We’re great believers in best practice at Soar, which is why we produce a prototype for every new packaging job that comes our way.
Years of experience has taught us that paper mock-ups are never as accurate as a prototype die-cut from the correct stock. So unless your pack print job is a reprint, you can expect to receive a made-up 3D example of your pack for approval before we press the ‘go’ button on the press. Soar account manager Natalie Hunter explains:
“Prototyping is part of what we do to ensure a great end result. More often than not, any issues will be found and fixed while we’re preparing for the prototype, so adjustments can be made in time. This process can save a costly error in the finished outcome.”
The Heart Foundation’s new donation box is a recent example of how prototyping prevents problems. The box design didn’t change, but a different substrate was chosen. During prototyping, die adjustments were made so the new box would lock together correctly. If the job had gone straight to print without prototyping, it would have been a disaster. The difference between ‘fantastic’ and ‘fail’ can be just a couple of microns.
If you have a new pack in the pipeline, or want to move to a different stock for an existing pack, talk to Natalie about pack protoyping. Email natalieh@soarprint.co.nz.

Prototyping helped the Heart Foundation avoid problems when moving to a different substrate for its donation boxes.