Product design system

A product design system comprising:

• a user input device;
• a display device;
• a product database comprising product template files, packaging template files and graphics files, each product template file comprising a representation of a product and a dimension of the product, each packaging template file comprising a representation of packaging and a dimension of the packaging, and each graphics file containing a graphical image;
• a product selection module for selecting a product template file and a packaging template file from the product database based on user input from the user input device;
• a product design module for:
• displaying the representation of the product in the selected product template file and the representation of the packaging in the selected packaging template file;
• selecting an area of the representation of the product or an area of the representation of the packaging based on user input from the user input device;
• selecting a graphics file from the product database based on user input from the user input device;
• applying the graphical image in the selected graphics file to the selected area;
• and
• combining the representation of the product and the representation of the packaging to display a representation of the product in the packaging having the selected graphical image applied to the selected area, based on user input from the user input device.

A method for designing a product using a system including a user input device, a display device and a product database, the method comprising:

• storing a representation of a product and a dimension of the product in a product template file in the product database;
• storing a representation of a merchandise display unit and a dimension of the merchandise display unit;
• selecting the product template file from the product database based on user input from the user input device;
• and
• displaying the representation of the product in the selected product template file together with the representation of the merchandise display unit, wherein the product and the merchandise display unit are displayed at a relative size determined by the stored dimension of the product and the stored dimension of the merchandise display unit.

A method for designing a product using a system including a user input device, a display device and a product database, the method comprising:

• storing product template files, packaging template files and graphics files in the product database, each product template file comprising a representation of a product and a dimension of the product, each packaging template file comprising a representation of packaging and a dimension of the packaging, and each graphics file comprising a graphical image;
• selecting a product template file and a packaging template file from the product database based on user input from the user input device;
• displaying the representation of the product in the selected product template file and the representation of the packaging in the selected packaging template file;
• selecting an area of the representation of the product or an area of the representation of the packaging based on user input from the user input device;
• selecting a graphics file from the product database based on user input from the user input device;
• applying the graphical image in the selected graphics file to the selected area;
• and
• combining the representation of the product and the representation of the packaging to display a representation of the product in the packaging having the selected graphical image applied to the selected area, based on user input from the user input device.

A method for designing a product using a system including a user input device, a display device and a product database, the method comprising:

• storing product template files and packaging template files in the product database, each product template file comprising a representation of a product and a dimension of the product and each packaging template file comprising a representation of packaging and a dimension of the packaging;
• storing color data defining a plurality of colors;
• selecting a product template file and a packaging template file from the product database based on user input from the user input device;
• displaying the representation of the product in the selected product template file and the representation of the packaging in the selected packaging template file;
• selecting an area of the representation of the product or an area of the representation of the packaging based on user input from the user input device;
• selecting one of the plurality of colors based on user input from the user input device;
• applying the selected color to the selected area;
• and
• combining the representation of the product and the representation of the packaging to display a representation of the product in the packaging having the selected color applied to the selected area, based on user input from the user input device.