Designing and approving product packaging is complex, involving many stakeholders collaborating around multiple sources of information. The output should be nothing short of perfect because once produced, it’s difficult to correct a packaging mistake quickly and cost-effectively.
Stakeholders include designers, product, sales and marketing teams who are typically concerned about brand integrity, positioning, and appeal. Whereas R&D, legal, food technicians, and packaging production specialists are focused on regulatory compliance, the position of packaging components, and the accuracy of information.
Packaging design with accuracy, full compliance, and speed
PageProof enables companies to fast-track the review and approval process for packaging artwork. It is simple to engage necessary stakeholders to gather feedback and approvals, and utilizing smart features along the way to ensuring full compliance and accuracy – as well as reducing time.
Here are 10 ways online proofing with PageProof can immediately benefit your packaged-goods business:
#1. Proof from anywhere, on any device
- Multiple reviewers can simultaneously view and comment on packaging, imagery, labels, etc. on any device and from any location resulting in improved collaboration and communication.
#2. Manage stakeholder input easily
- Avoid the inbox clutter and email threads that occur when feedback and follow-up with stakeholders is done via email.
- PageProof lets users automatically track all work in progress on one simple interface removing the need to maintain spreadsheets and use other tools to manage your packaging artwork projects.
- Stakeholders in other departments, or those working externally, can easily be looped in at any time to see the proof and where it’s up to.
#3. Avoid excessive artwork revisions
- Online proofing facilitates clear markup of changes on artwork and precise instructions. Gone are the frustrating days of handwritten markups that can be misconstrued or require clarification.
- PageProof’s free Adobe add-on ensures quick turnaround of new versions by designers, and errors are dramatically reduced. The single add-on supports Adobe InDesign, InCopy, Illustrator, Photoshop, Premiere Pro, and After Effects.
- The latest version our Adobe extension allows the creation of a proof, including crops and bleed from InDesign, ensuring that the complete printed piece can receive the same level of scrutiny as the creative design and is pixel perfect.
- Not only can you check two proof versions side-by-side, but PageProof goes further to provide a smart compare tool that draws your attention to pixel differences between versions so you don’t have to play ‘spot the difference’. This makes it easy for all stakeholders to ensure their changes have been implemented.
#4. Save time with smart features
PageProof has numerous time-saving smart features to enjoy during proofing packaging:
- Smart detection of colors and fonts in the proof letting you quickly determine whether the packaging meets brand guidelines. It is now simple to deep dive into CMYK color separations of your artwork, reducing the risk of color discrepancies when it goes to print.
- Tools specifically for reviewing packaging include: rotation of the proof, zoom functionality, gridlines, and a ruler for measuring.
#5. Stay on deadline with alerts and to-do lists
- Set automatic alerts to remind stakeholders when feedback or approvals are due or outstanding.
- Create automated to-do lists from the comments.
#6. Reduce compliance risk
- With the ability to create your own review and approval workflows, the right stakeholders are involved in the process at the right time. Late changes and missed approvals become a thing of the past.
- PageProof’s Enterprise plan can provide a full audit document of all feedback and approvals made throughout the process.
#7. Be confident in the accuracy of the proof
- You can be sure that your proof is a carbon copy of the original PDF artwork. Ensuring that you can be assured that you are reviewing the exact transparency, font pixelation, text quality, and color reproduction of the design.
- PageProof 100% passes the Ghent Output Suite patches and matches the Fogra quality control check against standard CMYK profiles – and is the only online proofing system to do so.
#8. Promote increased visibility, traceability, and accountability
- PageProof records all feedback on artwork and this is visible to all reviewers on the team, so each stakeholder is fully accountable for reviewing the work and providing quality comments.
#9. Save time and money
- An effective review and approval process means you’re more likely to stay on deadline and on budget. In fact, the cumulative benefit of improved collaboration and communication, full visibility into approvals/changes, increased content quality, reduced turnaround times, and decreased overall error rates yield significant reductions in proofing costs.
#10. Foster creativity
- By allowing feedback to be given with seamless efficiency, the friction is removed, the risk is lowered, and chaos eliminated. Creativity will blossom. By fostering creativity and opening-up possibilities, thinking will be expanded. and your brand will be strengthened.
So many reasons why PageProof is the right fit for you. Book a time to chat with one of the team below. More humans, less bots.
Note: This article is updated frequently to reflect the continuous rollout of features. The most recent being 2nd August 2021.