I went up into the College to explore possible books that I could look at for research. Luckily I found a perfect book straight away. 'Packaging Prototypes' by Edward Denison and Richard Cawthray. Dension starts by giving an explanation of the history and principles of packaging and classic examples of famous packages. Denison and Cawthray (1999, p. 7) suggest that “consumers ‘see’ a shape, a combination of colours, or recognise a particular font style. Finding a familiar product in a familiar pack can be as similar and satisfying an experience as catching sight of an old friend.” This demonstrates the importance of branding a design because it allows the consumers to familiarise themselves with the product. The authors have prepared a list that explains how different packages are suitable for certain products. Further on, each page gives an example of packages, the book gives an explanation of how each package is made as well as what they can be used for. Each product design has a diagram of an open net which is helpful because it allows the reader to understand how to create the product even for beginners. Whilst looking through the book I found a couple packages that have given me inspiration for something that would be suitable for a trainer shoe box.
Here is an example of the typical page in the book, as you can see the page mainly consists of images with a short amount of text written sideways. Packaging Prototypes is a perfect book for beginners who are seeking more information about product design which is perfect for me because it is not something I have previously learnt about.
‘The Fundamentals of Product Design' is a book written by Richard Morris. Morris includes a variety of different case studies as well as giving a detailed overview of the process of product design from start to finish. He also uses over 200 images and easy to read flow charts so it is quite similar to the book I looked at before because it has more images than text which I think is suitable for the topic of the book. Looking through the book I realised that Morris is demonstrating a variety of unusual and unique designs that you wouldn't necessarily everyday. This is perfect inspiration for me because I would like to create something different that isn't currently on the market. Morris (2009, p.19) includes advice for the audience “Less experienced designers can sometimes consider materials far too late in the design process.” Morris highlights the mistakes that newcomers may make which helps me a lot because reading his book is giving me a head start with my project.
Candace Ellicott and Sarah Roncarelli wrote a visual and helpful book for beginners and students like myself. 'Packaging Essentials: 100 Design Principles For Creating Packages' allows us beginners to see the visual examples demonstrate the principles at work in applied design. As the title insinuates, the book outlines basic package design guidelines and rules through 100 principles in the area of research, planning, and execution. Whilst looking through the book I saw a range of package designs that I recognised, for example, my favourite chocolate, tea, alcohol, etc. It was interesting to see the work that goes into creating them and how each package is unique.
The book contained some extremely helpful information that really made me consider a range of factors that I will have to think about when it comes to preparing my project, for example:
To be relevant, the package design must suggest the product it contains or the audience it is meant for. (Ellicott and Roncarelli 2010, p. 20).
Gary R. Holmes, Audhesh Paswan, (2012) "Consumer reaction to new package design", Journal of Product & Brand Management, Vol. 21 Iss: 2, pp.109 - 116.
Online I found an interesting journal called ‘Journal of Product & Brand Management’ written by Gary R. Holmes and Audhesh Paswan. The journal is slightly different to others because it is completely focused around what the audience think and what they expect from a designed product. Personally I believe this is a great way to attract consumers because it is easily relatable for them. The studies revealed that the consumers mainly appreciate the ‘ease of use’ and ‘ease of handling’ when it comes to investing in a new product. This was quite surprising for me because I expected that the audience interested in a certain design would be attracted to exciting and unique designs. Overall I was really impressed with this journal because it is a perfect way for those who are new to product and brand design to understand how to make their product successful and fit the needs to the consumers.
Finally, I found on online article that outlines the importance of the design of a product. Johnson uses examples of effective and less effective product and package designs that are already on the market which gave me a good idea of what works and what doesn’t. Similarly to the other books and journals I have looked at, this gives a great overview of how important it is to consider your long term goals for the product and how you can make your product relate to that, as well as this, the article really encourages the readers to get to know the target audience; this made me realise how important research is, conducting both primary and secondary research before beginning a project allows you to back up your points with evidence as well as understanding the needs of the audience. “Package designers in the real world have to deal with complications: the consumer needs to know what the product is, how to make it work and why they should buy it.” (Johnson 2011)
Bibliography:
Denison, E and Cawthray, R (1999). “Packaging Prototypes”, RotoVision.
Johnson, J. (2011). Effective Package Design Does More Than Look Good on the Shelf. [Blog] Design Shack. Available at: http://designshack.net/articles/graphics/effective-package-design-does-more-than-look-good-on-the-shelf/ [Accessed 04/02/2016]
Morris, R. (2009). The Fundamentals Of Product Design. [eBook] Available at: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=gEPh_bVLthEC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false [Accessed 09/02/2016]
Gary R. Holmes, Audhesh Paswan, (2012) "Consumer reaction to new package design", Journal of Product & Brand Management, Vol. 21 Iss: 2, pp.109 - 116.
Ellicott, C and Roncarelli, S (2010). “Packaging Essentials: 100 Design Principles For Creating Packages”, Rockport Publishers, p.20.
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