The Construction of Commodity Culture in Packaging Design

[Abstract] Commodity culture is the sum of all kinds of cultural elements based on commodities. It is both economic and cultural as well as social culture. This article focuses on the economic and cultural characteristics of commodity culture, and elaborates that the packaging design of commodities should create the use of commodity culture. Value creates the value and cultural added value of commodity culture, thereby enhancing the cultural taste of the commodity and artistically increasing the economic value of the commodity.

[Key words] commodity culture; packaging design; value; use value; cultural added value

"Creation" is originally a construction term, mainly referring to the "construction" and "fabrication" of a building. This article is used as a verb and can be understood as "business" or "creation." Commodity culture is the sum of all kinds of cultural elements based on commodities. It is both economic and cultural as well as social and cultural. The packaging design of the product culture, it includes two layers of meaning: refers to the choice of the cultural elements of the product, identification, integration into the packaging design; also refers to the cultural tradition is not obvious goods, artificial creation of the culture, two Harmony and unity. It is mainly reflected in the use value, value and cultural added value of commodity culture.

First, create the use value of commodity culture

The use value of commodity culture refers to a certain attribute that product culture can meet people's needs. American quality expert Dr. Milan pointed out: "Quality is practicality" refers to the use value of commodities, so packaging design should pursue "good packaging is the best strategy", that is, product quality and design must meet the characteristics of the contents, grades , and can not use packaging to mislead consumers. At present, in the packaging of increasingly mature and exquisite variety of products, we still find it difficult to find some flashy, lack of integrity of the packaging design. For example: A certain brand of powdered packaging, its packaging design and decoration design looks pretty good, but it has placed a large piece of white foam plastic, which put two empty bottles with poor shape, poor quality, Only a small plastic bag is packaged, and it does not add up to half the capacity displayed on the outer cover. These large pieces of foam and empty glass bottles, which do not play a role in protecting the goods and promoting consumption, not only increase the amount of waste that is not environmentally friendly, but also cause consumers to resent the hypocrisy of the packaging. In addition, there are packaging packages and goods are not appropriate, text content is inaccurate, misuse of advertising language, and other fraudulent packages of varying degrees, are also common in the mall. These lack of integrity of the packaging may be able to confuse consumers for a time to achieve the purpose of sales, but the loss is undoubtedly more business opportunities, greater interests, therefore, the integrity of service is the basic rules of modern packaging design should follow. This will not only help establish the image and reputation of commodities and enterprises, achieve the purpose of developing business opportunities, but also help maintain business ethics and order, enable the socialist market economy to develop healthily, and play a good role in commodity trade.

Along with the rapid development of the market economy, commodity packaging not only plays the role of wrapping and protecting commodities, but also bears the heavy responsibility of actively promoting and selling products. People often use it to understand commodities and understand commodities. The packaging of commodities undoubtedly becomes an attractive consumer. And to impress consumers with the key factors. In this way, how to achieve honest service has become the goal that packaging design must attach importance to and pursue. To achieve integrity in packaging design, we must emphasize people-oriented and give people convenience. Specifically, we must first design from the convenience of product display, use, and recycling. Japan’s Suntory’s can of beer can be folded according to the instructions on its packaging after recycling to facilitate recycling; followed by the packaging design criteria. Commercial game planning, the need for standardized design, packaging should be fully detailed description and verification data, there should be no false words, foreign packaging will appear on such a phrase: "Please eat after freezing," "Do not do Other uses", "warning, contain nuts, stay away from young children." In particular, today's goods are becoming more internationalized. Packaging design requires more regulation to avoid unnecessary troubles. Once again, it is public welfare. In the 1980s, British packaging was marked with “Children say no to danger!” U.S. packaging superscript There is "to prevent drugs!" Even the face of the lost child is printed on the side of the milk packaging. The purpose of doing so is to effectively protect the interests of consumers, but also become a selling point for the goods. The formulation of packaging design to create the use value of commodity culture was earlier, but in the new market conditions, people have new requirements for them. They are the indispensable unity of the commodity culture, so the packaging design is the product culture. The creation of connotation has a very realistic meaning for consumers to enjoy "good and cheap" goods.

Second, create the value of commodity culture

Value refers to the necessary labor of the producer's society condensed in the commodity, but it is not equal to the value of the commodity culture. It is generally proportional to the price. The value of the use of goods lies in the fact that commodities can satisfy the psychological needs of consumers seeking new products, seeking differences, seeking brand names, and seeking individuality. Because people are likely to come into contact with a large number of goods every day, they are familiar with packaging. Even an ordinary consumer can say a lot about the various functions of packaging. Therefore, the understanding of packaging also forms a concept. If package design is just to adapt to the market and adapt to the trend, it will inevitably lead to the patternization and aging of design forms and means, and it will not be able to arouse people's interest. In the fiercely competitive commodity market, it is inseparable from the design of graphics and color that packaging should have visual characteristics that are clearly distinguishable from other products, enhance people’s awareness and memory of products, and become more attractive to consumers. use. The design of packaging graphics and color should be done in good faith as a commodity service. We must thoroughly understand and grasp the content of products, consumption, sales, etc., and strive to achieve accurate information transmission based on the mastery and use of good graphics and color. Good visual communication. Such as: food packaging using mouth-watering realism and bright colors, straightforward to the content of the goods conveyed to consumers; children's products packaging often use a rich cartoon image and more vivid colors to convey information to attract children and Parents; while pharmaceutical packaging mostly use more abstract, concise graphics and colors to express scientific, rigorous, effective and other content, giving patients a sense of trust and a good psychological response. Therefore, the packaging design is expressed in the commodity culture is the consumer's pursuit of the product "new, name, fine."

"New" is novel and has personality. Personality was originally described as human, and for products we more often say their attributes, such as what they eat, drink, play, use, etc. It is also due to the existence of different properties, which in the design also form a certain model, such as food packaging can not be made like cosmetics packaging, electrical product packaging can not be made like toy packaging, and so on. In addition to its attributes, categories, application scope, and other factors, the product has another aspect, that is, it gives people the feeling that through its use of images, colors, materials, means to express it, it will give it Some kind of personality, such as hard, rough, feminine, glamorous, etc., people get some kind of psychological induction through the senses. Of course, different people, as designers, different people will have different feelings about a product, so the form of expression will also be different, in short, it is not a traditional packaging model. In addition, physiologically speaking, people's nervous system will be tired if subjected to the same stimulus for a long time, and the novel packaging design will bring the breath and flaws of the new life, so that the consumer's nervous system and spirit will be stimulated. The novelty of packaging design depends on the development of new materials, new processes, and new ideas on the one hand, and on the other, it depends on social development and people's aesthetic changes. The new ideas also include novel and unique shapes, colorful colors, beautiful and delicate patterns, so that consumers have a strong interest at a glance. For example, the general mineral water uses a twist-off bottle cap, the color is not green, that is, blue, and the "Nongfu Spring" cap is divided into two layers, the inner layer has a movable nozzle, plus a hat-like transparent plastic cover, in line with modern people Advocating hygienic and healthy psychology. Red labels and bottle caps stand out in many mineral waters. This is "new."

"Name" is famous brand, fame, fame and reputation, as well as good image and social influence. US marketing expert Larry Light said: "The future of marketing is the competition of the brand - the length of competition between brands, business and investors will recognize the brand is the company's most precious asset, this concept is extremely important, ... has a market ratio It is more important to have a factory, and the only way to have a market is to have a brand name." Since ancient times, China has demanded that artifacts conform to "unification and courtesy" (Mo Zi language). Some people have done such experiments, filling the same "Coca-Cola" in three differently-packed bottles, and letting some people taste it. 98% think that Coca-Cola-labeled bottles have the best Coke taste, brand-name Charm is evident. In addition, the value of the famous brand is also obvious. The miniature radio cassette recorder produced by Shanghai Radio III Factory is sold to Japan's Sony Corporation for only 37 yuan each, and after being affixed with the Sony Corporation's trademark, it can be sold for more than 80 US dollars. According to "Financial Journal"'s assessment in 1991, the value of "Coca Cola" was 83.8 billion U.S. dollars. In 1995, the trademark value of China's Hongtashan was 32 billion yuan, and in 1999 it rose to 42.3 billion yuan.

"Precision" is meticulous. It relates to the relationship between packaging design and overall design of life. Consumer demand is holistic and relevant. For example, if a person buys a packet of coffee, he will also consider coffee cups, coffee-making machines, and other accessory products. Sometimes he will exceed the scope of coffee. He may consider sitting on a chair and listening to music to drink it. The packaging designer must start with the consumer's family life on the basis of this commodity and try to design a whole set of products, and the overall effect is not just serialization but also the content of the exhibition. Serialization emphasizes the identity of the product, so that the product has a common identification image, and the overall effect is to create an overall atmosphere such as space and environment on the basis of this, so that the theme is more distinct. It is tragic that a good design or good idea cannot be fully reflected. It is the dregs of intellectual achievements. Of course, the overall effect is good or bad, which reflects the author's association with the image, the expression of ideas, the use of materials, and the conversion between form and meaning. It can also be said to be an artistic sentiment. The so-called overall effect is to express this sentiment and create a theme atmosphere. The outer packaging of plexiglass, colorful products, with soft lighting, showing exquisitely carved effects, looks very "alternative", the theme is very clear.

Third, the construction of cultural added value

The economist J. Dusenbery said: “In the various activities that humanity involves, we can find the decisive influence of culture... whether it is the purchase of a product or the manufacture and sale of a product; Providing a material approach or a spiritual enjoyment constitutes our way of life." The famous anthropologist Malinowski said: "In human social activities, the needs of all living things have been transformed into cultural ones. Needs.” Culture is a manifestation of the human and spiritual fields of human creativity, including human thinking, values, mental activities, and aesthetic consciousness. The practical functions of commodities embody the material culture of commodities, the recognition and aesthetic functions of commodities, and the spiritual culture of commodities, and they are integrated into a commodity culture. Prof. Gao Zhongyu's book "Image and Business" has a description of consumers' purchase behaviors that satisfy the spiritual pursuit: "People ... don't save money for or not only for food and clothing but, to a large extent, Buy 'soft value', buy cool, buy social, buy friendships; buy cosmetics to buy youth, buy confidence; buy gifts to the elderly is to buy filial piety, buy elders happy; buy gifts to send younger is to buy love, buy juniors Like; ... the so-called men buy brands, women buy like to buy culture, buy images." For example, in recent years, the Haier Group Company, which has achieved considerable development, has attached great importance to establishing the concept of “honesty” and implemented the product advertisements such as “Haier Air Conditioning, sincerely forever”; the ad text on the packaging of Sofitel Soap “makes skin feel better. "Smooth and healthier" makes people feel sincere, warm, and comfortable, thus giving consumers a favorable impression. Fully explain packaging as a consumer