In Chapter 2, I advised you to create your own corporate identity including brand name registration and sales packaging (gift box) concept.
Get Some Help
During the factory visits, you had sufficient time to present them with your ideas. Now the factory needs individual graphics and instruction manuals for each product ordered. Since this job can be very time consuming if you ordered multiple products, you may choose employing an outside company for the job.
You know that time is money and the factory will not start their production without graphic materials. A company in your hometown can be to be instructed one time in the details and can then work independently on several products. They can also create the concept from the beginning if you choose.
Submitting Graphics to the Factory
What is the fastest and most economic way to submit graphics to the factory?
In recent years submitting graphics has completely changed. Some years ago, completed graphic mockups were submitted to the factories. Today, files are burned on CD-ROMs or even better, and much faster, files are sent to a FTP server.
Graphic mockups are bulky and usually need a special protective packing to assure that they are not damaged during transport. Therefore, the transport cost is relatively high because extra courier charges apply. However, CD-ROMs are small and can be sent easily and less expensively. There is still a slim chance that the CD-ROM may be damaged during transport.
The best solution is using a password protected FTP server and allowing the factory to download all graphics from there. Since uploading and downloading is relatively easy and convenient for the factory and includes taking advantage of time zone differences, you should seriously consider this latest method. Mockups and CD-ROMs, even when expedited, take several days to get to the factory, compared with instantly downloading from a FTP server.
Sometimes factories do not provide the correct die-cut measurements to your graphics agency. If this is not corrected before the graphics are sent, the factory will ask their printer to print the gift boxes according to your instructions. That becomes very costly because material are wasted and precious time lost. In the worst-case scenario the whole project can fall apart because too much time is lost.
Please take my advice and double check the measurements of the die-cut before you ask your marketing department to begin with their artwork preparation.