Algeria AgencyBrand
Packaging & product labelling
Boxes, pouches, bottles and labels drawn for the printer who will make them and for the wording the law requires on them.
Packaging is the only piece of your identity a customer physically holds. It is also the only one you pay for twice: once to design, then with every print run — which turns one mistake in a file into a mistake multiplied by ten thousand units.
So we start from three constraints before drawing anything: the printing process actually available at your manufacturer, the substrate on which ink will behave nothing like it does on screen, and the wording the law obliges you to carry. Artwork approved without those three is artwork that will be redone.
The regulatory part is not administrative detail. A label on a product sold to consumers has to be written in Arabic, and some items — composition, net weight, expiry date, manufacturer identity, batch number — are not negotiable. One batch held at inspection costs more than the whole design.
Finally, we draw for the shelf and not for the presentation board. Packaging is judged from a metre away, beside six competitors, under poor lighting. Those are the conditions we test proposals in, and that test is often what eliminates the prettiest of the three.
What we usually find
- Your printer delivered colours that look nothing like what you approved on screen.
- Your labels were reprinted because a mandatory item was missing.
- On the shelf, your products are less noticeable than the ones sitting right beside them.
- Every new format starts from scratch, because nothing was built to extend.
What changes
A file the printer accepts
Right dimensions, with bleed, cut marks and the colour profile of their process. No back and forth, no billed rework.
Compliance checked before the run
Mandatory wording present, in Arabic, readable at the size it will actually print — verified on the proof rather than on a screenshot.
A range that extends
An explicit system: what changes from one product to the next, what never changes. Adding a line becomes an edit rather than a project.
What you get
Structure and dieline
The technical drawing of the container — box, pouch, label, sleeve — agreed with the manufacturer before any artwork.
Two drawn directions
Two genuinely different proposals, shown mocked up on the real substrate instead of on a white background.
Range system
The rules that hold ten lines together: what signals the brand, what distinguishes flavour, weight or size.
Mandatory wording built in
Composition, weight, dates, batch number, manufacturer details and barcode, placed and sized to stay legible once printed.
Production files
Vector, separated, at the manufacturer’s dimensions, with technical marks and a proof to check against.
Press follow-through
We read the printer’s proof and sign off the first pass on the machine whenever that is possible.
How we work
Understand the product
What it is, who it is aimed at, what it will sit beside, and through which channel it sells.
Lock the technical side
A conversation with your manufacturer: process, substrate, dimensions, tolerances, minimum quantity. Everything else depends on it.
Draw, then decide
Two directions, a reasoned choice, then one direction refined all the way to the production file.
Control the print
Proof, corrections, then approval of the first run. It is the last moment where a mistake is still cheap.
Is this the right fit for you?
This is for you if
- You sell a physical product that sits on a shelf beside others.
- You have a manufacturer in mind, or you are willing to pick one with us.
- You expect several lines, now or within a year.
This is not for you if
- You need artwork by tomorrow morning. Sound packaging needs time to talk to the printer.
- Your product is not settled — formula, weight, name. Designing first costs twice.
- You only want a regulatory compliance check. A specialist consultancy will cost you less.
What we commit to
Source files are delivered
Open, vector files with the typefaces and the dieline. Another studio has to be able to extend the range without us.
We talk to your printer
Directly, before drawing. A file designed without that conversation is a bet on the outcome.
We say what we do not verify
We lay out the wording you supply and flag what looks missing. We do not replace a regulatory review or a laboratory.
Printing packaging in Algeria
A consumer product label has to be written in Arabic; another language may accompany it, not replace it. Designing in French and then adding Arabic at the end produces a block of type crammed into a corner. We set both scripts together, from the first mockup.
Local press capability decides what is feasible: number of colours, varnish, foiling, cut shape, minimum quantity. An idea that assumes a process unavailable in the country becomes either a costly import or a silent substitution at press time.
The barcode comes from the body that issues identifiers in Algeria, and it has to be planned early: a supermarket refuses a product without one, and adding it late unbalances a face that was already composed.
Frequently asked questions
Can you work with my current printer?
Yes, and we prefer it. We ask them for their dieline, their colour profile and their tolerances, then deliver in their format. If we think they are wrong for the product we will say so, without imposing anybody else.
How many lines can you handle at once?
The first costs the most because it sets the system. The rest are extensions and drop sharply in price. So we quote the range rather than the unit.
Who is liable if a mandatory item is missing?
You remain responsible for the regulatory content of your label: only you know the formula, the origin and the dates. We lay out what you supply, flag visible gaps, and recommend a specialist read before the run.
Will the on-screen colours be the product colours?
No, never exactly: a screen emits light, board reflects it. We work in ink references and approve on a paper proof, which is the only comparison that means anything.
Does changing supplier mean redoing everything?
Not the design, but often the file: dimensions, bleed and profile differ between manufacturers. That is an adaptation rather than a new design, and it is straightforward when the source files were handed over.
Do you handle shipping cartons too?
Yes, and online selling asks for it more and more. The constraints differ — strength, cost, volume — and the result does not need the care that retail packaging does.
How to start
Send us a photograph of your product as it is today, the name of your manufacturer, and the quantity you usually order.
We come back with what your printing process actually allows, what is missing from your current label, and an estimate for the range rather than for one line.
What we have written on this subject
Packaging: what reads at a metre
Packaging is judged at a metre, beside a competitor. Three things get through at that distance; everything else waits to be picked up.Having packaging made: from quotation to the first pallet
The artwork is finished; it still has to be produced. Quotations, plates, the proof, checking the pallet: the order of the steps, and what costs money to change too late.Food and drink: the label is your first page
Your buyer reads you holding the product, on a shelf, in eight seconds. The website comes a long way after.The print run: ordering packaging without paying for it twice
Packaging is corrected before the press and never after. Here is the order of decisions, from the quote to the reversed calendar.Print design: three millimetres decide the result
A print file is not an image. Bleed, safety margin and the proof explain nearly every run that comes back wrong.What you actually print, and what nobody ever read
Most businesses print too many different pieces and too few copies of the right ones. How to take the inventory, and what to stop.
Let us talk about your project
A free audit, no commitment: we look at your online presence and tell you what is holding it back.
- Source files are delivered
- We talk to your printer
- We say what we do not verify