Visual Communication: Packaging Yourself

In this assignment we will be creating vector diagrams using Adobe Illustrator of packaging boxes such as a cornflakes box, soap box, chocolate box, or washing powder box e.c.t...


We will be substituting the product name with our own name, which will save time trying to come up with an original idea when we sure 


We were asked to collect and analyze examples of packaging...


For example, in cereal packaging there are several categories such as Cornflakes, wheat, rice, frosted and honey, chocolate, clusters, muesli, hi fibre/bran, fruit, cereals, oats, healthy, and  kids to name a few. 


These are some more healthy options:

All three of these examples have a large emphasis on the healthy properties of the product which come quite high in the hierarchy of information. For example, '7 whole grain puffs', 'FREE from wheat', and a large bright red heart image displaying the text 'May reduce the risk of heart disease.' 

When brainstorming my name to be used as the product name, i decided that Lizzie McCarthy was better than Liz McCarthy-Green as it rhymes; product names usually have to have some sort of poetic technique such as alliteration, assonance or rhyme to be memorable and catchy.

However, this conclusion didn't have any particular ring to it, so i went on to thinking about nicknames, such as when i was a child i was known by my family as Maisy Moo which, uses alliteration and when i found these breakfast cereals from the 1970's it was a real inspiration which could fuel my ideas in a similar direction.

'The round, multi-grain cereal pellets were coated with an excipient of a drink mix. When milk was added, it would dissolve the powdered coating, and the resultant mixture would resemble, in sight smell and taste, a flavored milk.' - Wikipedia

I found this quote from Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia, which described some of the history behind this old-fashioned cereal, but also about the content, such as that it clearly stated it was made from just flavours and no actual strawberries or chocolate was actually used. This leads me to another conclution as to why they are aimed at the target audience of kids, as adult usually take more responsibilty to eating a healthy, balanced diet, and certain adults would be put off straight away due to this disclaimer.

Just from observing visually, when comparing the two, the biggest difference i can see is that the strawberry milk flavour is more appealing to girls due to the colours and the chocolate flavour packaging feels more masculine but thats just a presumption.

There devices used are typical of the childrens target market for advertising, for example

• Bright colours
• Excited cartoon character eating the cereal
• Free gift
• In addition to a free coupon
• The fact that it's also a milkshake, will appeal and the fact that it would be different to other cereals 
• The '8 essential vitamins' will appeal to the parents which would reassure them its not just junk food when being persuaded by their kids in the shop.

This example of Nesquik cereal is aimed the target market of children, i know this because of the use of vibrant mainly primary colours, blue and orange and contrasting colours, and red and green are also. This give a very strong impact and the first thing you notice about the package. It is important to stand out visually as every other cereal packaging is trying to catch the customers attension. 

        Another device which denotes this packaging towards kids marketing is the animated cartoon character smiling enthusiastically and tucking into the cereal. By showing the product itself customers can imagine themselves enjoying it.

       The product also displays a free gift which would entice little kids and get them to persuade their parents; consequently getting cereal manafacturers to compete against each other.

I then went on to look at how the children's cereal 'Rice Krispies' has changed over 40 years

        SOAP BOXES

      I then went off to look at high end soaps boxes, i first came to this packaging by 'elizabeth W' which has a very minimalist style, but also a sort of victorian feel to it due to the border design and symmetrical pattern on the side. This denotes class and elegance which the customer may appeal to. 
     The font uses a mix italics and non italics, italics for describing and elaborating; lower case and a little uppercase to draw attention to the product itself. The brand itself is in lower case for a name then uppercase for second initial, this is an unusual style which certainly draws your attention as you would expect a name to have the proper capitalization, and the last initial being in capital draws your eye through to the end.
      The colours used are peach and white, these are soothing tones which can be associated with cleanliness. Peach is quite a feminine colour, and overall i think the whole design would is delicate and feminine. 

           This is is a channel soap, which is identifiable by the iconic 'CC' emblem, the only other text is 'Made in France', the box is just plain and white, which follows suit with Channel's classic and simple design. You can tell from the background this is from the 60'/70's from the context of the patterned flower design.

This is a parody soap called 'posh characteristic soap' which is in a bold modern font to highlight the irony then the rest is in a old gothic style italic font, the paper is like old parchment, tea stained style and the soap itself is made to look like stone slabs then decorated with gold 'guilt' mirror style embellishment.