Packaging design from the creative industry perspective

The "visual delight" felt from outsourcing

Packaging design is a key point in the process of creating a brand. It plays an important role in the history of commodity economy development. Today, in the creative industry, we are faced with the challenge of “manufacturing a big country but lacking an independent brand”. How can we develop packaging design by developing “Dongfeng” in the creative industry and become an important issue for packaging designers and educators? .

1 Development of Creative Industries

The creative industry mainly refers to those companies that derive their driving force from personal creativity, skills and talents, and those activities that create potential wealth and employment opportunities through the development of intellectual property rights. It usually includes advertising, architectural arts, handicrafts, fashion design, film and video, interactive interactive software, performing arts, publishing, and so on. In addition, it also includes tourism, museums and galleries, heritage and sports. However, different countries and regions have different focuses because of different conditions. The concept of the creative industry was proposed by the British government and has now become a hot issue for many countries in the world. China's creative industries have also begun to develop in full swing in recent years, especially in large cities such as Beijing, Shenzhen, and Shanghai, which are particularly valued by government departments and have given a lot of capital investment and preferential policies.

China's development of creative industries emphasizes the vigorous implementation of brand strategy and encourages the development of well-known brands with independent intellectual property rights. In order to enhance the brand image and strengthen the added value of the brand, more and more companies have begun to rely on the great role of advertising and product packaging in this regard [1]. Due to the globalization of product homogeneity and brand competition, in addition to sales promotion and helping to establish a brand image, packaging is a more important function of adding and strengthening the added value of a brand. Therefore, China's development of creative industries must not ignore the development of packaging design [1]. Taking Shanghai as an example, the idea and focus of Shanghai's creative industry development is to proceed from the development of the industry, focusing on promoting the construction of creative industrial parks based on R&D and design (including industry, apparel, software and advertising design, etc.), architectural design, and fashion consumption design. Focus on the development of five major creative industries: R&D, architectural design, culture and arts, fashion consumption, and consulting and planning creativity. Packaging design is also included in [2]. In November 2006, an international creative industry event entitled “Creative Design, Creating Life” was held in Shanghai. Among its activities, there were four direct developments related to packaging design. They were: 2006 APD Asian Packaging Design Exhibition; Harmonious Society and Packaging Design Forum; Asia's Top 100 Packaging Designers Shanghai Party, "Oriental Star" Packaging Design Exhibition. From the perspective of this activity arrangement, packaging design, as an important part of commodity production and brand promotion, has received due attention and attention during the great development of creative industries. It is an important content to be promoted by creative industries.

2 Development path of packaging design

In front of today’s creative industry’s highly valued opportunities, what kind of development path should China’s packaging design adopt? First, the purpose of developing packaging design should be clearly defined. Packaging design should aim to improve the quality of life of the general public, facilitate people's life and work, and beautify the visual environment. Second, it must have an independent, open attitude to learn from foreign advanced packaging technologies and methods, based on a firm foothold in its own culture, and again, with With other related disciplines to promote each other, and common development as a means; Finally, packaging design to find the development of the industrial chain of the road, into the creative industry development flow, for the "Made in China" to add wings of development worldwide.

2. 1 Improve the aesthetic standards of the entire nation and beautify the visual environment
From the point of view of creative industries, packaging design should aim at improving the aesthetic standards of the entire nation and beautifying the visual environment. The development of the creative industry is not only a matter of the government and the enterprise, it is inseparable from the recognition and support of the consumer groups. The development of packaging design is not only a matter of producers and designers, it is inseparable from consumer appreciation and choice. Taking the packaging design of mooncakes as an example, the packaging of moon cakes on the market today is exactly the same as that of the red ones, the stacking of traditional patterns, and the monotonous box shape. Some people say that Chinese people like festive things, and traditional patterns also best reflect the cultural meaning of moon cakes, so the appearance of moon cake packaging is certainly the same. This means that the appearance of the design is controlled by people who do not understand the design. Under such circumstances, the packaging design will only enter a vicious circle and there will be no development and progress [3]. Japan's Mesozoic graphic designer Harahara said: "Designing a design should not be based on short-term responses but on the long-term educational ideal: If every designer has a pursuit, the taste of the market and the sensitivity to design will continue to increase. To enhance the understanding of the design significance of the society, the designer will have greater play. This is a virtuous cycle of mutual influence.[3] "The design of Japan is welcomed worldwide, and a large part of the reason is the design of Japan." The teachers have such a sense of responsibility. They not only consider the preferences of the customers, but also start with beautifying life and improving the public's aesthetic level. Therefore, packaging designers should focus on the long-term educational ideals, so that packaging design can enter the right path with the public's aesthetic promotion and mutual promotion. Only then can we design excellent packaging and create more products for Chinese-made products. Added value.

2. 2 based on Chinese culture, drawing on foreign advanced packaging technologies and methods
From the perspective of creative industries, we should look at packaging design. Packaging design must firmly establish itself in China's culture and use it wisely to learn advanced foreign packaging technologies and methods. Culture is the most ethnic characteristic and it is the most attractive. The current French President Chirac likes Chinese culture very much. The culture of the Chinese nation once gave birth to the prosperity of the Han and Tang dynasties. It must be said that she has a unique charm. The modern Chinese culture that adapts to the current situation in China is a new, more dynamic and vital culture developed on the basis of our traditional culture. Today, we should design our country's packaging based on such a culture and create packaging designs with Chinese taste.

It is not difficult to see from the development of creative industries in Japan and South Korea that the design of the nation is the design of the world. There are many reasons why Japan's packaging design has been successful. One of the important points is that there is a correct and simple and practical understanding of the relationship between inheriting traditions and borrowing from foreign cultures: everything is in favor of promoting sales [4]. Today's Japan has developed a unique Japanese culture on the basis of traditional Chinese culture. On this basis, Japan has found the atmosphere and stylish context of Japanese nationalization, and has gone out of its way to admire the Japanese packaging style. Some domestic packaging designers learn from Japan's packaging design to create their own design projects. This approach can only make China's packaging design has always lived in the shadow of Japanese design. Only by seeking the beauty from the contemporary culture of our Chinese nation and looking for designs that can impress Chinese people can we design the characteristics of the Chinese nation so that we can occupy a place in the world design community.

After all, China's science, technology, and economic aspects lag behind the developed countries in the West. Some basic research related to packaging design is also weak. This requires on the one hand learning and learning advanced packaging technology and methods from abroad, and on the other hand developing our own experimental and theoretical research work. In the United States, Japan, and other developed countries, research on technology, materials, design principles, and so on are all based on scientific experiments and have achieved many important results. Such as Gestalt Psychology and Perceptual Engineering. The application of these research results in practice often leads to a qualitative leap in the benefits of the design. Learning the techniques and methods of packaging design in Western developed countries will help us stand at a higher starting point for developing our packaging design.

2. 3 Promote mutual development with related disciplines
Packaging design is a marginal discipline that involves many disciplines such as graphic design, industrial modeling, materials science, technology, advertising, communications, and marketing. For example, the packaging of yoghurt cannot but consider the hygienic safety performance of packaging materials, the molding process of packaging styling, the printing process of the surface of packaging materials, the attractiveness and affinity of packaging design, and the relevance to brand culture. Therefore, the development of packaging design cannot rely solely on the development of one or more kinds of science. Instead, it should be the development and promotion of multiple disciplines. The multidisciplinary cooperation and integration of packaging design is a requirement for the development of creative industries. At the same time, the development of creative industries also provides opportunities for multidisciplinary cooperation.

2. 4 Packaging Design Combined with Animation Industry Chain Development
From the point of view of creative industry, we look at packaging design. Packaging design should look for the development path of industrial chain and integrate it into the development of creative industries. In accordance with international practice, the animation industry is generally divided into three levels: the broadcast market for animation itself; the market for cartoon books and audio-visual products; and derivative products for cartoon images, including apparel, toys, beverages, and daily necessities. Among them, the last tier has a longer period than the first two tiers, and the market reverberates far more profoundly. Animation in the animation industry chain is not an “isolated” commodity but an advertisement for the entire industry chain and its peripheral products. There are many ways in which packaging design can be involved in the animation industry chain. Now, there have been examples of packaging design cutting into the animation industry chain. For example, the famous tissue brand “Heart and India” has launched a packaging that uses elements from the “Left to Right” picture book, which is popular with users. favorite. "Shu Jie" uses Disney's Winnie the Pooh as a packaging design element and is also highly sought after by Disney anime fans. Their success shows that the integration of packaging design into the animation industry chain is an effective way to enrich the connotation of the brand and increase the added value of products. It is also a fast track for the development of packaging design from the perspective of creative industries.

At present, sports games, companies, or products are using mascots as a means of development. In the future, a mascot will be developed as an image center, anime story as the propaganda method, and packaging design will be integrated into the development model of the mascot animation industry. So that packaging design into the development of creative industries, and the formation of a new packaging design.

3 Conclusion

China's packaging design at this stage has achieved great development, but there are still poor quality materials, low level of technology, and the design of the same problem. This situation is obviously not suited to the rapid development of China's manufacturing industry and the increasing status of its export products. Therefore, in the current rapid development of the creative industry, we must re-examine packaging design. Packaging design should aim to facilitate public life and work, beautify the people's visual environment, and build a harmonious society; based on national culture, we must humbly learn from the independent and open attitudes of foreign advanced packaging technologies and methods; through mutual promotion with other related disciplines, The means of development; the search for the development path of industrial chain, and the integration of the development of creative industries, adding to the development of our country's manufacturing wings in the world.

Reprinted from: Packaging Design Online