12K PACKAGING CHANGE

[Arek]

1$ more? No problem. What I don't like is that there'll be scratches on the CD surface after taking it out from this thigh pocket. There should be some protection or maybe bigger pocket for the CD.

[The Green Kingdom]

I like the idea a lot and wouldn't be opposed to paying more.

To prevent scratching you could also include an inner sleeve of that cheesecloth-type material they used to use in Hapna releases when they were the paper covers inside of a plastic sleeve. (of course this would likely increase the price even more)

[wixel]

i love those hapna inner sleeves.. they're not that expensive.. (but obviously not free, and you still have to put the cd in those too)

for me a redesign or sticking to the old are equally attractive.

though i'm all for less plastic.
and i'd be really curious for the redesign

so maybe a redesign after all

[oootini]

i just received a package from raster noton and it reminded me of this thread. RN have been doing great cd cardboard sleeves for the last while.

they did a run of a weird shape cardboard cd cases that was beyond great a few years ago. when you pulled on a tab it pulled the cd out with the sleeve notes.

http://www.hardformat.org/79/senking-list/

[taylordeupree]

yea... if 12k had raster's budget it would be a different story


well, i got pricing back from the manufacturer, and the cardboard sleeves just may be too expensive to go with... i'd have to increase prices for distributors as well, which has basically never been done in 14 years.

up in the air still.

[oootini]

ha, fair enough.

[haesslich]

and (!) some people are just pragmatical. some weird shaped cardboard sleeves don't fit into my ikea billy cd rack. that's annoying! still, form follows function, not vice versa.

(unless it's the in a place of such graceful shape box, which fits into my 7" box ;-) )

[mdoudin]

I like this website, oootini. some beautiful designs up there.

[darren mcclure]

I like this website, oootini. some beautiful designs up there.

oh wow, same here.  thanks for the link!!

[oootini]

yeah, it's a great site.

[runningonair]

One of the biggest mistakes that was made on the release of the CD was the amount of plastic used.  Those nasty scratched up jewel cases that used to break so easily.  The digipac was an improvement but moving to all card is much better in so many ways.  As long as you maintain a labeled spine, so it's possible to find the disc, I see no problem.

[Arek]

Maybe Discbox Slider would be a soluion? 100% paper, lots of space and disc is easy to remove without scratches. Something like this:



More here: http://www.topac.de/en/products/multimedia.html

[taylordeupree]

that's quite nice! but i don't know the availability in the states...

[Arek]

In September 12k waves goodbye to the digipack which has been the mainstay of our packaging since Sogar's Apikal.Blend back in 2003. We're excited to be moving to a package which more reflects 12k's current aesthetic. We're certain you'll agree.

My bet is something like vinyl replica or maybe this discbox slider. Am I correct? ;]

[taylordeupree]

hi arek

i'm not really keeping it a secret or anything.. not trying to "hype" it up too much...

the packaging is really quite similar.. i'm basically going to do a gatefold jacket.. much like a digipack.. but just with a pocket for the disc instead of a plastic tray. anyone familiar with like, the very early 12k cds... 12k1007, 12k1008... or, really many other packaging around... will be familiar with it. this design has a spine, which is important to me.. so you will be able to see artist/title when it is on your cd shelf.

however, i am custom creating the die for the jacket because i want the spine to be 1mm thinner than the default spine. what this does is prevent the package from pinching and feeling fatter on the spine side, and thinner on the other side. i'm also using a heavy stock to make it all feel quite nice.

the only thing i haven't decided is whether to go with an uncoated paper stock or stick with a matte varnish like on the current digipacks.

the uncoated stock seems more "12k" these days. softer, more organic... but from a printing point of view, the glossy stock with matte varnish is crisper and holds thing lines better.

i don't have much more time to decide.. but, i'm leaning towards uncoated stock.

just like most of the recent 12k cds in sleeves.. like MOSS, TASOGARE, VITIELLO + BERG... these are all uncoated.

the design is remaining relatively similar.. i went through a few re-designs and kept coming back to a version of the current design... which makes me think i stumbled across something so perfect for 12k that i can't see changing it.

one benefit, however, is that because the disc itself wont' be visible when you open the package... it will be in a pocket, i have one more panel on the inside for art. instead of just doing it a solid color, i think i will put a 2nd photograph there.

i played with the idea of putting all of the back side text.. song titles, and such.. on the inside.. and having only photo on the outside.. but then when people see the discs in the store they won't really know how many songs are on it, or what's on it or anything...

but wrapping an image from front to back would be nice.. (i don't like text on top of image... from a templated point of view if something isn't going to work 100% of the time, i won't do it)