For emparo, the shipping box is the brand: for most customers it is the only physical object that ever arrives from the company. This project turns that plain brown box, its tape and its paper filler into one coherent, intentional system that still reads as emparo whether it is arriving full or travelling back empty as a return.
Overview & Goals
- Turn the plain shipping box into a recognisable, branded touchpoint using one or two flexo colours on brown board
- Design box, paper tape and filler as one coherent system rather than three separate items
- Keep every mandatory element (address, recycling mark, return panel, carrier label space) clean and legible in German, French and Italian
- Make sure the design still makes sense when the same box is reused to send a return
Budget & Timeline
Dielines and artwork go to the box supplier by the end of August, with the first production run following in October.
Packaging production
- Logo files
- Vector file (SVG, AI, EPS or PDF)
- Products
- Shipping boxes in three sizes covering about ninety percent of orders, paper tape, and the paper filler. Not the products themselves, we do not manufacture.
- Formats
- Shipping box
- Material & finish
- Recycled brown corrugated, single wall for the two smaller sizes and double wall for the largest. Uncoated throughout, no plastic tape, no printed inner liner that would stop it being recycled as paper.
- Print process
- Flexo
- Mandatory content
- Company name and address, the recycling mark, the return address panel, and space for the carrier label. The return instructions stay on the paper insert, not on the box.
- Where it's seen
- Handed over at the door or left in a parcel box, opened at home, and in about eight percent of cases used again to send a return.
- Handover
- Print-ready PDF for our printer
- Dieline
- The manufacturer will send it
- Markets
- Switzerland only. German, French and Italian on every box.
- Print colors
- Only screen colors
Target Audience
emparo.ch's own online customers across Switzerland, the people who receive their orders by post and, for a meaningful share of them, later reuse the same box to send something back.
Brand Story & Voice
emparo speaks as a straightforward, trustworthy Swiss retailer: clear, unfussy and precise, the same voice across three languages and every category it sells into.
Logo & Style
Logo to use
Files available: Vector file (SVG, AI, EPS or PDF)
Typography
Keep the current type
- InterHeadlines · Google Fonts, free to use
Colour
Colors to use
Measured on the material that was sent.
For print
- 5e7a64C44 M0 Y51 K48
- c6a86aC0 M13 Y59 K24
- 1f2a26C0 M0 Y0 K88
- f2f2f2C0 M0 Y0 K4
- 757575C0 M0 Y0 K64
Print definitions: Only screen colors
CMYK values are starting points for coated paper. The printer's own profile decides.
References & Moodboard
1 source captured. Click any of them to see it full size.
In the client's own words
Every order leaves in a plain brown box with a sticker on it. It is the only physical contact most customers ever have with us, and right now it says nothing. We want a proper shipping box in three sizes, the paper tape, and the filler, designed as one system. It has to be cheap enough to use on every order, recyclable without separation, and it has to survive the Swiss postal system looking like something rather than nothing.
Scope & Deliverables
- Branded shipping box design across the three sizes covering most orders
- Paper tape design
- Paper filler design
- Print-ready PDF artwork for the box supplier, in German, French and Italian
- Application of dielines once received from the manufacturer
Do's & Don'ts
Do
- Design for one or two flexo colours on brown board: that is the real constraint
- Leave a clean, unprinted area for the carrier label on every box size
- Keep the design legible and intentional when the box is reused to send a return
- Respect the mandatory content: company name and address, recycling mark, return panel and carrier label space
Don't
- Do not print anything on the inside that makes the box look emptier than it is
- Do not use a finish, coating or plastic tape that would stop the box being recycled as paper
- Do not put return instructions on the box itself, they belong on the paper insert
- Do not introduce new colours or typography outside the current palette and type