7. Packaging Design and Management

The relation between packaging and time spend preparing food

• Over time people have started spending less time on preparing food, as home delivery, portioning and MAP have started developing

• This also positively correlates with the amount of packaging that is being used.

• Therefore packaging is not an independent entity, and the amount of packaging material used is affected by different trends

FMCG

• Commercial pressure fast moving consumer goods: short time to market

• For example, testing of the material, but not the packaging

Portioning and packaging waste

• People assume that precut foods will result in more waste

• However, it often saves a lot of food.

• Where most people would throw away the brocolli stem, pre-cut vegetables incorporate the stem.

• Although it might cost a little more plastic, it saves a lot of food.

Weight of packaging evolution

• On average 26% between 1990 and 2015 less packaging used

• 1% per year weight reduction on average for a single item

Interaction product-packaging

• in a lip balm with a ball on the top, polyethylene was used

• However the oil was absorbed in the polyethylene causing the ball to explode out of the lip balm

Important aspects in packaging design

• Interaction product-packaging

• Engineering and physics

• Processing

• Dimensions (has to fit in crates, needs to be stackable for example)

• Graphical design in relation to processing

Dividing functions

• Portioning to be able to use the product (part of the definition of packaging)

• Conserving/protecting the product

• Distributing the product

• Informing every step in the chain

• Selling the product

Packaging triangle

Why are cocktails of fruits used?

• A cocktail is less ‘vulnerable’ and has a longer shelf life

• Only one fruit will have noticeable differences in taste.

Ebbinhaus or Titchener illusion

• Orange balls appear in different sizes

• However our hands will not reach differently for the different orange balls

• This also plays a part in how we design packages and how our thinking is different from our unconscious actions.

How long can you put “new” on your packaging?

For a year, and if you change it, you can put new on the packaging again.