SlimBox Creates Custom Cardboard Boxes On-Demand

Often overlooked until the very end of a design process, package design can be a critical part of branding that strongly dictates how a consumer feels about a product before they even open it. While nobody is necessarily expected to operate in the upper echelon of Apple iPhone boxes (very expensive), there are better solutions than simply cramming a product into a large box with a bunch of packaging peanuts and bubble wrap.

Such is the premise behind SlimBox, a custom box creation concept that uses a laser cutter and an accompanying smartphone app to create on-demand boxes (and internal supports) for just about any dang ol’ thing.

The setup is simple: measure the dimensions of your product and enter them into the free SlimBox App. Once a custom box size is generated, the user has the option to “Print” the box on the spot.

While this is already possible with a custom-designed box layout and an existing laser cutter, the concept behind SlimBox is to streamline the entire process with their box-creation algorithm. However, no word on how they plan to control that burnt cardboard smell.

Says the SlimBox founders:

“Before we launched Slimbox, we owned a printing company. Finding right-sized boxes was one of our daily struggles. To remedy this problem, we searched the market for a machine that could customize our boxes in-house without costing too much time or money. We found nothing. We were stunned that such a machine was not yet on the market so we decided to build it ourselves.”

Unfortunately, the only images from the company at this time are CAD renders — but here’s to hoping they can pull through and make this pretty ingenious solution real. In the meantime, find out more over at SlimBox.