How I Designed AJL Jewelry Packaging

Jun 14

My jewelry in the process of being displayed at retailer before I had my packaging epiphany.

Jewelry display has been one of my big struggles. How do I display it in a craft fair? How do I display it in a wholesale/ consignment situation? How do I make it look good when sending it to customers? I researched a lot and experimented quite a bit. Much of my research led to typical one-size fits all solutions sold by jewelry and packaging display manufacturers. I started researching high end jewelry brands, stores I want to sell to and museums. More often than not, there was very little packaging involved. It is often displayed in a glass case. But not all glass cases are equal. It really depends on the store and who is doing the visual merchandising. Unfortunately, I experienced my fair share of jewelry merchandising that did more harm than help to my collection. I learned that I could not trust the retailer to convey my brand with their merchandising.

I continued my feverish search for packaging solutions. I knew that my jewelry needed a solid background to ground it in the viewing field of the customer. I started to look for boxes as solutions. That led to box options of white, black or kraft paper. Those options did not enhance my jewelry. I found an Etsy seller, PackItWrapIt that sold all sorts of box colors. I decided that grey was a good color.

The box insert was another issue. I fell in love with the idea of letterpress inserts. My work is very tactile so I figured it would work. But the price of that process would have increased my overall product cost. I passed.

The back detail of the earring card insert version. © 2018 Alyson Toone All Rights Reserved

As my brand concept emerged in my current work, I decided to connect my surface design work to my jewelry. Using my signature print design, I created an insert design. I used three different color options to enhance the colors of the corresponding jewelry collections. The final prints were created by moo.com, my favorite online printer.

The large necklace insert version. © 2018 Alyson Toone All Rights Reserved

In addition to the colorful design and logo, I decided to use language to convey my brand. The insert reads:

Today, I am thankful for you.
Do beautiful things with your beautiful life.
You are now apart of my life.
Stay in touch at alysonjon.live & on social media
Instagram & Facebook: AlysonJonLife

In that exchange, my brand expresses gratitude and invites further connection. This is a genuine feeling on my part. I am thankful for all my customers who allow me to continue to create beautiful things in my life and for others.

Here is the final product.