“Freedom of Design without Limitation” A Q&A with the CEO of Gurfinkel Design

Velox’s direct-to-shape digital decoration benefits converters and brand owners, but to bring a container to life, a designer is the one who must consider the brand’s identity, the message to convey, the consumer who will be buying and using the product, and if the packaging is part of a series or campaign. They also need to know right from the start the range of colors and embellishments, and level of detail and quality possible in the production process.

David Gurfinkel, CEO of Gurfinkel Design Ltd., offers his perspective as a package designer, in this guest blog Q&A.

David Gurfinkel

What is the biggest challenge from a designer perspective in working with innovative digital technology like Velox’s?

The decoration technologies available in the market did not change much in the last few decades. As such, brand designers know exactly what can and cannot be done and create packaging designs that more or less follow the same guidelines.  All of the sudden, there is a different technology that requires a new way of thinking. From the concept phase, and later to the actual printed proof that is now possible, including with last minute changes, digital direct-to-shape offers amazing benefits.

I believe it will take some time to fully understand the design possibilities, however, once designers and brands work with these new capabilities in mind, they will not want to work with any other printing process for containers. The flexibility is defiantly an industry game changer.

What are the greatest possibilities with Velox direct-to-shape digital decoration?

Designers are used to the limitations of analog printing technology, so the most important thing for designers to understand about this digital technology is their hands are no longer tied. With Velox digital direct-to-shape decoration, what you see is what you get – meaning from concept and design to proof sample and finished product, the designer’s vision is ensured.

The process is also shorter, the quality is higher, and overall, more cost-effective when all steps are taken into consideration!

What’s also exciting is the technology is commercially available and producing containers that are on store shelves. The only challenge remaining is making designers of the brands aware the technology is now available for high-volume quantities, on-going product designs, and for small volumes no longer reserved only for special editions.

What do you try to achieve in the packaging design process?

The goal is always to find the optimal common ground between the brand vision, the desired messages, and the abilities of the available decoration technologies. This is one of the strong points of the Velox technology from the designer point of view, because the set of constraints limiting creativity are gone.

Which of the Velox capabilities is the most impactful?

Freedom of design without limitation! Because the technology is digital, combined with Velox’s wide color gamut and unique production process, I can design with a variety of gradients, half tones, and finishes not before possible.

If I had to pick one capability, it’s that I can print the highest quality, photorealistic images with very precise detail. In the case of cosmetic tube decoration, the ability to print on the cap – to have the cap part of the decoration space – is also exciting.

How do you see the future of mass customization and personalization?

Creativity is only limited by technology, and right now, digital direct-to-shape decoration makes customization and personalization of packaging easier. If you want to give a hotel chain their own regional hand cream? It’s possible.  Showcase multiple images on packaging? You can do it. For short runs and mass production, multiple versions of a product packaging design are as easy as uploading design files.