Signage and Packaging Design Principles
Signage
Signage is an activity belonging to graphic design, which studies and develops a visual communication system synthesized into a set of signs or symbols that meet various functions.
Difference Between Signage and Marking
- Marking is aimed at regulating human and motorized traffic, predominantly in outdoor areas.
- Signage aims to identify, regulate, and facilitate access to required services.
Signage Language
Signage language is a display language requiring quick comprehension due to the immediacy of the message.
Signaling Features
- Purpose: Functional, organizational
- Orientation: Information, education
- Procedure: Visual
- Code: Signs, symbols
- Language: Iconic, universal
- Presence: Discrete, punctual
- Operation: Automatic, instant
Pictograms
Pictograms do not focus on individual characters, but are generic and essential. This is the basic form of abstraction that separates what is essential from a field of vision or thought.
Classification of Signals
Informational signs provide information, either specific or general, in relation to identified or named locations.
Pictogram as Module
Pictograms are signs that convey messages in urban settings and architectural spaces. They are often grouped into conceptual and thematic series.
Standards Manual
It is essential that the designer creates a manual for the signs. The manual will be included in the files of all signals, and will specify the selected font, the final pictograms, color code, types of signs, modular compositional pattern, sign dimensions, and placement heights.
Packaging Design
Packaging Concept: The set of visual elements used to present a product to the prospective buyer in the most attractive way possible, conveying brand values and positioning within a market.
Types of Packaging
- Primary Packaging: Is in direct contact with the product.
- Secondary Packaging: Contains one or more primary packages.
- Tertiary Packaging: Groups primary and secondary containers in a container that unifies and protects them during the commercial distribution process.
Packaging and Graphic Design
Color is the most complete element and has the closest connection with emotions. Most consumers remember a product’s packaging by its color more than by its name or brand.
From a marketing aspect, color aims to:
- Create a stimulus for sale.
- Improve the product’s presentation, making it more attractive.
- Help convey the precise size and volume of products.
- Differentiate the product from the competition.
- Position the product by giving it personality.
Visibility is the power that color has to capture consumer attention. Every color emits a vibration that is perceived by the eye and transmitted to the brain for identification. The intensity of vibration depends on the color (e.g., yellow, orange, blue, red).
Forms
The set of lines and shapes, and their revolutions, take their meaning from the lines themselves, as well as the form.
Text in Packaging
The third basic element of communication is text. Readability is superior in texts with sensitive case compared to those composed entirely in capital letters. Compositions with capitalization provide more characteristic forms, which identify brands and sub-brands better and faster.
Packaging and Information
Apart from the marketing assets, packaging is a means of information. Common items on any packaging include the expiry date and nutritional information.