paper, as a finishing touch. For Halloween we have the orange paper version which I think really adds a nice touch to it.
Backer orders for the All Hallows’ Eve Tarot.
One thing I am most happy about is that the boxes allow a peanut to sit snugly in each corner of the box, allowing for the padding of the four corners, something which was not very easy to achieve with bubble mailers. I had tried various methods of the years, creating customized cardboard sleeve wraps inside bubble mailer pouches, that sort of thing. I think for the most part it was a pretty decent way of packing international orders, but the box idea, as I suspected, outperforms them all.
The bubble mailers have their place, and I will always like them for what they have afforded me on my ongoing journey towards perfect packaging. I think at this point on the journey, though, the humble cardboard box might be the way forward.
As I said earlier, I am a bit of a slow learner, but I think I am beginning to understand the importance of presentation ( good branding, good packaging, good product). A key component in this, of course, is the branding. That word, branding, used to be thrown around early in my art career and it didn’t seem like the people using the word really understood what it meant.
Our Halloween Stamper, from “Get Stamped”.
“Find your brand” they would say, but for an artist, where the mind can’t settle, can’t stay still, how does one define or should I say “pigeonhole” one’s entire creative being into a “brand”? I later learned that it’s virtually impossible to cram every part of yourself, as an entity, into a title or logo, or “brand”, but rather a particular aspect of yourself, in this case, the aspect of myself that creates Tarot card art.
Knowing the very basics of what a brand is and what it represents, sets one on a more successful path for the long term.
So to conclude, I really feel that branding, although a little expensive at first; gift wrap, stampers, holographic logos, registration costs for brands and so on, does pay off, I think, in the long run. What it boils down to is the tried and tested idea of “knowing what to expect” from a business or particular entity in the form of a symbol or logo. This, I feel, is vital for a good presentation, but like most things I’m sure it depends on your industry, or what you’re trying to achieve. Presentation itself might not always need to include an actual brand, but it is so common that it nearly seems that it does. Does it? I would love to know your thoughts on that.