In the 21st
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
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