The basic function of packaging is to preserve it's content intact during transportation and distribution, also from climatic effect such as humidity, dryness cold, heat, protect it from hazardous substances and contamination. It should preserve it's content in "factory fresh" condition during the period of storage.
Although the main purpose of it is to protect it's content, if a package is badly designed it is more likely for it to stay on the shelf.
Another function of packaging is identification. On it should be information regarding the manufacturer, the content of the product, it's origin and other essential information for the customer.
A package must communicate what it sells. When international trade is involved and different languages are spoken, the use of easily understood symbols on the package is essential. It is the interest further that to get appropriate communication to the consumer about the product, how to use it and other utility informations.
In recent years more and more designers and organizations emphasize on the role of green packaging and recycling. Many supermarkets changed their policy - stopped using polyethylene carrier bags on checkout given to customers and started using degradable ones. Biodegradable/degradable plastics can be made from many different sources and materials such as starch based polymers - thermoplastic starch based polymers made with at least 90% starch from renewable resources such as corn, potato, tapioca or wheat. Companies that highlight their environmental status to consumers, can boost sales as well as product reputation. Going green is often a sound investment that can pay off.
In general, the broad goals of sustainable packaging are:
* Functional – product protection, safety, regulatory compliance, etc.
* Cost effective – if it is too expensive, it is unlikely to be used
* Support long-term human and ecological health
Many manufacturers are now introducing the 'Traffic light' food label system into their food packaging.It is a simple 'at a glance' way of assessing the nutritional qualities of food.
red means high
amber means medium
green means low
Basically the traffic light system will provide you with an easier way of choosing healthy foods.Traffic light colours are likely to be used on the following foods: ready meals, pizzas, sandwiches, breakfast cereals, sausages, burgers, pies and food products in breadcrumbs such as chicken nuggets and fish fingers. This is because the nutritional content of these foods that are most difficult to understand and most likely to have big variations in the amount of fat, sugar and salt between the different brands.
One should admit, that opening a package of something new is a very exciting experience. One company, that put a lot of effort on making that experience powerful is Apple. The shape, details and texture of each package is just perfect and a unique work of art in its own right. Anyone who's purchased anything from Apple in the last decade knows how beautiful an experience unboxing their products is. In fact, there's a small team at Apple who take the subject very, very seriously. To imagine what does it mean picture this:
"For months, a packaging designer was holed up in this room performing the most mundane of tasks - opening boxes."
Alongside with creating beautiful, minimalistic and functional packaging, it is green as well. However, while most people think of Apple’s packaging as perhaps the best in the world, there has been a lot of criticism levelled at them for wasting materials and resources. Of course, Apple have responded in recent years, and they have reduced the size of their packaging, without compromising quality. For example, the new MacBook packaging is 53 percent smaller than that of the original MacBook. Every effort has now gone in to producing both ‘green’ products and packaging that meet with modern environmental standards. Nowadays Apple is an example of a green company. On their website they have posted info about their carbon footprint in a very clean and readable way.
Another good example of green and beautifully executed packaging is the new concept for shoe boxes of Puma. After spending 21 months studying box fabrication and shipping, Fuseproject realized that any improvement to that already lean system would merely be incremental. So instead, the "clever little bag" combines the two packaging components of any shoe sale—the bag and the box—with high-tech ingenuity.
The bag tightly wraps an interior cardboard scaffolding—giving it shape and reducing cardboard use by 65%. Moreover, without that shiny box exterior, there's no laminated cardboard (which interferes with recycling). There's no tissue paper inside. And there's no throw-away plastic bag. The bag itself is made of recycled PET, and it's non-woven—woven fibers increase density and materials use—and stitched with heat, so that it's less manufacturing intensive. Puma estimates that the bag will slash water, energy, and fuel consumption during manufacturing alone by 60%—in one year, that comes to a savings of 8,500 tons of paper, 20 million mega joules of electricity, 264,000 gallons of fuel, and 264 gallons of water. Ditching the plastic bags will save 275 tones of plastic, and the lighter shipping weight will save another 132,000 gallons of diesel.
Chiquita's latest ad campaign imbues its audience with an instant sense of wonder. Using playful illustrations on stickers juxtaposed to the iconic Chiquita stickers, the product and brand become more engaging to the consumer -plus they just look cool. Created by designer Dj Neff it creates a friendly and fresh look, and instead of the forever-known Chiquita lady, there are some interesting and new stickers, that may not be a part of the packaging, but create a cheerful and non boring approach to the product.
"We created a range of ideas that we felt kept true to the Chiquita brand equities and allowed consumers to interact with the brand in new cool and exciting ways."
Reference:
http://www.wikipedia.org/
http://www.indianmba.com/
http://www.packagingknowledge.com
http://www.eatatease.com/traffic-light-labels.html
http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/79642
http://www.designrelated.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment