I learned a new phrase yesterday: “clamshell packaging.” So I did some research, and I checked out the online photos. I saw a vast expanse of commercial printing opportunities within the arena of packaging, including medical supplies like gauze pads in blister packs with printed peel-off lids, and pharmaceutical samples in fold-over blister packs that allow you to push a pill out of the packaging through the printed foil cover. I saw hardware supplies (screws, for instance) in plastic clamshell packages with fold-over lids. I even saw hamburgers in printed cardboard or cellulose clamshell packages.
And everything had some sort of custom printing on it.
Some Key Words, Phrases, and Concepts You Should Know
Blister Pack
A “blister pack,” also known as a “push-through pack,” has a perforated foil base attached to a matrix of plastic domes (thermoformed or injection molded polystyrene, polyester, or PVC). These usually encase pills or capsules and protect them from moisture and tampering. This is what you get when your doctor gives you prescription samples. On the bottom of the aluminum foil you will usually see custom printing related to the enclosed pharmaceutical. Of course, the carton also needs to be printed.
Blister packs come in a variety of options. Among these are the “fold-over blister,” which has a number of panels and folds up like a little wallet to protect the pills in the plastic bubbles. “Face-seal blister packs” include the cards you find at the grocery store containing razors, cosmetics, or small toys under plastic bubbles that have been heat welded to the cardboard cards. Again, the cards need to be printed. “Trapped blister packaging” refers to plastic bubbles that extend out beyond both the front and back of the cardboard card. The enclosed “product” seems to float.
Clamshell Containers
These can be one-piece plastic containers (thermoformed or injection molded polystyrene, polyester, or PVC), or they can be containers made of paper board. Either way, each is a single piece of material containing a base well, a hinge, and a cover.
Clamshell containers are not only used for food (styrofoam containers at hot-food bars in grocery stores, and cardboard clamshell boxes for McDonalds’ Chicken Classic sandwiches). More and more often, they are being used for small electronic devices. The inaccessibility of the packaging deters theft. In fact, the design works so well that 6,000 Americans visit the emergency room each year with self-inflicted injuries received while trying to open clamshell packaging. They have even coined a term for the ensuing anger: “wrap rage.”
Thermoforming vs. Injection Molding
The plastic part of the blister packs and clamshell packs has to be made into a bubble to cover the enclosed products. Either the transparent plastic can be heated until it is pliable and then formed into a specific shape over a mold, or molten plastic can be injected into a mold cavity, where it will cool and harden into the final shape.
Custom Printing Blister Packs and Clamshell Packs
Look closely at the blister packs and clamshell containers in the stores you frequent. You may have missed them before. After all, you’ve probably been focusing on the product rather than the packaging. You’ll notice the printed cards in the blister packs and the printed foils covering the pharmaceuticals.
According to the commercial printing vendors I have researched, these printed packages are produced via gravure printing or flexography in 4-color process inks and/or spot colors, often with a varnish.
On some of the clamshell packs you might even see crack-n-peel labels that have been printed via offset, gravure, or flexography. These can be wrapped around the clamshell packs to identify the product while holding the packaging together.
If you look closely, you might also see printing on the foils included in the blister packs of drug samples. This foil is printed in web reels, and then slit down into the final size and labeled with batch numbers.
Issues Regarding Custom Printing Inks and Food
According to the Food and Drug Administration, any inks or coatings that may come into contact with food must be separated by a “functional barrier” that keeps the printed surface away from the food product. One option would be an overprint varnish made from FDA-compliant materials and applied (with FDA-approved operations) as a uniform coating with no pinholes.
Why You Should Care
As long as blister packs and clamshell packaging encase everything from microcassette recorders to food to drugs, no print designer need fear obsolescence.
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, April 10th, 2013 at 2:58 pm and is filed under Packaging.
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