Opportunity

Great packages are made by great graphic design. The creative director of Macmillan Audio’s The Founding Fathers Collection provided us with a landscape-format image and an estimated number of discs (20), suggesting that we be open to the possibilities of a gift-oriented collectible package presentation. That was all we needed.

Solution

We designed a heavy weight, one-piece, hinged, rigid clamshell construction with four landscape-oriented, multi panel disc wallets to accommodate the twenty discs. When opened, the package reveals a graphic image that lines the interior of the case from end to end. The satin coating applied to almost all the printed surfaces gives a luxurious and slightly textured feel. But what really sets off the package is the designer’s eye for stretching the graphic images and careful placement of focal points so the eye follows the rich color throughout.

Wanting to give the feel and weight worthy of a collectible, we chose to rout the outer box hinge to allow for a smooth opening and closing of the box and eliminated the expense of using unitized board typically required when heavier material is worked with. As our client didn’t want to compromise the back-panel artwork with sales copy, we added a sell-sheet that easily comes off with removable adhesive. Providing the disc manufacture and final assembly, we were responsible for all details.

Result

As a gift companion to the hard cover book released in an election year, this historic audio collection should become a perennial seller. To the delight of all involved, The Founding Fathers Collection was nominated for—and won—the Audie Award for Best Package Design 2009 (the Grammy® of the audio book industry).

This was the third year in a row that the coveted award was given to the audio publisher, who entrusted their packaging project to us. Next time, start your trophy collection with Tri-Plex.