With the rapid development of our country's economy and the challenges to international competition after joining the WTO, new requirements have been put forward for the overall quality and overall design capability of packaging designers, and the requirements for knowledge structure have become more and more characteristic of the times. Faced with this situation, it is necessary for us to reflect and sort out the knowledge structure and overall quality that should be possessed by modern packaging designers in order to better enrich ourselves and meet the needs of the development of the times.
1, with the characteristics of the era of aesthetic standards
In modern society, people are satisfied not only with the needs of use in the consumption process, but also hope that they can get the satisfaction and enjoyment of beauty. Therefore, as a practical art, packaging design should conform to popular aesthetic rules and aesthetic interests. And the public aesthetic culture has universality, time and nationality. For designers, it is required to master aesthetic principles, aesthetic laws, and aesthetic modeling capabilities so that communication can be formed through packaging design and consumers.
With the increasing richness of the material wealth of the society and the improvement of people’s cultural quality, the concept of consumer psychology and demand has undergone great changes. In the process of consumption, people pay more attention to the added value of aesthetic value, emotional value, etc. embodied in the image of goods and packaging. This psychological demand will continue to change with the progress of the times, so the aesthetic level of modern consumers is more variably and the characteristics of the times. The rapid changes in fashion culture and popular culture are examples of this kind of representation.
As Japan's Matsushita Matsushita said: "In today's society, the era of purely satisfying functional requirements with product performance has long since passed. It must be applied in addition to aesthetics. This is a cultural standard of the United States and a major consumer of the times." Commodity packaging design can not be separated from symmetry and balance, contrast and reconciliation, proportion and scale, rhythm and rhythm, simulation and generalization, change and unification, etc. from the perspective of visual psychology. Appearance, distinctiveness, quality, luxury, sense of well-being, novelty, femininity, appetite and other visual features of various psychological features. All this shows that if package designers do not possess the aesthetic standards and aesthetic performance of the era, it is difficult to reflect the aesthetic value of the aesthetic function of the packaging era.
2. Grasping relevant knowledge in the marginal disciplines
Throughout the history of packaging development, all is closely linked with the progress of science and technology. From new materials to new processes, from production methods to recycling, the basic theory of modern packaging has involved many disciplines and formed an organic knowledge structure. Personnel engaged in package design can only adapt to the development and needs of modern packaging design if they possess the expertise of horizontal disciplines and the breadth of horizontal knowledge.
Modern packaging can generally be divided into three universities: packaging social science, packaging science and packaging application technology. Each university subject includes several branches of disciplines, packaging social science branches include packaging management, packaging economics, packaging marketing, packaging psychology, packaging marketing, packaging environment, etc. Science, packaging mechanics, packaging technology, food packaging, military packaging and dangerous goods packaging, etc.; packaging applications technology science sub-disciplines are transport packaging packaging design, sales packaging design, packaging product testing, packaging product evaluation, packaging Automation, packaging materials recycling technology and packaging CAD/CMD. In each sub-discipline, it also contains a very rich professional content, such as sales packaging design disciplines include container design, packaging structure design, packaging graphic design, trademark design, pattern design, brand font design, color design and computer-aided design .
As a discipline of packaging in an interdisciplinary group, the research scope has involved global, complex and interactive relationships. Therefore, people engaged in packaging must learn to use the special characteristics of comprehensive disciplines to solve related problems. Facing the internationalization of packaging disciplines, we must first understand the contents of the laws, regulations, and regulations of the countries, regions, and organizations involved in packaging. Next, both transport packaging and sales packaging must respect issues that cannot be ignored, such as ethnic customs, lifestyles, and religious beliefs that are sold to local people.
The discipline of packaging is a cross-disciplinary and basically has all the characteristics of a comprehensive discipline. In particular, due to the advent of knowledge-based economic era, the high-tech content in the packaging discipline is increasing. Packaging designers should learn as much as possible about the basic knowledge of packaging disciplines, recognize that interdisciplinary research is an important feature and trend of the development of contemporary science, and in practice, cooperate with relevant disciplines to conduct comprehensive research and development to promote packaging design. development of.
3, master computer-aided design knowledge
For packaging designers, with the passage of time and the development of science and technology, some of the knowledge and skills mastered in the past can no longer meet the needs of the development of the new era. The development of related packaging design computer software has freed people from the laborious manual labor in the past and greatly improved the efficiency, accuracy, standardization and design expressiveness of the design. The beginning of the packaging design CAD/CAM system organically combines the design and production links to make the entire packaging operation process more fluid. With the advent of the Internet age, the network economy has also had a profound impact on packaging design. It has eliminated geographical boundaries and changed the way people work, live, and consume. If we cannot quickly and timely absorb advanced technological knowledge and design methods, we will not be able to adapt to the development of the international packaging industry.
4. Become a regular customer of supermarkets
With the internationalization of circulation, modern large-scale supermarkets have tens of thousands of products from all over the world, making supermarkets the ideal classroom for designers to learn packaging design and collect a variety of packaging information.
Combining products of the same category in supermarkets is a good design comparison lesson. What kind of packaging design has a good shelf effect and a strong visual appeal at a glance. It will benefit you by analyzing and comparing them.
From packaging of developed countries and internationally renowned brands, we can intuitively understand the latest packaging trends, the use of new materials, new processing techniques, packaging design methods, novel packaging design, and new packaging strategies.
Not only design, we can also understand consumer psychology characteristics and consumer preferences by observing the process of consumers, grasp the latest consumer dynamics, and collect objective evidence for actual design design positioning. The level of packaging design in supermarkets is naturally uneven, but in the long run, continuous comparison and analysis will cultivate our keen judgment and ability to grasp the aesthetic. In addition, the supermarket is also the best place to understand the competitors of the entrusted customers. The so-called "knowing and knowing the other" is the only way to avoid weaknesses in visual design and gain competitive advantage.
5, emphasis on "humanized" design
Modern packaging design shoulders the task of improving people's life quality and guiding people's lifestyle. The fundamental purpose of "consumer-centered" is to put packaging design's attention on people to the forefront. In addition, in the fierce market competition, being able to win consumers with the image of "humanization" has become one of the main contents of corporate image shaping. Nokia and Philips have achieved good results by using "people-oriented" and "let's do better" as corporate philosophy and slogans. The following aspects should be considered in the packaging design to consider the manifestation of "humanization":
First, in the packaging design, the modeling structure design is a major factor. The good packaging design often combines the principles of ergonomics to make consumers feel comfortable when they are holding, holding, opening, using, etc. with the packaging. Currently, many The design of packaging is blindly pursuing the "new, extraordinary, and special" shape, while ignoring the stability, protection, ease of use, and even the ease of mold making. Packaging design can only be performed from the perspective of ergonomics. It can be novel and humanized in order to eventually win consumers' approval.
Second, "humanization" is embodied in the design of packaging plane elements. As we discussed before, different expressions of different design elements will produce different emotional characteristics and associations in the consumer's vision, and the use of these expressions can be used to improve the value of the products brought about by the design. Excessive decoration, unrealistic misuse of color and promotional text, and unfavorable reading editors will speed up the blood circulation of consumers, cause psychological tension, and have a negative emotion. In addition, the excessive use of new materials and new processes, or hot stamping, silver, etc., on the packaging to blindly pursue novelty and high-end feelings will often backfire and cause consumer resentment. Or some simple folk packaging using natural materials, the material and content of the perfect combination of materials reflected in the natural, simple, humane quality, but also bring people a more intimacy, which is worth the designer's attention and reference.
Finally, the display of packaging should also be humane. To enable consumers to easily watch, facilitate selection, and access during the purchase process, it is necessary to consider the principles of ergonomics while designing the display and display of packaging. In short, the purpose of establishing a people-centered approach throughout the design process is to meet the psychological needs of consumers and to meet the development direction of the times.
6, have a good understanding
It seems that good designers have a common feature, that is, have a good understanding. Sometimes, in the design process, the designers will come up with dozens of programs, but it is impossible to find the best entry point; and sometimes, when you see the master's outstanding design work, they marvel at the fantastic ideas, and suddenly Epiphany.
To have a good understanding is actually not mysterious, there are two, one is to accumulate experience, the other is to rely on creative thinking. Modern science shows that the human brain's storage capacity can accommodate the contents of the 100,000 entries of the Encyclopedia, and at the same time, it masters six foreign languages. Unfortunately, more than 90% of the functions of the human brain are not used. However, even this 10% capacity can store considerable information and experience. It becomes the basis for people to judge things and the basis for creative thinking. For example, the inventor of the razor was the invention of American Gold Geely. The first razor blade and blade were integrated and did not cost anyway. One day, Geely dreamed that the blade and knife holder were separated. When he woke up, he immediately invented the present people based on the scenes in his dreams. The use of a safety razor with a blade and a tool holder separates the blade from sudden increase. In fact, Jin Geely's savvy comes from the accumulation of life experience and the lateral connection of creative thinking.
Being good at exerting one's imagination, be good at understanding new things, and dare to break the convention and carry out "deviations" thinking, can all generate people's comprehension. There is no essential difference in the potential of people's perception, but not everyone has a flexible way of thinking. As packaging designers, only by looking at, doing more, accumulating, and knowing more about other disciplines to enhance their overall quality can they have a stimulating environment and continue to train their own creative thinking and cultivate multiple perspectives. Things and the search habits of new things, the perception will naturally be reflected.
Source: Tengda color printing