PMD - Task 1: Case Study & Box Design

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PMD - Task 1: Case Study & Box Design

Instruction

Lectures

What is Packaging?

Packaging is a critical part of our daily life:

Packaging is a container or material that protects and holds a product, ensuring it is safe and transportable, and preventing it from damage and contamination.

Packaging Timeline

• 1500 B.C EGYPT: First glass jars were used for storage. The ancient Greeks and Romans used clay pots and jars to store and transport liquids such as wine and olive oil.

• 1000 B.C CHINA: Treated pieces of mulberry bark are used in China to wrap food.

• 1810 ENGLAND: PETER DURAND invents tinned food canning system.

• 1817 ENGLAND: The first commercial cardboard box is introduced.

• 1844 ENGLAND: First commercial paper bag used in commerce.

• 1865 ENGLAND: The can opener is invented.

• 1866 USA: Early use of brand logo on packaging – SMITH BROTHERS Cough Drops. Use packaging to “brand” products for the benefit of consumers.

• 1867 USA: First printed metal containers were made for DR. LYONS tooth powder.

• 1916 USA: Coca-Cola introduces its uniquely shaped bottle.

• 1937 OKLAHOMA: The first shopping cart inspired by two folding chairs is born.

• 1970 CALIFORNIA: The recycling symbol identifies packaging made from recyclable fibers.

• 1973 OHIO: The first bar code appears on packaging of Wrigley gum.

• 1974 KENTUCKY: Falls City Brewing Co. invents and introduces the fixed label.

• 1980 TEXAS: Whole Foods opens the first natural foods supermarket.

• 2007 ENGLAND: Al Gore reminds us of global warming and makes us think again.

The Package as Salesperson

• Packaging has evolved and now plays a key role in sales
• Every product uses packaging to protect or enhance the appeal of the product.
• The greater the demand for a product, the greater the impact of packaging on purchasing decisions.

packaging has evolved to become a crucial element in both protecting products and driving sales. It not only fulfills practical needs, such as preserving freshness and preventing damage, but also serves as a powerful marketing tool through its design. By combining creative elements like form, color, and typography, packaging plays a vital role in distinguishing products in a competitive marketplace, acting as a silent salesperson that influences consumer behavior.

Key Functions of Packaging

Information transmission: Provide detailed product information, instructions for use, shipping information and disposal guidelines to ensure consumers understand the correct use and disposal of the product.

Physical protection: Packaging needs to protect products, especially fragile items, from damage during transportation and handling.

Transportation Assistance: Packaging should facilitate the safe transportation of products from manufacturer to consumer while maintaining product integrity.

Communication: Packaging not only helps products visually differentiate from competitors, but also conveys brand emotions and strengthens consumers’ brand memory.

Display: Packaging design plays an important role in making product display more attractive to promote sales, especially in retail environments.

Marketing: As a marketing tool, packaging can promote products, influence consumers' purchasing decisions, and enhance brand value.

Mandatory Information on Packaging

• Brand logo
• Company logo
• Manufacturer details
• Address
• Net content
• Benefits
• Weight
• Ingredients
• Usage/Dosage instructions
• Expiry date
• Barcode
• Halal logo (if applicable)

Packaging design as communication

• Visual problem solving: The core of packaging design is to solve visual problems through creative skills such as conceptualization, rendering and technical design. Designers need to understand the needs of products and brands and translate them into design solutions that appeal to consumers.

• Tool of expression: Packaging design is not only physical protection, but also an emotional and cultural communication medium. Design combines physical structure (such as packaging materials, shapes) and visual elements (such as logos, colors and images) to convey the brand concept and values ​​of the product.

• The role of the designer: The designer plays a key role in the entire packaging design process. From the initial concept to the final product delivery, the designer's supervision is required.

Design Process (Structure)

1. Planning stage:

Mission Statement: This is the foundation of a design project and ensures clarity of design direction by defining the purpose, goals, and motivations of the project.

Identify your market: Understanding your target audience is crucial. Understanding their age, gender, cultural background and economic group can help determine packaging language, visual style and design preferences. This will affect the color selection, material selection and overall design style of the packaging.

2. Issues to consider:

Budget: Cost constraints for designing and producing packaging will directly impact the choice of materials, the complexity of the printing process, and other manufacturing details. Designs must balance creativity and cost-effectiveness.

Design purpose: Is the core purpose of the design clear to drive sales, enhance brand image, or simply protect the product? Different goals lead to different design solutions.

Target audience: This includes considering the age, gender, cultural background and economic group of consumers. For different groups, the design may emphasize different elements.

What information is included: What information required by regulations must be included on the packaging, such as ingredients, instructions for use, warning slogans, etc., which will affect the layout design of the packaging.

Image presentation: This involves how to present the image of a brand or product through design. For example, do you want to project an image of innovation, reliability, or environmental protection? These images need to be consistent with the visual design elements.

Print specifications: Printing technology can limit or push the creativity of a design. For example, digital printing can achieve greater precision and variety, but at a higher cost, while traditional printing may be more economical, but has certain limitations in design.

3. Creativity and innovation:

In every new packaging project, the key question is: How to do this differently? Creative design is not just about solving problems, but also about how to drive sales and resonate with consumers through design. This means designers need to be brave enough to break the mold and explore innovative materials, structures or visual expressions to make packaging competitive in the market.

Exercise 1A

Fig1.1 slide of task 1a

About Beryl’s

Beryl's Chocolate is a well-known Malaysian chocolate manufacturer that produces a wide variety of high-quality chocolates.

Overall Design

Beryl's Chocolate is a well-known Malaysian chocolate manufacturer that produces a wide variety of high-quality chocolates.

Target Audience

Beryl's chocolate products are positioned as high-end or gift options, appealing primarily to middle- and upper-income consumers.

Practicality

• Products packaged in different sizes for easy portability.
• Easy to access.

Functional

• Good sealing, avoid moisture
• A certain firmness to ensure the chocolate will not be crushed or deformed.

Ergonomics

The size and shape of the packaging is designed to be easy to hold, especially for bags or bars of chocolate. Whether it is a small bag or a gift box, the packaging size is usually not too large or too small, ensuring that consumers can hold and operate it comfortably during use.

Material

Beryl’s uses high-quality cardboard boxes for its gift boxes and some of its chocolate products. The carton is sturdy and durable, preventing the chocolate from being deformed under pressure during transportation. It is also easy to recycle, making it a more environmentally friendly choice.

How the packaging carries the brand image

• The packaging is exquisite and uses high-end color matching to give people a sense of luxury.

• High-end materials further strengthen the image of high-end chocolate brands.

Exercise 1B

Instructions: You are required to choose 2 loose items. The size of the items should not be larger than 300mm. You need to design a box for each item. Consider purpose of packaging when designing the box.

Product 1

Fig1.2 products

My lecturer asked us to choose scattered items, so I started looking around my home and chose a bottle of my favorite home fragrance as the first product to be redesigned.

Sketches 01:

Fig1.3 sketches

Got feedback from my lecturer and she pointed out that more text should be added to the side of the packaging, such as: How to use the perfume…

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Final Outcomes:

Fig1.4 Final Outcome

Product 2

Fig2.1 Products 2

Secondly, I chose a hair care balm as product two because I wanted product two and product one to have different packaging.

Sketches 02:

Fig2.2 sketches

Final Outcomes:

Fig2.3 final outcome

Feedbacks

Week 1 General Feedback: Explain exercise and set up blog and email.

Week 2 General Feedback: Can enhance presentation skill. Specific Feedback: Add all products in slide and the reason of why chose to present this product packaging.

Week 3 General Feedback: briefing coffee cup design. Specific Feedback: Add more instructions for use on the packaging.Doctment set up A3, Add name in the upper right corner. Follow typography ruler. Change some lines to dashed lines.

Reflection

Experience: After completing Task 1A1B, I learned the importance of packaging for products. The analysis in Task 1A helped me understand the importance of product packaging for selling and protecting products. In Task 1B, I had the experience of actually drawing packaging for products, which allowed me to know that different products are suitable for different packaging. For example, fragile items such as perfumes should be packaged more firmly.

Observation: I observed that the design of product packaging can effectively let consumers understand how to use the product and its ingredients. In addition, it can effectively brand the image and deepen consumers' memory.

Finding: I gained knowledge about product packaging design, such as dotted lines should be folds, and if the size is wrong, the packaging may not be successfully assembled.

Further Reading

What Is Packaging Design