--- name: skill-packaging-unboxing type: skill license: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 description: >- Pixel's procedure for designing the physical arrival of an order as one brand surface — outer pack, inner wrap, inserts (care card, thank-you, maker story, a Welsh sign-off where earned), labels and the sustainability posture — and the unboxing sequence as a narrative in the venture's voice, with the share or review prompt placed deliberately. Two constraint modes: own-fulfilled (full control) and print-on-demand via Printify (the provider's branded options only). Use when a store is being launched or relaunched, when a packaging system is briefed or supplied (Kutchibok's system for BARA), or when a standard-storefront score marks the packaging surface unknown or failing. Reads convention-brand, convention-aesthetic, convention-retail and standard-storefront; hands print specs to suppliers via the operator and the arrival narrative to Reach for skill-lifecycle. Propose-only; print spend is a human action. Surfaced by APP-1080 / APP-1086; first draft 2026-09-04. --- # packaging-unboxing Pixel's skill for the parcel. On the `convention-retail` touchpoint chain the unboxing is step 6, the first physical brand moment and a maker brand's strongest owned touchpoint; `standard-storefront` names it as a storefront surface and points here for the craft. This skill designs the packaging system and the unboxing sequence as one surface on the venture's brand, within what the fulfilment model allows, and hands the result to print suppliers through the operator and to Reach so the post-purchase email mirrors the physical arrival. It reads `convention-brand` and `convention-aesthetic` for the look, `convention-retail` for the chain and fulfilment models, and `standard-storefront` for the bar; it restates none of them. Surfaced by APP-1086; first draft 2026-09-04. ## Trigger - A store is launching or relaunching — called from `playbook-store-launch` at the packaging step (Keroma first, the BARA relaunch second). - A packaging system is briefed or arrives from a studio (Kutchibok's system for BARA) and needs a home in canon and a spec the fleet can work from. - A `standard-storefront` score marks the packaging surface unknown, partial or failing, or `skill-lifecycle` needs the arrival narrative to build the post-purchase flow against. - A range change adds a product the current system cannot hold (a new size, a fragile line, a gift set). Run by Pixel for the vertical's operator. ## Behaviour Four steps. ### Step 1 — Fix the constraint mode Read the fulfilment model per product from `convention-retail` and the range from `skill-retail-strategy`. Two modes, and a store may run both: - **Own-fulfilled** (own stock, maker-made small batch) — full control of outer, inner, inserts and labels. The system is designed in full. - **Print-on-demand via Printify** — the provider packs and ships; the surface is limited to the branded options the chosen print provider offers (typically a branded insert or packing slip, and for some providers a custom label or neck label). The system is designed within that list, read this run from the provider's current options and marked known; nothing is designed that the provider cannot apply. The brand gap is closed at chain steps 5 and 7 — dispatch comms and the post-purchase email — which is the handoff to Reach in Step 4. State the mode, the provider where relevant, and what the mode rules out, before any design. ### Step 2 — Specify the packaging system One system per venture, specified as a list the supplier can quote from: - **Outer** — the shipping carton or mailer: sizes against the range (working rule: the fewest sizes that hold every product and the standard gift set without void fill beyond one material), material and print finish, the external mark (restrained — the outer is seen by the courier and the doorstep, the reveal is inside). - **Inner** — the wrap and the protection: tissue, paper, wool or cardboard for ceramics, the fold and seal, the order in which the customer meets the items. - **Inserts** — a care card (how to use and keep the product), a thank-you in the venture's voice, the maker story where provenance is a brand asset, the return route (the policy stated on the product page, never a different one), and a Welsh sign-off for BARA where it earns its place — Aled's to judge in execution, per `bara.voice-reference`, never a fixed line. Copy is Reach's via `skill-content-studio`; the format, hierarchy and print spec are here. - **Labels** — shipping label placement, a fragile or this-way-up mark where needed, batch or maker marks for small-batch lines. - **Sustainability posture** — stated, not implied: recyclable or reusable materials, no plastic where the product allows, and the posture printed on the pack in one line so the customer does not have to guess. A claim that cannot be checked with the supplier is not made. Every element carries the brand per `convention-brand` (palette, type, mark usage) and inherits `convention-aesthetic`; where the brand instance has a gap (BARA's palette, type and logo are still in progress), the spec marks what waits on the identity rather than inventing it. Where a studio has supplied the system, this step records it in canon terms, names what is missing, and does not redesign it. ### Step 3 — Design the unboxing sequence The sequence is a short narrative in the venture's voice, four beats: the outer (what the doorstep says), the opening (the first thing seen), the reveal (the product presented as intended — the hero image of the product page realised in the hand), and the close (the card that stays). Write it as a storyboard with one line per beat and the element that carries it. The share or review prompt sits at the close, once, on the card or the packing slip, as an invitation with a route (the review page, the tag to use) and never as a plea, a discount-for-review or a pre-printed five stars. Manufactured urgency and inserts that sell the next order harder than they thank for this one are off-voice for any premium-craft venture here. Working rule for sizing the sequence: three inserts is the ceiling. More reads as marketing in a box. ### Step 4 — Hand off - **To print suppliers, through the operator** — a print-ready spec per element: dimensions, material, finish, quantities as a range for quoting, and the artwork exported from the design system. Placing the order, approving the proof and paying are the operator's, per the human-action boundary in `convention-shopify`; the spec is staged, never sent. - **To Reach** — the four-beat narrative and the insert copy brief, so `skill-lifecycle`'s post-purchase flow (dispatch, delivered, care, review ask) mirrors the physical arrival in timing and voice, and `skill-newsletter` can carry the maker story. - **To `skill-storefront-merchandising`** — the packaging photographed for the product page gift lines and the About page, so the store promises what the parcel delivers. - **To `standard-storefront`'s score** — the packaging surface moves from unknown to pass, partial or fail once a parcel has been inspected against this spec. - **To `skill-unit-economics`** — packaging cost per order, so the margin ladder carries a known figure rather than an assumed one. ## Reads and feeds Reads: `convention-brand` (the venture's instance and voice reference), `convention-aesthetic`, `convention-retail` (chain step 6, fulfilment models), `standard-storefront` (the packaging surface and imagery system), `skill-retail-strategy` (range and gift tier), the Printify provider's current packaging options where in mode two, the studio's supplied system where one exists. Feeds: print suppliers via the operator, `skill-lifecycle`, `skill-newsletter`, `skill-storefront-merchandising`, `skill-unit-economics`. ## Guardrails - Propose-only. Physical print spend, supplier orders and proof approval are the operator's hand; nothing is ordered or paid from this skill. - Designs within the fulfilment model; never specifies an element the print-on-demand provider cannot apply, and never promises on the store a parcel the mode cannot deliver. - On-brand and inheriting `convention-aesthetic`; a supplied studio system is recorded and gapped, not restyled. Brand gaps are marked, not filled by invention. - The share or review prompt is an invitation with a route, never a plea, an incentive or pre-filled praise. - The returns route on the insert is the policy stated on the product page, never a different one. - No sustainability claim that the supplier cannot substantiate. - Copy is Reach's; visual, format and print spec are Pixel's — the voice and look line holds (`agent-pixel`, `agent-reach`). ## Setup Run on demand by Pixel from a `playbook-store-launch` step, an operator brief, or a `standard-storefront` finding. Not scheduled. Surface: Figma and Cowork; no repo. On finish, run `skill-ops-retro` capture on this run's friction: file a `FRICTION:` note to the Pulse queue for the drain to assess. Owned by Pixel (P1-XEL).