The trends in labels and packaging have become pretty well-defined in 2019 and will undoubtedly remain a significant focus going forward. The four primary trends are: quality, short and on-demand production runs, personalization, and a focus on sustainability. The messaging from consumer product companies, equipment and consumables manufacturers, and most importantly consumers will be driving each of these to the forefront of discussion. 

Printing in the “pre-digital” era was thought of as a craft. In fact, if you consider all of the variables that needed to be controlled in the process, it was a “highly skilled” craft. For example, during that period of time in offset printing you had to balance ink color and formulation, water, plates, separations, screening, machine impression, environmental conditions, etc. When all these things came together in the “ideal” configuration, you were able to get some pretty amazing reproductions. It was and still is all about controlling all of those inherent variables. The impact of digital technologies on many of these variables, like the introduction of Computer to Film (CTF) and subsequently Computer to Plate (CTP) for offset and gravure printing provided better ways to control the process. 

However, much of what we experienced historically in label and packaging print seemed to miss out on much of the quality experiences of offset printing, since the run sizes and cost impact dictated the use of other types of print technologies. The highest print quality of the time was undoubtedly rotogravure, as evidenced by its use in the production of National Geographic, often thought of as the pinnacle of printing quality, although with a significant preparation cost for short to medium-sized production runs it made its use in labels and packaging somewhat limited to high-volume and reoccurring print runs.