Bad Packaging Design

In daily lives, people can meet varied modes of packaging. Individuals may love product due to their good packaging design and may deny something because of its bad packaging. The post will talk about bad packaging design to avoid some problems during the period of designing mooncakes packaging.

'Individually packaged bananas'

For banana, it is not necessary to seal the package separately with plastic, because it is not that fragile and has its own skin.
The packaging is wasted and environmentally unfriendly behaviour.

'Unnecessarily large packaging'

There are such big packaging and I feel curious if small tiny flash drives are wrapped in the big packaging. It is obvious that the answer is no.

In the process of designing packaging, the features of the product itself are an important point, according to two examples.

Later, I narrowed my search down to the packaging of mooncakes.

Over-packaging of mooncakes

After searching for some pictures from mooncakes on Google, I found there are too many beautiful and delicate mooncake boxes, even some of them use some complex packaging layers. Due to the homogeneity of tastes, companies and individuals who choose a mooncake as a gift tend to choose a mooncake with more elaborate packaging. As a result, mooncake sellers are increasingly prone to over-packaging in order to fetch a high price, for example, a mooncakes box with the dressing table style in the picture below. 

 The mooncakes are wrapped in at least three layers. This is a very exquisite box that is suitable as a gift, but  I do not think that it is a good experience for people who want to eat mooncakes to open so many packaging layers before eating them. 
Also, the red outer packing box is not suitable for the blue, pink, grass-green and yellow-green small box.





Most of the criticism about the mooncakes packaging is about the environment, for example, 'this is due to the glossy varnish or waterproof wax covering most boxes, and as such, the boxes are eventually sent to the incineration plant'(Zheng and Tan, n.d)

It may be a good choice that the layer of packaging that comes into direct contact with the mooncake is made of biodegradable paper or is cancelled, instead of plastic.

Pre-design Work & Inspiration

Pre-design Work

1. Known Information of MX mooncakes

• there are many kinds of logos on the website
• the simple history of MX mooncake
• general font of name and time (but I'm thinking about changing a font)
• no general colour
• some patterns from MX mooncake boxes 
• mooncake ingredients: French Butter, coconut cream, whipping cream and supreme salted egg yolks. 

logos

2. Deadline: before Friday

3. Content of Packaging

• MX logo
• time 
• Chinese & English name of the mooncake
• some patterns (butterfly, flowers, hill, water, rabbit, moon, the goddess in the moon)
• other product information

 4. Search & Change materials

• natural & traditional Chinese patterns, such as butterfly, flowers, hill, water, lantern, rabbit, moon, the goddess in the moon, and so on.
• elegant colour atlas
• suitable font 
• suitable composition proportion
• good & bad example & theory of packing design
• good poster of packaging design

Inspiration

1. Inspired by Mooncakes packagings of MX:

Material: MX mooncakes have two common packaging materials. I choose cardboard in this design.

metal boxes 

cardboard boxes

Modes of the packaging: According to the above pictures and my experience, there are three modes of the packaging I list. I choose the first one.

three modes of packaging(possible) 

Packaging layers & layout: According to some pictures of  MX  mooncakes cardboard boxes, there are eight surfaces in the outer packing.

Including:

• the top: a pattern,  the axial symmetry layout & local variation
• the button or side: a very small area including some product information

two layouts of the  top(possible) 

the bottom & sides of layouts (possible)

2. Inspired by Other sources

Style: After searching for some pictures from some kirigami art on websites, I found that the pattern of paper-cut style gives people a three-dimensional and rich feeling in the vision. 

Shanxi paper-cut

This is exactly the kind of holiday effect I want to create on the packaging. I decided to try to this style.

Composition of pattern: According to the style above, I  choose three possible kinds.

• line 
• colour filling 
• the sand painting

Elements of the main pattern & Fronts: After looking at some pictures of paper-cut online, I try to identify some possible elements blew.

butterfly & the goddess in the moon & fronts

Colour: According to the ingredient of mooncakes and the time of year when people eat them--on Mid0Autumn, I  think of three couple of colours. I may choose the second one.

• (may) light yellow and dark yellow, the symbol of the moonlight or filling
• (may) silver and mazarine, the symbol of the night
• (may) light yellow and deep red, the symbol of the festival

Plan & Development of Dseign

Plan

1. Before design

Firstly, I collect some information about MX mooncake and identify what kind of MX mooncake to redesign the package for.

The information may include:

• logo
• colour and font in the package 
• package layers and size
• packaging materials
• content in the package
• possible style 
• package history 
• other 

Then, I need to study how to use AI software.

2. Tools(possible)

• pencils
• sketchbook
• black or colourful pen
• cardboard
• other

3. Software(possible)

• PS
• AI
• ID

4. Design process(possible)

The detailed schedule depends on the detailed situation, and this is only a plan.

• draw concepts on the sketchbook
• identity a  concept
• adjust the design on the sketchbook
• draw on the laptop
• detailed design
• final piece

Ps: those stages may be interrupted by some feedback, and I regularly update some information and photo about my idea and design process.

Development

1. Some information of MX mooncakes

I choose to redesign Lava Custard Mooncake because the mooncake is my favourite MX mooncake.

Lava Custard Mooncake Series from MX mooncake
http://www.hkmxmooncakes.com/overseas/en/product/series2/index.html

It above shows the front of whole the Lava Custard Mooncake from MX mooncake. 
According to the picture, I found those patterns with tradition factors are made of many lines. Also, MX mooncakes are packaged in a generic font but not in a generic colour, and the colour may tend to be cool. 

In addition, the packaging material of this series maybe cardboard. The size of the mooncake box is 332 x 170 x 61 mm.

after opening  packaging
https://www.maximsproducts.com.hk/tc/product/lava-custard-mooncake

2. Ideas(may)
 I may continue to use the style similar to those packagings of MX. I still use traditional and natural elements to design the packaging. I hope my mooncake box is simpler than the original one.

Mooncake Packaging Investigation

My assignment about digital design is to redesign the package of an existing product, and I choose MX mooncake to redesign its package. Before designing, I need to research the mooncake and its packaging.

Target: MX Mooncake

The mooncake is one of the most popular traditional bakery products in China, and people from Greater China can share it with families and friend during the Mid-Autumn festival. Due to many brands in Greater China and similar tastes between different brands, the packaging of the product is particularly important in the middle and high-end market of mooncake.

MX is one of the famous brands of mooncake in China. I have ever bought some MX mooncakes, and I think Lava Custard Mooncake of MX is very delicious. Because the strengths of MX mooncake are that its packaging is exquisite, its price is in the middle range, and the taste is good, some of the Chinese people or companies usually buy it as a gift or holiday welfare for employees. Also, some people buy it only for good taste.

I search for some packages of different brands for designing the package of MX.

Example

1. MX Mooncake

Introduction:

MX is a brand from Hong Kong, China, and it is also one of the most famous mooncake brands in China.

The mooncake in the picture is called "Lava Custard". 

The target customer:

companies that give gifts to customers or as a corporate holiday benefit

Individuals who like to eat this flavour of MX mooncake or want to give relatives and friends holiday gifts.

Packaging description:

Lava Custard Mooncake from MX Mooncake

http://www.hkmxmooncakes.com/overseas/en/product/series1/index.html

The outer surface of the package is made up of eight light yellow paper surfaces. The front is a pattern of many golden yellow lines, where there are a lot of petals, butterflies, mountains and rivers, and a moon with a rabbit and logo of MX inside. 

This pattern has Chinese cultural elements (moon and rabbit) and natural style. These two yellows are from the adjusted colours of the mooncake filling. What I find fascinating is that those butterfly-like patterns appear to be both a butterfly and a flower.

2. Dao Xiang Cun Mooncake

Introduction:
Dao Xiang Cun is a historical brand from Suzhou city, China. It is also one of the most famous mooncake brands in China

The target customer:

companies that give gifts to customers or as a corporate holiday benefit

Individuals who like to eat this flavour of Dao Xiang Cun mooncake or want to give relatives and friends holiday gifts.

Packaging description:

Dao Xiang Cun Mooncake

http://www.jiangsutravel.us/dao-xiang-cun-moon-cake

Here are three different sizes of red packing and the main pattern of those packings is based on the same pattern. The front consists of a logo and name of the brand and a main colourful pattern that is a vase full of flowers. Those flowers form an endless circle. 

The pattern with Chinese traditional Suzhou-style painting and big yellow fonts, matched on a red background, create a floral festival effect.

3. Starbucks Mooncake


Introduction:
Starbucks is a chain of coffee shops from the US, and often sell other products related to festivals. For example, it can sell mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

The target customer:

Individuals  who are interested in Starbucks food

Packaging description:

Starbucks Mooncake

https://www.starbucks.com.hk/promo/mooncake2019

The packaging with classic style from Starbucks has a nice name, called "Moon Light Box". This is a three-dimensional packing that the centre of that is a hole, where a classic Starbucks mermaid holds up a moon in a sea of classic Starbucks colour.

Unlike the other two brands of packagings which are more about showing mooncake, this packaging design focuses on the brand, Starbucks. 

Inspiration

After research three kinds of mooncake packaging from different brands, I can get some elements of packaging design about mooncake boxes

• brand logo or element
• cultural or festival factor
• colour and font from brand, culture and mooncake.

In this project, my target customer includes companies that give gifts to customers or as a corporate holiday benefit and individuals who like to eat the "Lava Custard" of MX mooncake or want to give relatives and friends holiday gifts.

 I may use the logo about MX, the festival factor that is the moon, the rabbit, or the Goddess in the moon, and colour and font from MX or Chinese culture.

Preliminary Study on packaging design

Digital design is used in many fields, for example, packaging design. For the sake of selling more products, merchants or companies pay attention to design package in addition to production. Good packaging design can catch the eyes of the customer while providing information about the product, and it has been an important stage in the production and sale process. 

I will show and thnk of photos from three goods that I bought in two supermarkets to understand packaging design.

Example

1. tissue box

tissue box

This is a tissue box with a pattern of colourful flowers. There is a hole in the centre of the top where the tissues are pulled out and the product information on the bottom. The packaging depends on the use of the project, and it is simple but attractive.

2. Juice Box

juice box

This is a juice box that covers a pattern of varied fruits. There is product information on the front. 
The package vividly shows what fruit is contained in the juice and it attracts my attention. But I think the package of blended fruit juice is similar to that of apple juice. 
When I choose juice, I often just look at the pattern of the package. But I often confuse other flavours of juice with apple juice.

3. Kettle Box

Left: kettle box; Right: the top

This is a kettle box that has five black surfaces and a white surface on the bottom. There is a pattern with some cups of drink on the top and product information on the other surfaces. Those drinks look like very nice and good.
Although the packaging of the kettle is not important for customers, this packaging also is very nice and functional.

Inspirations

The packaging design may be inspired in many aspects, such as the use, the materials and the consequence of products.

ABOUT ME

Welcome to my blog~~~

I'm going to show my ideas about digital design here.

I'm Runshan Huang from China where I worked as an architect.

I'm studying Art & Design at De Montfort University International College.

This is a picture I took after class.
Dead branches, Red walls, Steel frames

The software I use most often is CAD and SketchUp, which can help me to make architectural drawings and construct module.

Sometimes, I also use Indesign and PS to make presentation files.

The pale green from my blog theme makes the fonts look both interesting and comfortable.

In the following time, I will think of some inspiration for different goals according to some design conditions.
Then, I am going to use some concept sketches and software-made electronic drawings to illustrate my ideas and making process.