What is branding?

A brand is the idea or image of a product, the brand look for ways to connect emotionally with customers and become something that they trust and believe in. The brand identity is its name, colour and slogan with these elements the customers can identify the brand. Branding is when the owner of the brand extends customer loyalty. To make the brand popular and recognized by many people one has to advertise it. A brand is important to keep their promise according to value of the product. This will differentiate the brand product from the competitors. The brand need to be consistent, they are always what they say they are. The brand needs to be there for its customers to show that it’s a strong brand and one to trust.

more on:

http://www.slideshare.net/gadekar1986/branding-packaging-and-labeling




References:

- Gadekar, S., Dept, Studies, M., Follow, P., Kurdekar, S., Mathur, S., panda, rajesh, Gaonkar, S., Sachdeva, I. and Vickers, P. (2012) Niraj Thakur. Available at: http://www.slideshare.net/gadekar1986/branding-packaging-and-labeling (Accessed: 3 February 2016).

- Wheeler, A. (2012) Designing brand identity: An essential guide for the whole branding team. 4th edn. United States: John Wiley & Sons Canada.

Materials of packaging

When visiting supermarket consumers see a lot of different packaging that is made of different type of materials like carton, plastics, glass and thin. It all depends on the type of product to choose the material because it can be ‘potentially harmful such as solvents or packaging products such as medicines which can be sensitive to environmental factors like ultra-violet light’ stated Giles Calver (p.70, 2007). A material that is commonly used I carton. It is used for frozen foods, cosmetics, electrical goods, medicines, confectionery and household goods. The size of the carton have to be determined by the secondary packaging  such as the bottles of personal care products sometimes the product will be a lot smaller than the packaging its self. ‘A carton’s shape may similarly be influenced by the product it holds or by a desire to make it eye catching on shelf. Look at an average display of Easter eggs and you see that products display plays a large part in the shape and structure of the packaging, to the extent that the product often seems disproportionately small compared to its packaging’ (Giles Calver, p.72, 2007). 

There is variety of boards that cartons are made from. For example solid, bleached board is typically used for products like cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and frozen foods. Folding boxboard is often used for food packaging according to Giles Calver (p.72, 2007). Sometimes boards can be coated or laminated with aluminium foil it depends on the type of product to improve its look and feel. Another material that is commonly used for drinking bottles and perfumes is glass. In the last century glass was the main material for bottles, but nowadays designers are tented to use plastics instead for example the soft drinks like Coca-Cola. In some cases designers have no choice of choosing glass or plastic for example ‘pharmaceutical bottles need to be cleaned and sterilized using steam or dry heat, and plastics would distort if subjected to this treatment. Some products like beer need to be pasteurized, so also require glass, vegetables. Some products like peanut butter need to be filled hot, because in their cold state they are too solid sated Giles Calver (p.76, 2007). Sometimes the material conveys a different message for example fine spirits look more of good quality in glass rather than in plastic. Tubes are mainly used for personal care products or cosmetics. The materials used nowadays are aluminium or plastic but in the past designers used to use metal. Tubes have special printing for graphics because of the material and their size. Giles Calver says that metal tubes use a process called ‘Dry offset Letter press’  where the design is transferred colour-by-colour onto a central blanket cylinder and then rolled onto the can in one pass. 

As a result, this process does not replicate half-tones well. Plastic tubes are printed in two ways: laminate tubes are printed flat, using a litho process and then formed after printing. This process allows four-colour process like silk-screening of flat, opaque colours, can be added. Aluminium also used for cans and needs to be printed flat before forming, to form the correct image on the finished can. This type of material and packaging is used mostly for beers and soft drinks cans. Cans can be in different shapes not only a cylinder shape. For example Sainsbury designed a new can that has a squared shape for their tomato soup. Also Nescafe has launched cans but not different shape but in another innovative way, of self-heating can. Clamshells packaging is that packaging that is made of paperboard at the back and plastic. With this type of packaging, the designers don’t have to put a photo of the product because the consumers can see the product as the packaging is transparent. This type of packaging put the designers in a challenge as it has a small area for graphics. The graphics has to simple and forward.

Reference:

Calver, G. (2007) What is packaging design? (essential design handbooks). Edited by Leonie Taylor. Mies, Switzerland: RotoVision SA.

Typography

In the 21^st century, instead of putting pictographs on the packaging, designers use typography and colour to identify products from each other. It is the thing that communicates to the consumer. Typography is the essential element of the package because it presents the product name, descriptors, uses, benefits, variants, ingredients, components, instructions, safety warnings, customer care information and ownership details. 

Today the consumers have a whole selection from which we can choose to make the packaging more interesting and appealing – for example, manufacturers have devices for debossing or embossing, or using special effects like foiling or varnishing, or by positioning the branding in interesting ways relative to the physical packaging. ‘These effects and devices can communicate overtly – consumer understanding being based on preconceived ideas of luxuriousness or frivolity – or they can act subliminally, as part of a brand’s desire to engage the consumer’s senses and emotions’ (Giles Calver, 2007,p.120). 

It is important that the typography is legible, recognized and understood. The selection of the font is very important and it depends on the product: for example,  if the product is handmade the best font to be chosen is one with a handmade style. The size, shape and style are all characteristics of typography that effect communication. The layout and the hierarchy are very important for the packaging. The challenge for the designer is to display this information in a manner that is distinctive, so that it supports the brand proposals and helpful, so that it enables the consumer to select the product he or she wants. The skill lies in understanding how to manipulate information layout in order to draw and hold the consumer’s eye. 

'The designer’s gift also lies in understanding which information is most important to consumers at the purchase point, the moment of decision in the store, and the usage point, when information is being read in a different mode – at home, work, or leisure.' as stated by Giles Calver (2007, p. 126). 

Reference:

Calver, G. (2007) What is packaging design? (essential design handbooks). Edited by Leonie Taylor. Mies, Switzerland: RotoVision SA

Colours in a Brand

In branding the colour is most important because colour can drag down the brand. When designing something for a brand like logo, packaging or a mark its best that the designer won’t design with a particular colour in mind. The designer has to ensure that the mark will work in several different colours. The best way to test the colours is to first start with the natural dimensions of colour: hue (red vs. blue), saturation (bright blue vs. blue gray), and brightness (light blue vs. dark blue). The designer has to understand the context of colour-how a light shape on a dark field looks smaller than a dark shape on a light field.

When customers see the product the first thing that they see is the colour. Colour communicates at the speed of light. The brain responds to colour the same way it responds to pleasure or pain. It’s immediate, primal. Before choosing the colour the designer has to know the cultural connotations of the colour, for example red can mean love but also can mean danger.

There are a lot of theories about colours for example schools and hospitals use favor teal paint for interior walls to make people feel calm, while restaurants are more likely to choose red interiors to make people feel hungry. But these theories can change over time. Colour can be chosen by season like fashion markets and be a trend for example if a fashion brand use a light blue an interior brand can use the same colour.

Colours make an important difference in cultures as well for examples in Western cultures, people wear black to funerals, while in Eastern cultures mourners wear white. The cultural connotations of colour are often learned and permeate a market.

References:

Kevin Budelmann, 2013. Essential Elements for Brand Identity: 100 Principles for Designing Logos and Building Brands (Design Essentials). Edition. Rockport Publishers.

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