I’m often approached with regards to the packaging design of Tirol Box – especially when it comes to the photos on the inner side of the lid. Who would have thought that a snapshot would be received so well?
Packaging design for Tirol Box and Tirol Box basic (Copyright photo: Dinkhauser Kartonagen)
But let me start from the beginning: My partner Ashley Wiggins and I spent half a day in Stubaital to take a great photo for our Tirol Box packaging, but somehow that didn’t work out as planned. The weather was not in our favour, the scenery as such not good enough for us and we were a bit annoyed by the whole situation in general – where should we get a fantastic photo for our Tirol Box?
We then asked a photographer whose work we absolutely love, to help us out. But deep down, we always thought that it should better be us taking the photo for our box – especially as the other photos on the Tirol Box social media channels are our own too. The Tirol Box concept is very much based on our personal impressions – because it is us who decide which products and suppliers may have their space in the box or not, nobody else. Other subscription boxes don’t necessarily do that which is why they often get very bad reviews from their customers. For us, customer experience is extremely important, which is why we personally look at the quality and at the products that make it in our boxes. This is the reason why the picture for the packaging should be taken by us. No sooner said than done – another photographer was no option, we had to manage this ourselves.
Tirol Box
Hiking from the parking place up to the Obernberger See (Wipptal).
It was a nice little afternoon trip to Obernberger See in the very back of the Wipptal, close to the border to Italy. Basically, what we wanted to do is just take a few snapshots for our social media channels, but I instinctively thought „no, this could actually turn out to be a lovely picture for the packaging, let’s see“. At that time, the packaging design was still unfinished and I knew that I desperately wanted to have the most amazing photo for our packaging. I wanted people to open the box and be completely taken away and have the feeling that they are on holiday in Tirol themselves, for a moment. I always aim at transporting emotions with my designs.
The water of the Obernberger See is crystal clear – and ice-cold.
„Why driving far away to the sea, when the beautiful things are so close?“ We thought until we found out how cold that lake actually was.
The distinctive rocks make a great scenery, simply stunning.
More rocks ...
When my mother’s Jack Russer terrier Mogli walked into the picture.
Many clouds in the sky ... They made my photo session a bit tough at times.
When the cows came down to drink water out of the lake, people were a bit scared – funny to watch.
Photomerge with 20 un-edited raw photos.
In order to get everything into the picture nicely, I took 20 photos and used the automatic Photomerge function in Photoshop for merging all pictures seamlessly together. As it was a bit cloudy and windy that day, a cloud flew into my picture here and there, also the weather changed quite rapidly. It was not easy to get everyting in full focus in the short time the weather gave me. So I took it a bit more slowly, made sure everything is in focus and also the beautiful rocks close to the lake I had to get into the picture (these rocks are very typical for that lake). At the end, I had to remove some clouds in Photoshop, spruce up some colours just how they looked like when no clouds were in the sky. And then I had this incredibly beautiful photo that always puts people off their feet every time they see it – even though it was „only“ a snapshot. Tadaaahhh!
Final photo for the inner packaging of Tirol Box.
After an ice-cold and thus very short swim session, we packed our bags and went downhill back into the valley again.
The old restaurant at the Obernberger See.
On the way back down to the valley.
Going downhill was good for our legs – and provided us with a splendid view.
Tirol Box basic
For Tirol Box basic, we also went for a very beautiful scenery: the Schlick 2000 in Stubaital. Another snapshot, that was originally planned for our social media channels only, and not for our packaging.
Final photo for the inner packaging of Tirol Box basic.
Also for Tirol Box basic, I used Photomerge in order to get the photo into our packaging big enough. In addition to that, I faced the challenge of cows walking around and tried to not have them in my picture for the packaging.
The cows close to Schlickeralm in Stubaital.
After taking the photo, we treated ourselves to regional specialities at Schlickeralm. By the way: the home-made cakes at the Schlickeralm I really highly recommend.
Design at the bottom and the inner sides of the packaging.
The inside packaging at the bottom and the sides of both boxes comes with light brown Tirolean plants with a coal outline on dark brown background. This adds a little bit of extra luxury to the box design.
The packaging manufacturer Dinkhauser (also from Tirol) was so fascinated by the boxes, that they presented them at the Fachpack fair in Nuremberg in September 2016. The audience loved the boxes – and I am very happy that Tirol Box is received so well.
(Copyright photos: Helene Clara Gamper, unless stated otherwise. Any printing or copying is forbidden.)