Identity Crisis

Lately I've felt like my little company has had a bit of an identity crisis.

I think I took a step in the right direction in terms of the product, with my idea of utilizing more recycled jewelry parts. (Speaking of which, a lot of my recycled jewelry sold last week, so I may have an excuse to start scavenging antique and thrift stores for old jewelry soon!)

The other bit of my identity crisis doesn't deal with the product itself, but with the packaging.

The original bags I had for craft shows and jewelry parties were actually party favor bags from Party City that I ran through my printer. They're essentially purple, glossy versions of a brown lunch bag.

This weekend I found white kraft paper bags with handles at Michaels, and with a coupon they were about 30 cents each. Then I took 2" x 4" mailing labels, printed my logo on them in purple and stuck them on the bags. Much nicer, I think!

I also decided I needed to do something about the packaging I use when I mail orders. Originally I used these shiny, textured, silver boxes. Those work fine for craft shows and parties, where I need to have my jewelry out and able to be handled by customers.

But using a jewelry box inside a bubble mailer really isn't ideal for my online sales. First of all, it adds unnecessary weight. I really don't want to charge too much for shipping, and as of right now adding delivery confirmation would force me to increase my shipping charges by 50%. I'm hoping that by lowering the weight (and therefore, postage) of each package, I can regularly use delivery confirmation without increasing my shipping costs.

After agonizing over whether to order pre-made retail packaging, which just didn't fit in with my idea of my brand identity, I went with my own solution: I went to Michaels again, bought a bunch of card stock in purple and textured silver, and started experimenting.

Ok, first of all, I kind of want to keep this necklace for myself. But more realistically I'll have it listed on Etsy within the week.

These earrings match the packaging! They're actually a custom order from the party this past Tuesday, so I'm going to test run the new packaging with them. It's just a first effort, so hopefully once I get the hang of it they'll start to look more polished and professional.

All in all, I think I'm on my way to establishing a stronger brand identity, but any thoughts/feedback on the new packaging is much appreciated!