A Rational Reflection on the Value Orientation of Modern Packaging Design

Under different times and social conditions, people have different understandings of the meaning of packaging. In the jargon jargon of the industry, packaging is the general name of the containers, materials, and auxiliary materials that are used to protect products during circulation, facilitate transportation, promote sales, and use certain technical methods.

With the rapid development of the economy and the continuous improvement of people's living standards, the rapid development of the commodity economy, the role of packaging in the promotion of goods is even more important. However, in recent years, the wind of packaging has intensified, and the added value of some commodity packaging has been brought to the extreme in the post-industrial era. Many phenomena such as “false packaging”, “excessive packaging” and “luxury packaging” have appeared, which not only consumes a lot of resources, but also causes Environmental pollution also distorts the relationship between packaging prices and commodity value, violates the law of value of the market economy, and deviates from the social ethics and morals. The value orientation of many commodity packaging has entered a misunderstanding. The article tries to start with these phenomena and problems, quoting the basic principles of value engineering, and thinking about the value orientation of modern commodity packaging.

1 Deviate from the packaging phenomenon and harm of the correct value orientation track

1. 1 false packaging

False packaging can also be said to be fraudulent packaging, which is to deceive consumers by conveying wrong information. In general, it is through the shape, size, decoration design of the packaging itself, as well as a part of the label, manual, relevant text or pattern of the packaging. Consumers' misunderstood packaging of the packaged goods in terms of their quality, quantity, and brand are all false packages. For example: to plagiarize the packaging of other goods; to overly imitate the packaging of branded goods; with deceptive text descriptions, marked with actual non-existent components, false product quality, quantity, use and other commodity packaging.

False packaging does not ask the intrinsic quality of a product, but it is beautifully designed. In order to achieve the purpose of exorbitant profits, counterfeit and inferior commodities are used as counterfeit products to convey false information, mislead customers, and deceive consumers. The destructive nature of false packaging will give the country, society, businesses, and consumers an undue loss. Before this year's shocking incidents of low-quality milk powder that shocked the country’s people, many poor-quality milk powders are all exquisitely packaged. Many brand names are similar to brand names, such as “Yiyi”, “New Mengniu” and “Bebeile”. After creating a sense of trust, but also focus on highlighting the baby can make your baby smart and healthy?;?;;

1. 2 overpacking

Overpacking is a functional and overvalued package of goods. Its performance is the use of excessive materials, the use of excessive volume, excessive waste, it goes far beyond the functional requirements of the protection of goods, beautify the goods. The over-packing is characterized by the non-technical intentionally expanding the volume of the product packaging, which will cause the illusion of the quantity of the contents in the appearance and be misleading to the consumer's consumption psychology. Maliciously exaggerating the volume of packaging may increase the market share of similar products, create unequal competition in the same industry, and affect the normal operation of the market economy.

1. 3 luxury packaging

Luxurious packaging is featured in the packaging of many gift products. When a holiday arrives, the variety of famous wines, famous teas, health products, and other gift packages can be overwhelming at supermarkets and stores. Moon cake packaging is one of the more typical luxury packaging. In the past year or two, some luxury packaging gold buried silver, the price of moon cakes outrageous prices have emerged, popular, and was intensified.

Avalanche moon cakes create an unhealthy mentality that boasts luxury and exaggeration. Merchants earn extra profits through luxury packaging, dragging mooncakes to sell gold and silver jewelry and other immoral, non-honest phenomena, “promoting the wind of corruption and making moon cakes from China. The traditional food of the nation has turned into a commodity for bribery and bribery, which hurts and spoils our traditional culture.

2 The main factors that affect the misunderstanding of the value orientation of commodity packaging

2.1 Competition in Commodity Markets

The packaging itself is an ancient activity. After the exchange of goods, people use it to save foods for longer and reduce the rate of breakage of goods in long-distance transportation. After entering the industrial society, the commodity cycle of the market economy has been shortened. It is also an attribute product. Due to the large number of manufacturers and companies, the competition for commodities has intensified, and market competition and price wars have forced businesses to constantly update their products and continue to change packaging. Selling products, in order to defeat the competitors, some products are even covered by the package to cover its true function and value, and commodity warfare has become a "packaging war."

2. 2 People's Love and "Face" Factors

Since ancient times, China has been a "state of etiquette" and has paid more attention to "respect and exchanges." Chinese people love face more, and packaging of course becomes the face of merchandise. It also becomes the face of shoppers and recipients. People even compare the value of individuals in society through the packaging of goods, and through the packaging quality of goods, to judge the evaluation status of self in the minds of others and convey the relationship of respect and inferiority. Packaging thus becomes a “ritual” existence, and then There has been a large amount of "flowers" that are not real luxury, exaggerated surface packaging products.

2. 3 Impact of Western High-end Goods

Since the reform and opening up, a large number of high-end merchandise in the west has been influxed. The luxury luxury packaged high-end goods have brought consumers the “highest class” and “stylish taste” visions, which have made the added value of packaging more prominent and have become more extreme. The more deviated from the track of real life, the emergence of a large number of "flowers" and unreal luxury packaging products. Merchants use media advertising to make their products have a distinctive effect in the consumer public, and compare expensive packaging to affordable identity symbols or symbols. As a result, the pursuit of "famous" and "fashion" has triggered a vaunted consumerism, and packaging has been given too many labels and symbols to make packaging an endorsement of desire.

3 The rational regression of the value orientation of modern commodity packaging

3.1 Value Engineering

Value engineering was proposed by the General Electric Company engineer Miles in 1947. It refers to the systematic analysis of the functions and costs of the research objects through collaboration in various related fields. It is constantly innovating and aims to increase the value of research objects. And management techniques. The purpose of the value engineering is to achieve the best overall benefits by using the object's lowest full life cycle cost to reliably achieve the user's desired functions. Value engineering is a science that studies the economic benefits of technology. It has gotten rid of the previous practice of solely researching benefits from technology or economics alone. Instead, it focuses on the combination of technology and economics to study the value of products, systems or services, and reduce their costs. In order to achieve better technical and economic results, it is an effective method that is consistent with objective reality.

3.2 Analysis of Value Orientation of Commodity Packaging

According to the principle of value engineering, value is a function of function and cost. That is, the value of a commodity is directly proportional to the function of a commodity, and inversely proportional to the cost of a commodity, revealing the value orientation and the numerical orientation of function and cost. The function is the core of value engineering. People use commodities and actually use its functions. Different commodities may provide consumers with the same functions, that is, the functions can be separated from their existing carriers. Value engineering analyzes the intrinsic link between cost and function, excluding other factors, and divides the function into necessary functions and unnecessary functions, insufficient functions, and excess functions. The value orientation of modern commodity packaging should be based on the functional orientation of commodities, study the use of better design, cheaper materials, rationally allocate the cost of the entire commodity packaging, reduce costs, and try to eliminate surpluses on the premise of ensuring necessary functions. Functions to increase the value of commodity packaging.

Businesses blindly carry out some high-end, high-quality packaging, so that packaging costs continue to rise, forming a "excessive", "luxury" packaging of goods. From the point of view of value engineering, one-sided pursuit of high-grade packaging materials, exquisite decoration, does not meet the requirements of packaging value by the ratio of the function and cost of packaging, there is a lot of excess function, the value of such packaging is not great; use of value engineering theory analysis To eliminate the “excessive” and “luxury” packaging problems of modern commodities, the key is to dig out and look for the existence of unnecessary functions, especially to override the unnecessary taste functions of commodities. Under the current market environment, businesses must use the concept of value engineering. , Adhere to the scientific value orientation of commodity packaging design, continuously improve the value of goods, and actively adapt to the requirements of international and domestic mainstream markets.

3. 3 promote green packaging

At present, the world has set off a wave of "green packaging." "Green packaging refers to packaging materials that do not cause pollution to the ecological environment, do no harm to human health, can be recycled and recycled, and can promote sustainable development [3]." The materials it uses are mainly from nature, and they form green products through pollution-free processing. After being used, they can be discarded and recycled, or returned to nature or recycled. With the enhancement of people's awareness of environmental protection, the concept of advocating "nature, primordial, and healthy" is deeply rooted in people's minds. Green packaging will become fashionable, and "lightweight", "small size" and "no pollution" should become the new orientation of commodity packaging.

3.4 Strengthen the ethical responsibility of designers

In the contemporary economy and society, some businesses have become economic animals and designers have become drummers. In order to please individual consumers, to please the boss, to design for a considerable fee, regardless of social consequences, or even to avoid their own ethical responsibilities in the society. Truthfulness, kindness, and beauty are the ideal realms for the pursuit of human culture. They are also the goals pursued by modern commodity packaging design. Designers should establish social ethics and moral values, follow the value-based engineering concept system of commodity packaging, and lead packaging design to the path of healthy development.

4 Conclusion

The value orientation of modern commodity packaging design should conform to the principle of value engineering. Modern commodity packaging must have the correct value orientation. We must follow the people-oriented ideology and pay more attention to the features of commodity packaging and humanization, and pay attention to the public’s “reflection” and human nature. "Return" to the physiological and psychological needs of advocating the protection of natural things, the green packaging of the human living environment, the effective use of resources, the improvement and protection of the ecological environment.

The concept of green packaging in line with the scientific concept of development is promoted, and the principles of value engineering for packaging are met. With the further improvement of China’s corresponding laws and regulations, the quality, material, and volume of commodity packaging will be regulated and restrained. These “false”, “excessive”, and “luxury” packages that deviate from the correct value orientation will become more and more less.

Reprinted from: China Packaging and Printing Exhibition Website