Product Packaging Profile: Rocketbook Case Study

A professional brand image can elevate a product from unremarkable to unforgettable. Companies with distinctive retail packaging are instantly recognizable and boast stronger sales and more return customers. A successful brand image incorporates cohesive packaging, printing, and design. To prove this point, let’s use Rocketbook as a case study.

How does Rocketbook Product Packaging Reflect its Branding?

For background, Rocketbook is a notebook and accessory company founded in 2013. Their mission was simple: make a high-quality product with 100% recyclable components. With this vision, Rocketbook occupies a unique place in the stationery industry. They both market themselves as an upscale notebook for business people and a trendy company catering to a younger tech crowd. 

Rocketbook wanted to focus on the quality of their product and supply packaging that matched its caliber. Using bold color schemes and distinctive design, Rocketbook’s product packaging is recognizable from a mile away. Rocketbook hired a product packaging company to curate these designs. 

The company sent shockwaves through the industry when it released the world’s first microwave-to-erase, digitally connected notebook, the Rocketbook Wave. Since then, its brand image has encompassed futuristic, space-age motifs and epic designs.

What Are the Key Elements to Rocketbook’s Package Design? 

1. Plastic Windows: Perhaps the most distinctive element of Rocketbook’s package design is the plastic window. These windows have a variety of functions. First of all, they give consumers a glimpse of the notebooks. The striking colors and high-quality materials are apparent at first glance. They also prevent the notebooks from becoming damaged and ending up in a bargain bin. The window reinforces Rocketbook’s position as an upscale product for successful customers. 
2. Clean Design: Rocketbook’s retail packaging represents a marriage of classic design and tech-futurism. They use heavy paper material to protect their notebooks, which are shipped around the world. 
3. Versatile Packaging: Rocketbook products can be stacked on a shelf or hung by their plastic-adhered hangers, which helps them adapt to a wide variety of retail situations, ultimately boosting sales.

• Book Flap: The most advanced part of Rocketbook’s product packaging is a book-style flap on the front. Using a piece of Velcro, customers can pull the flap back and view the product more closely. The book flap also allows space for more information without overcrowding the package. 

• Pen Tray: Rocketbook’s pens are beautiful writing implements that are both sleek and functional. To showcase these features, their product packaging includes a self-contained tray that centers the pen in the package. Customers can view the pen at every angle while the case protects it from potential damage.

• Reusable Materials: Rocketbook’s founders have a dream of a 100% reusable notebook. To complement this, Rocketbook ships its products with Mylar poly mailer bags, which are much lighter than cardboard boxes. Ultimately, this small decision lowers their overall carbon footprint as their pens are shipped around the world.

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Rocketbook Product Packaging Design Timeline

Both Rocketbook and Global Printing and Packaging were willing to invest time to find the perfect product packaging design. From the first quote until the final proof, the process took around six months. Of course, it’s possible to turn around a design much more quickly, but neither company was interested in cutting corners. 

Throughout the process, Global Printing and Packaging provided high-quality samples so that the team at Rocketbook could continually check progress and offer input. Both companies worked hand-in-hand for over six months. GPP’s graphics and structural engineering teams collaborated with Rocketbook’s graphics and marketing team to create an unparalleled product package that raised the bar for the industry. 

Global Printing and Packaging went through several variations before landing on a matte film lamination that gives the product packaging a smooth feel like an iPhone box. The lamination protects the merchandise and bolsters Rocketbook’s image as a luxury product. Rocketbook even uses clear glue so their plastic hangers have no visible adhesive. 

Both companies were willing to commit to a long-term design process because they value the integrity of their work, and Rocketbook was especially determined to create a unique product that straddled multiple industry vertices. Look for their distinctive products in stores everywhere.