Custom box inserts are an effective solution for those looking to organize and protect their products within packaging. They can be made of a variety of materials, such as paper, corrugated materials, foam, and pulp, each with their own set of unique characteristics. Though designing custom box inserts seems intimidating, it can be straightforward as long as you consider several important factors.
These considerations are key to ensuring your custom box inserts effectively protect your products during transportation. They are the reason that structural design engineers must get a thorough understanding of your products as well as your brands’ specific packaging goals and needs in order to design a custom insert that will most optimally protect your products during transfer.
Your Product's Weight
Your product’s weight is one of the first considerations made in the design process. Since custom box inserts must support and hold your products, their weight is a crucial factor in determining the type of material that will be best suited for your custom box inserts.
Lighter items may not require as much support, making paper-based custom inserts sufficient for use. On the other hand, heavier items will require more support and thus are likely to need more rigid materials such as corrugated materials or foam.
Your Product's Fragility
In conjunction with your product’s weight, their fragility will also help to determine which materials are best suited for your custom box insert. Though they have a variety of purposes and benefits, custom box inserts are often turned to as a protective solution for products during transport. Thus, your product’s varying needs to be protected will affect which materials you may choose to use.
In general, custom inserts’ ability to hold your products in place, preventing them from colliding with other products or your packaging, will provide them with an added layer of protection. However, when your packaging is being moved, it risks the possibility of being jostled around. Heavier or more fragile items may therefore require materials that are more efficient at absorbing impact, such as foam or corrugated paperboard, to ensure their safe delivery.
Your Packaging’s Purpose
Packaging designed for different purposes will often have different needs. Packaging intended to be shipped will often need to be made with stronger materials such as foam and corrugated board to ensure that the products are protected from shaking and unexpected impact during shipping.
On the other hand, custom inserts with the primary purpose of visual aesthetic such as for gift boxes may allow for a little more leniency. As they are more likely to be used on display or sold in physical retail stores where consumers thus personally transport home, they have the flexibility to be made with materials that don't have to be as sturdy.
Your Product & Packaging Space Requirements
When designing custom box inserts, it’s important to note that the size of your products may affect the size of your packaging. With multiple items, you will have to account for buffer space between items, thus limiting how small your exterior box can be.
For foam inserts, too-narrow side walls are often impossible to cut precisely. On the other hand, for paper-based materials, thin custom insert walls result in an increased susceptibility to tearing, thus making it ineffective at protecting your products. Learn more about spacing for custom box inserts here.
If you have multiple items and limited space, you may also have to do some creative "tetris-ing" to ensure that they all fit and are well protected. As a general rule of thumb, it is best to design the custom box insert before finalizing your exterior box size to ensure you're maximizing the protective ability of your custom insert.
Placement of Your Products
While trying to make sure everything fits nicely into your custom box insert, the placement of your products will also affect the weight distribution and thus structure of the insert. In order to ensure that your custom box insert maintains its structure, you will have to ensure the weight is evenly distributed so that your packaging as a whole feels balanced.
Closing Thoughts
As you can see, when it comes to designing custom box inserts, there are a handful of factors that must be taken into consideration. These different factors can change the material, size, structure, and layout of your custom box inserts but are crucial to ensuring your custom box inserts are able to fulfill your brand’s needs.
With such a variety of factors to consider, some may find it overwhelming to begin designing custom box inserts. Our structural design service is here to make the process much easier and approachable.
Let our structural design engineers worry about the technicalities and the details! All you have to do is share your products and design requirements with us. From there you can let us handle the rest. Learn more about our structural design service, or take a look at how we’ve been able to help other brands turn their dream custom box insert into a reality.