The original art of packaging design

Packaging is the final procedure for converting a product into a product and selling it. It is a design for the structure and appearance of the product's container and its packaging, so that it has a housing that is consistent with its content when it is shipped and sold. It has a complete package. The moving image is designed to suit people's needs. The mediocre design dimmed the merchandise, and the excellent packaging made the merchandise shine, increased the added value, and stimulated the consumer's desire to purchase. It is a silent advertisement with a clear promotional effect. The ultimate goal is to influence the concept and behavior of consumers, establish a brand image, and win a marketing strategy. Products need packaging, companies need packaging, and even people need packaging, so the word “packaging” has a broader meaning, it makes the product perfect, it is the perfect embodiment, it also began to bring utilitarian colors, so began Become less real.

In the original sense, packaging must first provide products with protective functions in the production field, secondly provide convenient functions for products in the circulation field, and finally provide sales functions for products in the sales field. The ancients used bamboo and clay as containers for storing articles, which was also the original packaging. In the modern business community, the competition is becoming increasingly fierce. Packaging has to play such an important functional role. Therefore, whether manufacturers or merchants attach great importance to the image of packaging, packaging designers also have the opportunity to flex their muscles. The continuous change of materials and the continuous updating of technology have all made great progress in packaging design. In fact, a careful analysis will reveal how much luxury the existing packaging is in terms of materials and circulation. When the product becomes a commodity and becomes an item for consumers, too much waste has already occurred. Any kind of packaging cannot escape the destiny of becoming a waste. Some people claim that there is no packaging, but this will bring many problems to the circulation of goods. Escape is not a solution. As designers and producers of packaging, should we think about why packaging design is in the end?

Let us return to the origin of the protective function. The main function of packaging is to protect the goods, and secondly to beautify the goods and convey information. Therefore, the choice of packaging materials is an important step directly related to the protection of the goods. It is a special garment that wraps food and supplies. After long-distance transportation, it becomes a commodity on the shelf and reduces the rate of breakage of goods in long-distance transportation. The packaging is divided into transportation packaging and sales packaging. A reasonable modeling structure can make the packaging play its own role in transportation and sales. Paper is the most widely used packaging material. The shape of paper is also ever-changing and can be molded into various forms to protect products. The structure of the carton package directly affects the product's stress conditions and the convenience of transportation. Taking the structure of the bottom of the most common square carton, the lock type and the automatic type are the most common ones. The main advantage of the lock type is that the structure is simple and the bottom picture is complete, but the load bearing capacity is inferior to the automatic type. Only light and small products can be loaded, and the automatic box bottom locks the bottom of the box due to the tension generated by overlapping paper sheets. This type of box can withstand strong gravity and is mostly used for large-scale packaging, but the production process is relatively complicated. The toilet box as shown in the previous figure was designed taking into account the fragile nature of the product. The designer uses a trapezoidal structure to ensure stability during transport and storage and to prevent the product from being turned upside down. The design of this package is to handle loading and unloading. The functions of supply, stacking, opening and closing are integrated into one, fully embodying the protective functions brought about by packaging in the transportation and sales. As shown in the figure below, this is a box for packing plants. Corrugated cardboard can accommodate 35 plant pots. The plants do not affect each other and are easy to transport. It is also a very good display rack. The point of returning to the protective function is to select suitable materials and design a reasonable structure so as to give the material the energy to protect the goods, provide convenience for the transportation of goods, and truly achieve the purpose of protecting the goods, instead of following the so-called ethos. To catch up with the trend of materials, new things are not necessarily the best. Designers must make correct, objective, and comprehensive judgments according to the actual situation in order to design a package that can effectively protect the goods.

Let us return to the origin of the convenience function. The reason why the product needs packaging is that it can solve the problems of distribution and display of products in the circulation process, convenience and reasonableness in the use process. The sturdy outer packaging can ensure the safe transportation of the product, and the compact structure of the small package can also bring a functional breakthrough to the product. Japanese designer Dacong Zhuo also brought a lot of surprises to consumers in the redesign of the cigarette box. Considering that most smokers will smoke outdoors and not carry an ashtray with him, he combines the two on the same package. (See the picture on the left below) The seemingly extra bag on the side has an undeniable contribution. Not only can it contain soot, but it can also be locked tightly by folding to reduce air pollution. The nuanced transformation of humanity brings a lot of convenience to consumers. This is a functional breakthrough caused by the structure. Outer packaging provides goods with the convenience of transportation and display, and the shape of the container directly affects the user's convenience. In 1915, the redesigned Coca-Cola streamlined bottle was the classic shape of the container design, smooth curves create a comfortable feel. The American professional industrial design master Simon Rowe thought this was the perfect design and improved it in 1954. Until today, the shape of the curve has continued to evolve, and has been applied to a wider range of fields, such as the children's bath products shown in the lower right of the diagram. The curved shape of Coca-Cola glass bottles is applied to plastic bottles and is more suitable for children's hands. Coupled with the use of plastic elastic features, the use of more convenient. The point of returning to convenience is to design a reasonable packaging structure, create a comfortable container shape, more effectively protect the product, and make more rational use of the product. This also requires us to have a better understanding of the nature of the product itself and its use. Life is the best way.

Let us return to the origin of sales functionality. With suitable materials and sophisticated structures, does it mean that the functionality of the package has been solved and the answer is no. Packaging must also pass on the product's information and functional value to consumers. Different commodities have different characteristics, which are determined by factors such as the image, performance, use, and sales target of the product. When common goods are put together, what the designer wants to do is how to highlight the individual brand's personality. This is what we call market positioning. Personality is based on commonality. Only by deep understanding of corporate culture, strict understanding of product characteristics, and continuous innovation of color layout can we make products stand out in similar products and bring pleasing to people. Different beauty. The image of the prominent mint leaves in the group of packages in the figure below makes it clearer that this is a group of herbal aromatherapy medicines. The concise layout, clear texts make consumers at a glance at the product category, and the packaging has become always standing on the front line. Silent salesman. Increasing living standards have led people to become more and more critical of goods. The market economy has shortened the cycle of commodities, and the competition between manufacturers in similar products has become increasingly day by day. The price war has forced businesses to continuously update their products and constantly change packaging. In order to beat competitors, some products have even been covered by packaging. The real function and value. So the packaging is also marked with cultural features, become personalized, but the empty words can not express the attributes of the product, gorgeous appearance can not cover the rough quality, packaging at some point evolved into the protection of poor quality products. The point of returning to the point of sale is to allow consumers to really understand the goods and related information in the packaging. It is to help the manufacturer fully demonstrate the advantages of the product. This requires our designers to treat each design carefully and not to use luxury. The appearance deceives consumers and does not become an accomplice to unscrupulous merchants.

Back to the origin of packaging, materials are not necessarily the best, but they should be the most secure; the structure is not necessarily the most complex, but it should be the most reasonable; the design is not necessarily the most avant-garde, but it should be Most expressive. A qualified package must first consider the product as its object, analyze its material, shape, storage and transportation methods, and ensure that it truly protects the purpose of the product. If it does not care about the actual situation, it will be different from the one we are looking for. Protection of goods, but also increase the packaging and transportation costs, it is not respect for the goods, do not understand the design. In the end, packaging design as a specific design activity, it must provide products with the protection, convenience and sales capabilities, which is every designer can not be violated.
Author: Zeng Qin Lan