Our Process Accelerates Speed to Market

Our ambition is to co-create the future in packaging through innovations that put your needs at the center with a design for the environment approach. Using our knowledge and expertise to help you realize your packaging goals.

Our process

The Making of an Idea

Using a collaborative and iterative approach, we filter ideas through a series of design phases and evaluation criteria. It’s what enables us to accelerate the development process and create breakthrough packaging ideas for your business.

Making of an idea. Innovating with Graphic Packaging.

Project Brief

This is where you share with us your brand’s challenges, business objectives, and consumer insights. We will work with you to fully understand your specific needs and key considerations that are required for you to move to paperboard packaging. We combine research and market insights from relevant industry sources as well as data and concept validation to ensure we deliver consumer-driven innovations and relevant products to consumers. 

Ideation

Next, our team of structural and conceptual designers start building a solution inspired by consumer insights. The creative process is an iterative phase-by-phase approach, that allows continual feedback and measures effectiveness against the design objectives established in the design brief. We understand what works and what doesn’t — creating packaging structures that not only look excellent visually but perform with great form and function.

Product prototyping

Rapid Prototyping and Sampling 

Once we have some initial ideas established, it’s time to start making things. At this stage, our design team creates concepts for further development. Using rapid prototyping capabilities, we can quickly test new packaging designs, learn fast, pivot, and build competitive advantage as we look to confirm it meets all our key objectives. 

Produce Packaging

Mockups

After the prototyping and sample phase is complete, we move on to creating real-world mockups that closely resemble the final product. That way, you can take samples back to your team for further evaluation. We will incorporate any changes that are required as we move toward final approvals. 

Produce Packaging

Complete Project

This is where all the hard work, research, and collaboration finally pays off. Once the project has been thoroughly looked over and approved, we continue to work closely with you to bring your vision to life.

FUTURE-READY PACKAGING

From Ideation to Commercialization

As shoppers’ preferences and environmental regulations evolve, consumer brands are reshaping their offerings faster than ever.

We continuously optimize the innovation process to bring consumer packaging solutions to life faster and more efficiently—following a global framework. It starts with the consumer and market insights. Our designers begin with the end in mind. They consider not just the consumer experience but Design for the Environment (DfE) principles, the supply chain, operational demands of high-volume production, and the machinery design and deployment.

Where Creative Thinking Comes to Life 

We have eight strategically located Global Innovation Centers dedicated to facilitating our innovation and design process — uniting a wealth of packaging know-how with a world of fresh design ideas, leading technologies, and new materials. By using the knowledge of our experts around the world and state-of-the-art collaboration tools, our facilities allow us to work seamlessly with design, machinery, and manufacturing to ensure the feasibility of new packaging designs in the marketplace. 

Innovation Centers at Graphic Packaging

“We’re constantly assessing the trade-offs between product preservation, upstream material impact, and downstream disposal opportunities in our packaging work. The decision to adopt PaperSeal™ packaging reflects the process we take when making decisions, and this change is a positive step to balance our impacts on people, the planet, and our business.” 

Athena Petty

Senior Sustainability Manager
New Seasons Market 

New Seasons

connect

We Want to Hear from You 

Have an idea, goal, or problem to solve? We’re ready to work with you to get it done. 

See all the different ways innovation comes to life at Graphic Packaging

case studies

Innovation at Work

See how we’re partnering with brands across the world to bring innovative products to market.

A Package for Any Shape 

Unique products call for unique packaging designs. See how we helped Pepsi Bottling Ventures create a sustainable multipack solution for an iconic sparkling citrus beverage. 

ProducePack fiber-based packaging for apples
Convenient Design for Busy Produce Consumers 

Discover how BelleHarvest, a Michigan, U.S.-based apple distributor partnered with us to create functional, aesthetically pleasing and recyclable packaging that reduced defects due to bruising by 15 percent.  

Paper-Based Meat Packaging 

See how we helped Italian meat producer Fileni replace plastic trays with our recyclable, paper-based, PaperSeal™ tray.