Conceptual design of packaging container

[Abstract] The concept of conceptual design in mechanical design was introduced. The concept content, process and requirements of packaging container were deeply demonstrated. Conceptual design is conducive to the development of new product development efficiency for block packaging and speed up packaging design innovation.

Keywords: conceptual design; packaging container

Conceptual design is the initial stage of the design process. It generally refers to the design process from the demand analysis of the product to the detailed design before this stage. The work at this stage highly reflects the creativity, artistry, comprehensiveness and experience of the design. Sex. Practice has proved that once the conceptual design is determined, 60% to 70% of product design will be determined. Therefore, concept design is a very important stage in the design process, and it is also the most valuable stage in the product design process. It has become a commanding point in the enterprise competition. This article gives a thorough demonstration of the concept design of packaging containers.

1 Conceptual Product and Product Conceptual Design

1.1 Conceptual Products

The concept product is a description of the product's overall performance, structure, shape, size, and system characteristic parameters; it is the planning and positioning of the product based on market demand and product positioning; it is the basis of the formal product design, and is used to verify and evaluate the The degree to which market demand is met in order to establish the business goals that the business expects. Conceptual products are not terminal products that are directly used for production, marketing, or service. They are the first structured, basic, and rough ideas for design goals, but they are comprehensive ideas. They describe the basic direction of design goals and main content.

1.2 Product Concept Design

The design that targets the concept product is called the conceptual design of the product. Conceptual design is a series of organized, organized, and targeted design activities that analyze user requirements to generate concept products. It represents a process that grows from coarse to fine, from fuzzy to clear, and from abstract to specific. .

Conceptual design is the most important, most complex and uncertain design stage in the product design process, and it is also the most decisive stage in the process of product formation value. It is a research hotspot in design theory. It needs to integrate and apply multidisciplinary knowledge such as market operations, engineering technology, plastic arts, and design theory, and make conceptual plans for products.

2 Product Concept Design Process

The design process of a general product can be divided into three phases: social investigation and demand analysis, concept design, and detailed design.

2.1 Needs analysis stage

Demand analysis is a preliminary process in the development of new products. Its premise is market research, including marketing surveys, surveys of competitors, and investigations into the progress of product manufacturing technology. On this basis, the company analyzes the three major aspects of business needs, user needs, and technology requirements to determine the direction and specific requirements for the development of new products. Therefore, this process begins with determining the target market and user needs of the company, and describes in words the characteristics of the target market's demand products, including user-oriented, product-oriented technology functions, and enterprise-oriented design, manufacturing, and sales activities.

Demand analysis is always based on the market survey information to market segmentation of the product, and the requirements of the concept of products, can also be seen as an integral part of the concept of design.

2.2 Conceptual Design Process of Products

The product concept design process refers to the further refinement and concretization of the requirements analysis, but mainly the functional planning and description of the products, the morphological composition and color description of the products, and the description of materials, structures and processes. Product concept design should be a comprehensive idea of ​​the product prior to plotting.

The complete product concept design should include product market positioning, product function positioning, product form description, and product selection, structure and technology, and even marketing and service planning can be incorporated into product concept design.

3 Conceptual Design of Packaging Containers

The theory of product conceptual design is applied to the design of packaging containers. The specific content and steps are as follows.

3.1 Packaging Market

1) Market environment: It is mainly the competition situation of similar products within and outside the province, domestic and foreign markets, market size, demand conditions, and distribution modes.
2) Business status: such as the company's production scale, annual advertising and packaging costs, marketing strategies, past product packaging status, requirements for new packaging, availability of CI plans, etc.
3) Status of the packaged goods: characteristics, forms, grades, prices, sales methods, sales targets, life cycle, and special requirements for packaging.
4) Competitors: Describe the basic situation of major competitors, market distribution, analysis of advantages and disadvantages.
5) Consumer behavior: describe the basic situation of consumers and a series of activities during the shopping process.
6) Potential Market Analysis: Analyze the potential market and possible growth points of commodities.

3.2 Packaging Design Positioning

1) The target market strategy, market segmentation of the information obtained from the packaging market survey, to determine the target market for enterprises to enter, the common target market strategies are: no difference packaging market strategy, differential packaging market strategy, centralized packaging Market, etc.
2) Packaging type, grade and style description, determine the type and development series of packaging development according to market description, product status and other factors, determine the packaging grade and style, is a single grade or multi-grade, multi-price series of packaging.
3) Positioning strategy description: Each packaging container provided to the target market needs to establish a positioning strategy for it. Generally, it is based on the brand of the product, the characteristics of the product itself, the position of the consumer, or the combination of the above factors. .

3.3 Packaging Function Concept

1) Physical function: the protection function of the packaging, such as the functions of shockproof, moistureproof, anti-theft, anti-mildew, and insect-proof, etc. The well-packaged protection function not only brings benefits to the enterprise, but also gives the consumer a sense of security and trust. .
2) Mental function: It mainly consists of the aesthetic function, association function and symbolic function of the packaging.
3) Physiological function: The requirements for packaging are convenient functions such as convenient carrying, convenient opening, convenient use, convenient handling, convenient display and sales.
4) Ecological function: It is mainly conceived from the perspective of environmental protection and sustainable development, such as the recycling of packaging materials, low-energy degradation, conversion to secondary raw materials, and biodegradation to functional packaging materials.
5) Social function: refers to the various functions that the packaging must have to meet the overall needs of the society. Strive to make the goods to obtain the greatest economic and social benefits.

3.4 The shape of the packaging container

1) The style orientation, the positioning of the style form determines the sensory characteristics of the package shape, determine a style such as traditional style, or ethnic style, or European style. . . . .
2) Material selection, material characteristics and processing technology have a great influence on the structure, shape, decoration and printing of the packaging. In the conceptual design stage, the materials used for packaging containers should be basically determined.
3) Modeling features: The shape of packaging containers is mainly divided into inner packaging containers and outer packaging containers. There are many similarities between modeling features and styles, but they can have their own characteristics in terms of styling methods.
4) The effect of visual communication, visual communication is mainly through the use of graphics, text, color and appearance modeling, through artistic means to convey product information, that is, packaging and decoration design. Packing and decorating runs through the entire process of design, style, material selection, modeling, structure, text, graphics, and colors of the packaging design. It mainly conceives from the perspective of the psychological information and spiritual functions of aesthetic information.

3.5 Structure and Process Concept

1) Structure: It is necessary to determine the structural type of the packaging container and the special structural forms and technical characteristics of the design and development.
2) Process: The conceptual design should lock the processing route and process method of the packaging container, lock the application of the protection technology of the packaging and the packaging and printing process. Identify the main process and equipment selection and application description and illustration of new processes, new equipment, and new technologies.

3.6 Other ideas

Other ideas include the planning of marketing services and the design of packaging add-ons, which have a non-negligible effect on the promotion of goods.
In summary, the conceptual design of the packaging container is as follows:

4 Significance of Conceptual Design of Packaging Containers

The product design is divided into conceptual product and form product in two parts. The concept product is proposed by the marketing department. The formal product is completed by the design department, which helps the company's new product development and management to achieve a reasonable division of labor and is conducive to the market department's advantages. With a detailed conceptual product description, the design department can create and revisit the concept product based on the conceptual product when designing the product. The design can be visualized to achieve the best packaging design. In short, the conceptual design is conducive to speed up the development of new product packaging efficiency, and is conducive to innovative packaging design.

Source: (Song Xiaozhou)