Introduction

Over the last few years, the changing consumer demands have forced the beauty industry to think differently. While beauty products help us look flawless, they do not leave the planet that way. Younger consumers are now willing to pay the extra cost to ensure that their favorite brands do not ruin the planet. Moreover, brands are no longer just scrutinized for the ingredients of their products, but also their packaging. 

Industries produce over 300 million tons of plastic every year, and half of that is single-use. For the beauty industry, sustainability is one of the key challenges. Inclusivity and transparency have also gained importance as consumers are more cautious about what products they are buying. Globally, the market for clean beauty is projected to reach USD 22 billion by 2024. Moreover, brands are also using AI to personalize skincare products. 

Here is how digitizing artwork can help cater to the Gen Z and millennial consumer base.

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#1. Speed up Timelines and Reduce Costs

Cosmetic and personal care brands are under constant pressure to get to the market as fast as possible. This becomes a challenge when using sustainable packaging. Brands need to collaborate with different vendors to use recycled or upcycled materials. Moreover, using organic ingredients also drive up production costs. For SMBs, this can be a major setback. 

Using digitized packaging artwork management helps mitigate the slow timelines and high costs. Here is how the adoption of software label management systems can help simplify label design and proofing workflows and reduce costs. 

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Get a holistic overview of all projects

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Source: bizongo.com

Brands usually have multiple label development projects taking place simultaneously. Managing them all at once can be challenging and error-prone. Project managers can use artwork management platforms to ensure all the projects are progressing as they should. 

Adapt to any workflow

Artwork management tools or software label management can be used across any industry, no matter what workflow they use. Brands can integrate artwork management software into their existing workflow and speed up the artwork development process. 

[video: https://d1pvb9n8x01m7p.cloudfront.net/videos/Feature+1_Checklist.webm ]

Address bottlenecks before they happen

Managers can use dashboards to see which artwork development projects may get delayed. Artwork development platforms can use intelligent reporting to show if a project may experience delays. Managers can get in touch with the stakeholders to resolve the issues. 

Reduce Revision Cycles

With online label proofing software, managers can define which stakeholder will review which part of the labeling and by when. Setting up a clear to-do list allows reviewers to provide precise feedback on time. This system helps reduce incoherent or contradictory feedback and thereby reduce revision cycles.

Eliminate errors with proofing tools 

Reviewers have access to a full suite of artwork proofing and annotation tools. They can validate fonts, check spellings, verify the colors used and even compare old and new artworks. Reviewers can also provide their feedback by annotating the artwork directly. 

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#2. Comply with regulations and maintain transparency

[Video: https://d1pvb9n8x01m7p.cloudfront.net/videos/Feature+3+Proofing.webm]

The cosmetics and personal care industry is heavily regulated. For example, in the US, FDA mandates that certain information must be present on the product label. They even provide recommended sizes of labels. Brands must comply with these regulations or face heavy fines. With the changing market, these regulations also keep changing and brands need to keep changing their labels. 

Furthermore, brands need to be transparent, educate their consumers, and market their products without greenwashing. Digitization enables brands to stay compliant and transparent without any downtime.

Use checklists to verify even the smallest details

Source: bizongo.com

Managers can use checklists to specify which detail a reviewer needs to check. Artwork proofing tools come built into these artwork management solutions. 

For example, reviewers can use the virtual ruler, the color picker, or spell check tools to verify the label design. If a reviewer needs to reject, they can comment directly against the checklist item, or annotate on the artwork file. Checklists can help ensure that no mandatory information has been missed out. Checklist templates help managers quickly create checklists for different SKUs. 

Collaborate with external and internal teams

Brands need to make bold marketing claims to stay competitive in the market. However, these claims should also be honest. Online label proofing software can help onboard external and internal teams to help with the label design. 

For example, to ensure the truthfulness of their marketing claims, brands can use label proofing software to onboard legal teams to ensure that their packaging label meets the requirements for transparency. Internal marketing and quality control teams can check for any issues with product descriptions, instructions for use, and any safety warnings. 
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#3. Leverage personalization and inclusivity

The next generation of personalized beauty market is expected to reach 76.2 billion USD by 2030. Brands like Prose, Bare Anatomy, and Pure Culture Beauty are leveraging customer data to create personalized products. They do not only personalize the product formulas, but also the product labels. The labels contain the customer’s name, the intended use, and more personalized information. This requires advanced artwork management software that is tightly integrated into the production line.

A sketch of the automated dispensers used by Prose. Source: Vogue Business

For example, Prose relies on an automated system with over sixty ingredient dispensers. Managing personalized labels requires a similar level of automation. This is where artwork management tools come in. 

Easily personalize product labels.

Artwork management tools can help brands quickly personalize labels with minimal manual intervention. Brands can leverage pre-approved templates to create customized labels for existing products.  

Integrates with existing design tools

Label management platforms such as ArtworkFlow can integrate with design software like Adobe Illustrator, allowing designers to modify existing designs quickly. 

Source: https://exchange.adobe.com/creativecloud.details.104092.artwork-flow.html

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#4. Data security

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A digitized artwork development also demands extensive data security. Labels can contain proprietary designs and confidential information that should not go outside the brand. Furthermore, digital assets should be protected from accidental deletion and overwrites. Here is how an artwork management platform helps.

Granular access control

Managers can provide role-based access to designs and other digital assets to stakeholders. For instance, a vendor or a reviewer can only do away with read permissions, while a designer would require both read and write permissions. Reviewers can perform all proofing tasks directly from the browser. Once the project is over, the manager can revoke the permissions. 

Version control

Artwork management platforms come with version control that prevents accidental deletions and overwrites. File versions are preserved allowing users to revert to older versions if needed. 

Source: bizongo.com

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#5. Enforce accountability

With artwork management platforms, brands get access to audit trails. This system introduces accountability into the workflow. Audit trails ensure that every reviewer has correctly reviewed the artwork. Artwork management platforms also enable the use of digital or electronic signatures wherever necessary. 

Wrapping Up

The Beauty Industry is undergoing a massive change with a strong focus on sustainability, transparency, and inclusivity. The changes also bring a new set of challenges such as managing multiple label development projects, creating personalized labels, and keeping up with regulations. Digitized workflows can immensely help brands tackle these challenges and reduce go-to-market times. You can try it out for free before you commit. 

How are you adapting to the changes? Let us know in the comments below.