PaperSpecsGallery.com: Latitude Baby Blanket Packaging

Digital printing is making a difference, allowing designers to push the boundaries of what they once thought possible, all while saving money through small print runs. And in the right hands, digital is helping designers make a difference in other ways, too.

To raise awareness for struggling mothers overseas, Minneapolis design agency Latitude sent 600 baby blankets to clients they’ve worked with, each in a distinctive, digitally printed mailing box. An additional 300 blankets were polybagged and shipped to clinics in Honduras, Haiti, Mongolia, Nicaragua and Kenya. The project is part of Latitude’s commitment to investing 50% of its profits in charitable causes.

Taking its design cues from the whimsical screen-printed baby blanket at the heart of this initiative, the designers reproduced the shapes and animals in black ink on the brown exterior of the shipping box, along with the simple observation “Mothers are incredible” on the front. Like these graphic elements, the clear sticker featuring a pair of hearts that covers the box’s release tab was also digitally printed.

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Releasing the tab and lifting the lid allows you to unfold the box and discover the blanket neatly secured with a bellyband inside. (We’ll come back to this in a moment.) On the package’s white interior is a brief explanation of Latitude’s blanket project:

“Inside this package is a baby blanket – a symbol of warmth, love and comfort. It is for you, or for you to give to a parent-to-be in your life. We are also sending hundreds of these blankets to the clinics mentioned above to spread the love around the world.”

The flaps holding the blanket in place feature the same illustrations to be found on the blanket itself – the color-matching achieved on this wide-format Vutek digital press by Ambassador Press is excellent. Removing the blanket from the box reveals a cute, colorful diagram depicting some fun uses for the sheet within. (“Snuggle fort,” anyone?)

Taking advantage of the variable-data printing capability of the Xerox iGen digital press, they produced three different bellybands:

• 300 consisting of illustrated swaddling instructions. This was the band polybagged with the blanket and sent to the mothers overseas.
• 600 designated as Latitude’s “April & May 2018 Mission Report” that said “May this be a symbol of the warmth, love and comfort that you bring to the world” on one side, and a general explanation of Latitude’s charitable investment policy on the other.
• 100 that featured the same wording as above, minus the mission report reference, and circulated to Latitude employees and mothers to be, such as clients that might have had a baby recently.

And thanks to the 130-lb. Domtar Cougar Digital Smooth Cover used, the bands are as smooth as the blankets are soft.

Latitude’s baby blanket package reminds us that no project is too ambitious, especially when you put the power of digital printing to work for you.