From the Environmental Bag Design Contest - Talk about the Improvement of the Character of Packaging Design

Abstract: The development of economy and society has greatly enriched the form and aesthetic value of modern packaging. The health progress of the packaging industry has become an integral part of building a harmonious society. Designing and using packaging products that meet environmental protection requirements has gradually become a common consensus. This article through the "green paper bag design contest" to analyze the "green packaging" design problems in the operation, so that "green packaging" can be better applied in the market.

Keywords: environmental protection bag packaging design character promotion

During the preparations for the “Environmental Bag Design Competition” organized by the Shanghai Packaging Technology Association, everyone expressed high expectations for the popular “green packaging” concept. After the conference, for the theme of “environmental protection” surrounded by the competition, how to transform the “green packaging” from the abstract concept to the market application, overcome the people’s ubiquitous and deeply ingrained aesthetic understanding and consumption habits, and let design and innovation form The common acceptance of enterprises and consumers to achieve effective marketing and business value is behind seemingly simple slogans, which hides very challenging issues that need to be resolved.

First, from the packaging design trend to see the "green paper bag design contest" the necessity

Today, with the rapid development of modern science and technology and social economy, people's consumption level and consumer demand have been continuously improved, and packaging design has become an indispensable factor in daily life. At the same time, consumers' understanding of product packaging has also gradually changed, increasingly pursuing aesthetics and interest in the appearance of products, requiring not only physical enjoyment but also visual and psychological pleasure and satisfaction when purchasing goods. "Packaging is often more important than the product contained in it." This sentence contains a reflection of the consumer's mind-to-mouth mentality in packaging. At the same time, demand is an element that creates value-added goods and maximizes corporate profits. Packaging has also been sought after by many companies and packaging designers. Therefore, packaging has become an important role in the circulation of commercial trade today. Moreover, the packaging design popular in the current market has a trend towards the development of luxury packaging that adopts complex craft materials to cater for consumer satisfaction.

It is worth noting that while the packaging of fashion and luxury meets consumer demand for product appearance, taste and psychology, a large amount of packaging waste brings considerable harm to the living environment of human beings. According to relevant data, most of the packaging waste currently used in China needs a hundred years to fully decompose, and manual processing is extremely difficult. Moreover, many of the pollution associated with packaging, such as printing, materials, paints, and transportation, are also very serious. The environmental pollution caused by packaging is second only to the current industrial production of water pollution.

In the face of severe forms, people began to pay attention to the importance of "developing green packaging and doing a good job of environmental protection" to their own living environment, and realized that they included the collection, processing, manufacturing, use, and recycling of waste materials in the packaging process. The value of the problem for building a harmonious society. More and more responsible corporate managers and packaging designers began to join this ranks, actively promote the concept of "green packaging," and continue to strengthen the "sustainable development" of the packaging concept. Trying to change the cognitive limitations in the current packaging industry and the blind optimism of the current market situation, to create a beautiful and harmonious symbiotic home, so that the packaging industry has long-term and healthy development. The "Green Bag Design Competition" came into being under this premise and background. It will also become part of the "Green Design" to promote this movement to a higher level.

In fact, environmental protection handbags refer to paper-made tote bags made from paper materials (base paper) that are recycled and produced from forest plantations. The printed materials and colors used are pollution-free and non-polluting technologies and materials, and they are all food-grade. Standard, no harm to human body, and can be recycled 100%. At present, "base paper" packaging is recognized as the best packaging for recycling and processing. In many fast food restaurants, hamburger packaging has replaced plastic soft packs and used environmentally friendly paper packaging.

Second, from the "green packaging" look at the practical significance of advocating environmental protection design

The "sustainable development" in the broad sense explains the realistic problems faced by human beings who can live on the earth for a long time. In packaging design, more language connotations are embodied, including the harmonization of design and ideas, the tacit understanding of production and consumption, and the harmony between life and ecology. The main purpose of the package design ultimately reflects the harmonious relationship between man and the environment, or whether the package is Can meet and meet the dual requirements of natural order and social order. As Jonas, an ethicist, said, “Mankind not only has to be responsible for himself, but also responsible for the people around him. He is also responsible to future generations. He is responsible not only for people, but also for nature and for other creatures. Earth is responsible."

In fact, as early as the 1960s, the United States has risen to the "Green design" wave, which originated from the anti-consumption campaign initiated by reporter Pakat and later responded to the call for "multiple design." Its center aims to require designers to provide more designs for people to choose according to time and place, not simply to meet or comply with a single consumer needs in an increasingly tedious manner, emphasizing that more designs should be given to protect the environment and Natural resources considerations. Although this idea of ​​using "ecological balance" thinking to consider the long-term significance of design and material characteristics has not yet become the practice form of mainstream design, at least its ideal itself has given a clear direction to today's packaging trend. Therefore, in a sense, the use of this vocabulary that is no longer "fashionable" to redefine and constrain packaging design, promotes and guides the development of "green packaging" more than anything else.

Nowadays, the public’s living conditions and environment have undergone major changes. Ecology and the environment have increasingly attracted public attention. The recognition of the “green concept” has long been not a response to the radical theory of Pamelauk and Morrison. It becomes a certain purposeful adjustment of the existing industry and consumption structure. In this "new" green revolution, designers need to fully reflect and exert their own initiative. Through understanding and digesting the concept of "green design," they will change designers' focus on product design and take initiatives to stimulate consumption ( The old concept of resource abuse leads to a new concept of rational consumption (resources and durability) to change people’s aesthetic understanding of the appearance of packaging, and to use more rational design ideas and material applications to guide the shift in consumer attitudes and aesthetic values. To make up for the "green design" in the surface design of the visual sense of the impact of weak weak.

Therefore, after completing the three functions of protection, convenience, and promotion of packaging, it is necessary to emphasize the profound interpretation of the connotation of packaging, and to design the product according to the ecological cycle and the theme of environmental protection. The concept of “appropriate design, healthy design, and beautiful design” has been given a new orientation to the “green packaging” behavior. It is not only necessary to face the market, but also to design for the market. What is more, it is to pay attention to the society and pay attention to the living conditions of human beings. It is the future of humanity. And design. At the eleventh annual meeting of the International Federation of Industrial Design Associations (ICSID) on the theme of "Industrial Design - The Elements of Human Development", the President of the General Assembly, Mr. Pedro Ramirez Vazquez, He pointed out: "Design, as an important factor in human development, may become a dead end for human self-destruction, and it may also become a shortcut for mankind to reach a better world."

Third, use the upgrading of design character to change the concept of packaging

1. Change your spending habits with new vision

The "green packaging" that really makes sense in the real world should not merely be a slogan in philosophy, but should play a major role in the market and circulation of commerce. The key to realizing the “green packaging” in real life lies in the construction and establishment of specific design ideas and formal aesthetics. It is necessary to consider not only the choice of materials needed for “green packaging” and the product structure, but also the Beyond the general sense of visual aesthetics and design quality persuade consumers of increasingly discerning visual judgments.

In order to make the connection more smoothly, according to the “cybernetic” approach of the design, a new orientation is placed on the demand behavior of packaging consumption, targeting the various dynamic information and feedback processes that the consumer is accustomed to, so that the design goals are based on thematic requirements, and through the initiative The changes in the form to guide the dematerialization tendency of consumer demand. Incorporating thinking norms and philosophical thinking of the concept of “moderate design” into packaging design, using simple but creative forms of imagination to design, and the cultural heritage and natural state given in the graphic or text design, which touches the viewer’s eyes, triggers the existence of The aspiration of certain situations in the form. When people come into contact with this fantasy-designed object, they can discover the designer's metaphorical aesthetic intentions. For example, packaging design using natural color materials such as paper, wood, bamboo, and hemp is not only light and soft, but also has a natural material aesthetic, enabling consumers to experience the existence of a certain vitality. It arouses people's sense of intimacy with nature, thus enhancing people's more vivid understanding and passion for aesthetic character.

In the application of design expression forms, the visual meaning of “less is the beauty” and “less is more” is used as much as possible to minimize the material consumption, and the combination of the self-form of the recycled material and the beauty of the form is emphasized. From the essential point of view of the existence of "green packaging" to innovate the visual aesthetic needs, using the external form to give the visual design of the dynamic advantages, from the packaging material selection, structure and function, manufacturing process, storage and transportation methods, product use and waste disposal and other aspects To change the people's desire and motivation for consumption that people have been expecting from packaging in the past, and guide people to gradually transition from the acceptance to the habit of "green packaging."

2. Personality design to enhance consumer character

In the face of modern and diversified consumer demands, based on the basic functions of packaging, it is impossible to conquer all consumers with the visual sense principle in the universal sense, especially in the scope of the choice of the “green packaging” visual form of compression. on. Moreover, through the individualized design with strong creativity, the understanding of packaging materials and formal languages ​​can be turned into a unique and unique artistic charm, satisfying the demands of high-level and individualized consumption.

A packaging idea with a strong visual appeal is also the function of different aesthetic elements, such as form, structure, shape, figure, and text, to realize the continuous improvement of packaging in terms of individual expression, character cultivation, and visual effects. Changes can only meet the basic requirements of the design of its aesthetic form. After packaging design that is “purified” with novel and unique insights and style language, not only can it create a vivid and vivid packaging shape, but also more in line with modern people’s pursuit of personality, novel consumer psychology, and better arouse consumers’ reading of design content. With acceptance.

Therefore, "green packaging" is more a manifestation of the change in consumer attitudes, and it is a reshaping of attributes that puts packaging design on the basis of the perfect combination of nature, human nature and art. The essence of the goal it pursues is to fully embody the desire to suit people’s long-term survival. Among them, the most important content is the social culture and human care. Only through the packaging design with strong design aesthetics and high design quality can the “green packaging” be the active commercial dominator in the future market, and the added value of “green packaging” can be maximized. The greater the resulting spiritual and social benefits will be.

In addition, because the designer is the main body embodying the design style and package grade, it plays a crucial role in promoting the “green packaging” process. It should also take the lead in consciously starting from the concept of ecological harmony and actively abandon those useless overlapping functions. The purely decorative style uses the social responsibility and service spirit of the designer to integrate the “formal beauty” into the wonderful realm of harmony between man and the environment, and ultimately establishes the realization of self-worth in the cognitive process of consumption.

Although "green packaging" is still just a common element in a packaging system, one thing is not to be questioned.