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.
