I'm designing wrapping paper for my business; come with me on the journey and see the stages of creating a new product with my art.
Contents
THE NEED: why design wrapping paper?
I don't really like to create new products for my business unless there's a need for it, as it goes against my sustainability principles. I try to keep my stock minimal, but fresh and try not to create extra waste in the world.
BUT, I also want my customers to have a really lovely experience when they unwrap one of my parcels at home. Kind of like receiving a magical letter. I also want to wrap my products up a bit more so they don't get damaged in transit.
To that end, I tried to find the most versatile, eco friendly way of packaging my products (specifically my cards), that wouldn't cost the earth and would look really cool.
I looked into custom printing storage envelopes and custom printing tissue paper. But in the end I decided wrapping paper would be a lot more versatile as it's stronger, but also can be used to wrap multiple things (also, some types of tissue paper you can't recycle because it's too thin).
BEGIN
I usually begin looking for a new product by Googling it. In this case, I googled 'custom printed wrapping paper' to see what was about. I look round at a few websites, and this helps me to decide what I actually need from the paper, as I slowly rule things out.
I also try looking at some of the sites I've used already. In this case I tried print.work and alocalprinter.co.uk, both of whom have a focus on sustainability.
NARROWING THE SEARCH
After a while I realised that not every site had an eco friendly option, so I narrowed the search down with that, looking for recycled and Kraft paper printing.
I also really thought about what I needed: I'm a tiny business, so I don't need huge quantities of wrapping, which ruled out some of the places I was looking at, whose minimum orders ran into the hundreds, including, unfortunately, one of my favourite printing places alocalprinter.co.uk.
I also only needed small sheets of paper, so was looking around at the sizes I could get too.
FINDING A SITE
Eventually, I found a website that seemed to do everything I wanted: wttb.co.uk. They printed on craft paper in small batches, with a smaller sheet size. I did wonder if perhaps a roll would be more economical, so I decided to look into that too.
I found helloprint.co.uk, they offered two different thicknesses (115gm and 135 gsm - gsm is paper weight and refers to thickness), which I liked.
I then found printed.com, which offered many different options, including rolls or sheets with a recycled paper printing option. I had a look at pricing, and the cost of the paper sheets was almost double that of the above two, so I decided to continue looking a bit further.
I really don't like having to email for quotes, so I avoided any places that asked me to get in touch instead of giving me a direct quote - it usually means they'll be expensive, and adds more time to the search when I really need to be as quick as possible. After that, I found a few more places, but they were more expensive still. I decided I'd choose from the three I'd already found.
THE NITTY GRITTY
When creating a new product I roll everything into the cost: the shipping, the printing, the VAT (which I can't claim back). I divide that by the quantity supplied. For example, if I want 25 sheets of 135 gsm paper custom printed, that costs £50, but then VAT adds a tenner, and then shipping will probably be around £6, So all together I have £66, then divided by 25. This gives me £2.64 per sheet. I can't stress enough how important it is to include absolutely every detail when thinking about new products. It is all going to come out of your business, so are you going to make the money back?
I then enter it into my spreadsheet, which details the total printing cost of every item I sell. In this case, I'm thinking that it will be mostly useful for my cards, as everything else is print on demand and gets shipped straight to the customer, so that doesn't need wrapping paper. I estimate that the largest I'd need is a sheet of A4 paper for each order.
So, if my sheet is 50 cm x 70 cm, then I can get approximately 4 packages out of a roll.
In total then: 2.64 (the cost of my sheet), divided by 4 (how many packages I can get out of the sheet)= An added 66p per package.
One £2.50 card with free postage therefore wouldn't warrant the cost of the paper. But it might be useful for larger orders (such as with my 12 cards for £18 deal). Then I have to think to myself though: the £2.50 card will use less paper, so actually, that would be less than the 66p total.
Here's the real question though:
Do I think this is really worth it?
The answer is yes - I think the value added for both the customer and myself will be worth it.
So, now to decide fully between the three printers, then get on with a design to the specifications chosen. I got down to it and did the costings.
THE COSTINGS
WTTB.CO.UK offered 25, 50 x 70cm sheets, single sided, 120gsm, recycled uncoated paper at £52.04 with free delivery
PRINTED.COM offered much the same as the above for £60.22, but with 10% off the first order
HELLOPRINT.CO.UK offered 25, 50x70cm sheets, on 135gsm glossy paper for £31.77. BUT, and there was a big but, no recycled paper printing option.
So, helloprint was by far the cheapest, but it didn't align with my company values, and the first two were much the same. I delved deeper, looking for sustainability within the first two companies. WTTB had nothing to say about its environmental impact, but Printed.com had a number of steps they were taking to be more environmentally friendly.
With a deep sigh, I decided on the most expensive supplier.
THE DESIGN
So, then, here we are. You join me at the moment at which I stop looking. It's now time to create a design. The specifications are 50x70cm, seemingly a standard size for wrapping sheets. And I need it to be branded, but also fun and magical for people to open.
If you want to read more about how I create the design, then please check back for the next blog, when I'll be taking you through my design process for the paper.
Finally, I'll show you how I make the order, and then what the final product looks like.
So until then, thanks for reading!
Nx
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