The Packaging Design Book by Julius Wiedemann
Article by Martin Gibson – @embody3d @martingibson – 23.12.2010
Unfortunately packaging design is one of the most under-valued and under-documented design fields. There are just so many books on graphic design and product design, but hardly any on packaging design…I don’t quite understand?
Whether you’re a designer, a marketer or a consumer, everyone agrees on the importance a good packaging design has in protecting and serving the goods it contains in a functional manner; and of course in how it promotes the product at a point of sale level. A great product, poorly packaged can have catastrophic results sales-wise and the diametrical opposite also applies. We have all had that experience of looking around a toy store and finding a sexy red firetruck thinking it was the coolest contraption known to man. However after opening the package at home later being bitterly disappointed at how your earth-changing firetruck that could rescue people and put out real fires just seemed to under-deliver.
The Package Design Book by Julius Wiedemann (who is responsible for many other great Taschen titles like Advertising Now! and 1000 Favourite Websites) has compiled the entries from the first and only worldwide packaging design competition, the Pentawards, into a thorough reference book for all point of purchase designers. The book features designs from all markets from beverages to fragrances and from hardware to electronics, you name it, it’s in the Package Design Book.
The 250 packaging design projects are well assessed and very diverse and exhibit qualities of simplicity, creativity, naturalness and authenticity. Every design has a valid purpose in the book, there’s no junk or no fill in images, all the designs are very diverse and well categorised. The designs fully exploit the large pages and are beautifully printed in high resolution making each design easy to discern. The designs are split up into the following categories:
- Diamond – Featuring an interview with Lars Wallentin former packaging designer and Communication Director of Nestle Switzerland
- Beverages – Including cans, glasses, cartons and containers
- Food – Including confectionary, sweets, savory, meats, fish, poultry, soups, dairy, cereals, coffee, fruit and vegetables
- Body – Including body car, beauty, clothing and healthcare
- Luxury – Including perfumes, cosmetics, spirits, fine wines, gourmet food, jewellery,watches and collectables
- Other Markets- Including house maintenance, electronics, automobile products and pet products amongst others
For anyone who is serving in the packaging design industry Package Design Book is not only incredible because it is about packaging design, but it does packaging design very well. This is not a theoretical lesson of how to actually design good packaging, but it aims to be a springboard to develop new ideas.
[rating:5]
