Ryan Ruskin

Younger consumers value sustainability more and brand loyalty less. How should brands respond with their packaging designs? A perspective from Dow. For many products, the consumer experience begins with the packaging—and it’s the first opportunity to showcase the product’s sustainability. So, as consumers increasingly use their wallets to show their commitment…

Heat sealer technology continues to advance, with automation enabling the machines to do more than just seal pouches and bags. Above-and-beyond functions include printing on-pack codes, sharing operational data, and validating seal quality.
Using mac …

The physical health threat that COVID-19 poses, together with pandemic-related fear and uneasiness, are driving sales of products that enhance immunity or improve mental well-being. Brand owners in those categories, in turn, are taking a close look a …

Although food and packaging are not key players in the spread of COVID-19, pandemic-driven wariness is driving food brand owners and their packaging suppliers, as well as retailers and foodservice providers, to put more emphasis on hygienic packaging design.The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) website states: “In general, because of poor…

In early spring, the novel coronavirus infiltrated the United States, forcing most states to issue a stay-at-home order and many people to quickly set up home offices. Despite understandable distress and distractions, packaging professionals persisted in addressing pressing packaging issues, such as shifting consumer trends, sustainability, and, not surprisingly, industry reactions…

Coronavirus-related news has been driving readership on practically every media platform for the past month. But looking back at the first three months of this year, several other topics also made our list of most-read articles here.Among the top eight Packaging Digest articles for the first quarter of 2020, food packaging…

What makes a good or bad packaging design? Today’s winners might reflect the retro-futurism trend or tap into the current interest in reusable packaging. The losers might ignore the ever-important easy-open function or forget product-safety features.Last month, Packaging Digest’s global audience was most interested in articles about packaging design and new…

Sustainability, branding and “smart” packaging technologies continue to resonate with global packaging professionals, based on the leading stories from early 2020 on PackagingDigest.com.In January 2020, you were most interested in learning about new packaging trends — rightly so! Brands need their packaging designs to stay current with what matters to today’s…

Looking for a little healthy indulgence when hunger strikes? You’re not the only one. Americans snack before, after, and during mealtimes. After all, today’s packages make it easy to do so. Here are a dozen examples of brands using packs and graphics to tempt and gratify.Little — Portioned, portable packs facilitate…

To mitigate risk, the edible cannabis market needs packaging that clearly communicates dosage, warnings and regulatory information, as well as includes child-resistant (CR) features. We’ve all heard the recent story about the professional basketball player who ingested an edible cannabis product infused with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) while on a plane. He had a…