Packaging Graphics + Design is the title of a new volume from author Renee Phillips from Rockport Publishers (Gloucester, MA).
In her introduction, author Phillips begins, “Although the box it is packaged in is rather dull, most designers, retailers and marketers would agree that the iMac is one of the most successfully packaged products of the last few years.” Phillips also explains that advertising of the iMac was equally instrumental in generating sales. “Advertising and packaging have always been related. . . it’s rare the packaged product is not shown.” Thus, we’re still not sure if she’s writing about the iMac cabinet or the box the computer is shipped in.
Nonetheless, this volume contains few words and many images. That’s good because the copy used is light in weight and reversed out of color blocks. That makes it difficult to read. But this volume isn’t about words or even packaging details, and the photography and reproduction are both sumptuous and eye-popping. It’s a visual smorgasbord of packages and packaging ideas.
In all, there are some 200 examples of packaging design and graphics, mostly from the U.S. and Canada.
The design projects are organized into four different packaging categories of the author’s own creation: basic, surprising, interactive and promotional packaging. For a change, Phillips’ “interactive packaging” section doesn’t relate to the Internet. Rather, it’s for design work that performs a function for a consumer, either for re-use of packaging, instructions, souvenir value, etc.
Each project is accompanied by a paragraph about the project and an identification of the design company, individual designer and, where appropriate, an illustrator, photographer or art director.
While the descriptive copy is definitely “minimalist” in treatment, each of the design companies included is listed in a helpful Design Directory in the back. An Index also references each project page number to its design company. The author is an associate editor of Dynamic Graphics magazine, a publication for desktop designers. She does not elaborate on the reasons for her selections, but many of the best-known U.S. package design companies aren’t represented in this volume.
In her intro to the section on promotional packaging, Phillips offers some clues: “Most of the designers” included in this collection “love to work on packaging. It gives them a chance to get away from the typical flat design fare. . . Packaging design gives the designer a chance to think, work and play in three dimensions.”
While this book has all the trappings of a “coffee table” volume, its 9 1/8” x 11 1/8” size enables it to fit comfortably in working book shelves. Published last month, the book is priced at $45 and is available only through F&W Publications (Cincinnati, OH). (AO)
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