Prompted Post #2 Ethics of Packaging Design

According to FMI (Food Marketing Institute), the average supermarket holds around 40,000 different items. The $600 billion food marketing industry is one of the most prominent users of packaging processes. This industry relies on consumers, distributors, manufacturers, and graphic designers. Product packaging, as a graphic design discipline, is an industry itself; packaging graphic designers follow their own code of ethics to create an authentic and memorable package that will shine on the shelf. There are a few major ethical tips to succeed in packaging design: clarity/simplicity, honesty, authenticity, and shelf impact.

Clarity/Simplicity: Every consumer has essential questions when looking for a product and will only dedicate so much of their time to answer them. It’s important to create a design that easily answers "What is this?", "What will this do for me?", and "Who guarantees that?".

Honesty: Packaging designers often strive to depict the product in the most perfect way imaginable. By doing this, the consumer is being mislead and eventually dissatisfied by the product’s actual attributes. Yes, this is a very tactical way to persuade consumers into purchasing it, but what’s especially important is for the package design to represent the product honestly.

Authenticity: The only way to set a product brand apart from others is to be authentic. Creating a bold, memorable package for the product will catch the consumer’s attention and leave them wanting more from the brand.

 Shelf Impact: Shelf impact is incredibly important because at almost all times, the product is being sold blended next to several other products of the same caliber. This is something that needs to be tested and explored in design trials. Imitating the placement of the design on an actual shelf and surrounding it by other products will give designers an idea of what it will be seen as on the market.

Shelf Impact

Sources Cited

"6 Rules for Packaging Design That Dive off the Shelf -." The Creative Edge 6 Rules for Packaging Design That Will Shine on the Shelf Comments. N.p., 25 July 2012. Web. 06 Feb. 2016.

Emblem, Anne, and Henry Emblem. Packaging Technology: Fundamentals, Materials and Processes. Cambridge: Woodhead Pub., 2012. Print.