On Serialized Design of Commodity Packaging

Serialized design of product packaging is a new trend in packaging design that has appeared abroad since the 1970s. It first began in the United States and Europe. In the 1980s, China's design community also started exploration and research in this area, which has aroused the attention of the business community. As a result, it gradually became popular in China. Practice has proved that serialized design of commodity packaging has far-reaching strategic significance for strengthening corporate image integration, unifying corporate philosophy, expanding product promotion, enhancing market competitiveness, and creating good benefits for enterprises.
The Necessity and Feasibility of Serialized Design of Commodity Packaging With the development of society, advances in science and technology, the increasing abundance of commodities and the diversification of varieties, especially the fierce competition in the market economy, the important role of packaging in commodity marketing is becoming increasingly apparent. Most companies have placed packaging in an equally important position with the product, and it has become common practice to research and continuously develop new packaging. Therefore, in recent years, the packaging industry in China has developed rapidly, and the packaging lineup has also taken on a new look. In particular, the packaging of various household goods and alcoholic products has caused consumers to dizzying and confused. However, due to the wide variety of packaging and monolithic packaging forms a considerable proportion in the entire packaging field, it is inevitable that in the design style, there will be miscellaneous, chaotic, loose and other bad tendencies of “respectively govern” and “combat alone”. For a company, its own wide variety of products compete for each other, but the overall image of the competitive spirit is not enough. Therefore, it is imperative to strengthen the serialized design awareness of commodity packaging and actively establish the overall product image.
The serialized design of product packaging means that a company or a trademark or brand of a different kind of product is designed in a uniform style with a common packaging feature. Such as unified picture design, unified color design, unified text design, unified graphic design and so on. A wide variety of products have a common identity in terms of packaging characteristics. That is to say, packaging an enterprise's products on the basis of their individual characteristics, emphasizing the commonality of the uniform styles, and enabling the consumers to see at a glance the products of a certain brand of the company and thus establish The overall image of the product deepens the consumer's impression of the product and the company. Serialized design of goods packaging has two obvious advantages: First, the series of uniform packaging, through the crowded group image display, not only can highlight the prominent family of products, but also to establish the overall image of the enterprise With an important role, a powerful visual system will inevitably generate great attraction and inducement for consumers. Second, if a consumer recognizes and is satisfied with one of the products in the series, he or she will have a good feeling and trust in other products in the series. If it is a brand-name product series, it will be able to further expand influence and promote with the help of brand-name charm. Sales. Therefore, serialized packaging helps the cohesiveness of all products of a company, and can play a role in mutual promotion of products and products and mutual sales, which is conducive to shaping product image and is more conducive to the consolidation and development of brand-name products.
The feasibility of serialization of commodity packaging lies in its conformity with the principles of aesthetics and to meet the aesthetic and psychological needs of consumers. In aesthetics theory, change and unification are the general laws of formal beauty. Formal beauty first emphasizes the unity of diversity and integrity. Both Chinese art and world art have the tradition and achievements of overall beauty. In every aspect of our lives, everywhere we infiltrate and reflect people’s pursuit of overall beauty. From furniture design to apparel design, from interior decoration to environmental art, we all pay attention to the overall beauty of the same artistic style. The serial design of product packaging is complete. It conforms to the basic principles of aesthetics that the Chinese nation and the peoples of the world all follow.
In short, serialized design of commodity packaging is a product of the combination of modern economic forms and people's aesthetic psychology and consumer demand. It is one of the important means to improve the competitiveness of commodities, and it is also important for the development of packaging that meets the actual needs of enterprises and the long-term economic benefits. trend.
Serialization of series of serialized packaging In general, serialized packaging can be broadly divided into three series of ranges, namely, large, medium, and small series.
(1) Large series: All products of one enterprise or two or more types of products that use a trademark and have a unified style design are called a large series. However, the complete large series not only emphasizes the unified product packaging style within the company, but also all the facilities and supplies of the company, including the decoration of the building, the interior decoration, the environment layout, the transportation of the vehicles, the wearing of the staff's clothing, and the various types of identification of the company. All of them are unified style designs. In fact, they are based on the company's image system, namely Cloc Corporate Identity, VI (Visual Idtentity) in the design strategy, and the design requirements of the company's visual identity system. The large series will have a strong influence and promotion role on establishing product image and corporate image. It is also an important part of corporate image strategy.
(2) Medium series: The same type of products that use the same trademark, whose properties and functions are the same or close to each other, can be included in a series of series, called the middle series. As canned pork canned meat, canned beef, canned mutton, etc., or the same flavor and different degrees, different names of wine can form a series of range.
(3) Small series: A single product that uses the same trademark and is of the same type may be included in a small series. For example, lunch pork, braised pork, steamed pork, etc., which can be single pork cans, or wines of the same fragrance type, the same degree and name, but different capacity specifications can form a small series range respectively.
A company's packaging strategy must be based on the actual situation of the company's own to establish, the scope of the packaging series should also be based on the structure of the product to choose. The author believes that: a relatively single product structure of the enterprise, its packaging planning can be a large series of forms is appropriate, because the big series is not only conducive to the unification of the packaging image, but also conducive to the planning of corporate image system. For companies with complex product structures and a wide variety of products, such as wine groups with more than a hundred kinds of products, if packaging planning is carried out in full accordance with the model of a large series, there will be uncertainties in the handling of the relationship between packaging commonality and individuality. If emphasis is placed on commonality, the similarity of design styles will inevitably appear in a wide range of product packaging. If individuality is pursued, it is likely to weaken the impossibility of the prominent family of products. Therefore, the packaging planning for such enterprises can be summarized into several series ranges according to the product type, so that the common characteristics and individual characteristics of the packaging are reflected in each series, but each series must also be highlighted within a small range. The commonality and individuality, while the commonality within a small scope, is the personality of the individual series in the overall packaging group. Its ultimate goal is to make the product structure complex and the variety of companies through the planning and series design of packaging. This resulted in a new lineup of modern packaging with a variety of styles that did not appear to be cluttered and that had a consistent but more innovative style.
Serialized packaging performance and design requirements The most prominent feature of serialized packaging is the diversity of beauty and the overall beauty of the unity. The unified trend of the overall style is all reflected in the unity of packaging design elements, and its manifestations are various.
(1) Uniform Trademarks: Trademarks are marks used for merchandise or business operations. They are representations of the abstract spirit of those engaged in commercial activities through figurative modeling, and they are the foundation and core of the creation of product images and corporate images, as well as specific marks for merchandise. And reputation carrier. Its image features are concise and general, which facilitates recognition and memory. In the serialized design of packaging, the unification of trademarks plays an important role in deepening consumer perception of products and companies.
(2) Uniform brand name: The brand name of the product is just like the person's family name. The product brand name that can stimulate the goodwill and longing for consumers has a great influence on the promotion of product sales and the expansion of the company's influence. Therefore, the unified brand name is the serial design of the product packaging. Basic and most commonly used methods.
(3) Unified picture design: In the design of several similar product packages, the main elements (graphics, text, trademarks, etc.) that constitute the picture image are unified in composition, that is, the same drawing techniques (including the same and different Graphics), emphasizing the consistency of text arrangement, font changes, and placement of trademarks. On the basis of the unified picture design, the change of color tone is used to distinguish the serialized effects of several similar products forming a package.
(4) Unified hue: The most sensitive factor that causes people's vision is the color, the first impression of the customer on the merchandise, and also often comes from the direct response of the color of the product packaging. In people's shopping psychology, color psychology often plays an important role. Therefore, depending on the type and characteristics of the product, using a certain color tone as the main tone of a series of ranges, the consumer can directly identify the category and brand of the product from the packaging color, which is also a design form of serialized packaging. .
(5) Unified text: Most of the contents of the merchandise need to be expressed in words. The correct use of the text can directly, quickly, and accurately convey product information and guide the sale of the merchandise. At the same time, the text itself constitutes an integral and perfect component of the packaging picture. In part, it plays an essential role in packaging design. Therefore, the unified text arrangement and character features are a major part of the serialized design of packaging. It is an art form formed only by the ingenious arrangement of the characters themselves and the reasonable distortion of the fonts. The use of color changes in a variety of similar products can also produce unique serialization effects.
(6) Unified graphics: The graphics mentioned in the packaging design include patterns, paintings, and photography. Graphics are one of the elements that make up the beauty of the appearance of a product package. Successful graphic design can not only add artistic charm to the package, but also visualized figures can help consumers quickly find the goods they need. It always has a unique personality. Or an abstract expression that reflects commodity information, evokes emotions, and induces the sale of goods. Therefore, unified graphic design is an effective form of product packaging design.
(7) Unified packaging modeling: The unified packaging modeling features emphasize the consistency of packaging structure modeling, including the elements of compositional form—the unity of expression of points, lines, faces, and bodies, the unification of decorative features, and the bottle shape modeling. The uniform characteristics of the bottle cap. The differentiation of many kinds of similar products can be achieved through changes in decorating pictures, text, and colors.
(8) Uniform packaging materials: In the case of a single product of the same type, in the case of close quality and price, packaging materials with the same quality and the same aesthetic appearance are used to realize the serialization effect of packaging through changes in modeling, text, and patterns.
To sum up, through the unification of any kind of packaging design elements, the serialization effect of packaging can be reflected to varying degrees. The rich design material provides a broad thinking space for the conception and design of serialized packaging.
However, the series design of commodity packaging is not so simple and easy. An identical brand name and a uniform figure do not necessarily mean a successful series of packaging. It is forbidden to introduce uniform style design to the same stereotypes. It must be clear that the serialized design of commodity packaging is an inevitable result of the development of the market economy, an important part of the overall strategy that combines the aesthetic concept with modern enterprise marketing, and also the specific operation of displaying product image and corporate image personality. Its purpose must be The company creates a unique packaging image. The success of an enterprise's overall packaging image has a major bearing on the sales of products and the development of enterprises. Professor Liu Yixiu of the China Academy of Art said precisely: “Part of the designer should be an artist, and the other part of the designer is a hundred smart businessmen.” It implies both the responsibility and value of the designer and the design. The essence behind it is economic efficiency. It can be seen that the establishment of an enterprise's packaging image must not be blindly pursued. It must be serious and insightful to conduct a comprehensive investigation and analysis of enterprises, products, and markets. Only on the basis of understanding the enterprise, familiar with the product, and grasping the market, According to the different types of products, features, functions, grades, consumer objects, etc., can we reasonably combine products, divide the scope of the series, unify the trend of the style, and formulate practical design plans in a targeted manner. (Packaging World)