时间：2022-05-30 09:19:12
Abstract：As the most powerful and appealing artistic factor， color plays a very important role in the packaging design. The color of packaging not only concerns the visual effect of merchandise display， but also exerts impact on the consumers’ purchasing desire directly. This article mainly focuses on the particular regulations， followed during the whole process of packaging design， and the main roles that the color of packaging design play in the product marketing， through which to mine the potential designing concepts within it.
Key words：packaging design， characters of packaging colors， color design
中图分类号：J524 文献标识码：Ａ 文章编号：1005-5312（2012）36-0177-02
1. The differences between the color in packaging design and painting
Generally speaking， the design concept of the colors in packaging design and in painting is theoretically consistent. However， there are some differences between colors in these two different fields. Color in painting represents the painter’s pursuits with his own feeling， which tends to be emotional. While on the other hand， color in packaging design is more rational， it would put more emphasis on abstract generalization and decoration. In order to achieve the best decorative effect of color， it is usually flexible deployment， unaffected by the color of light source， of environment and of nature.
The famous designer Mr. Cai Qiren held the opinion that the designer is not the same as the artist， which is worth being thought about. In his point of view， the artist could be totally emotional， while the designer has to be rational to balance after emotional feeling. When the artist is fulfilled with all kinds of fanciful ideas in his mind， he will， at all costs， pour all his creative ideas to his works regardless of the point of view of the crowd. Because the fact is that his painting works only needs to be responsible for his own artistic world. Things are totally different in the side of those designers， for them， they need to take the objective condition of the environment into consideration. They have to take into consideration whether the design is feasible， whether the design is realistic for promoting the products marketing， and whether there will be some influences to the public， etc. In a word， we can say that the biggest difference between color in packaging design and painting is that the former one is with some merchandise features.
2. Important meaning of color in packaging design
Generally， a design is usually composed of three elements. They are color， image， and text description. Among the above mentioned three elements， color is considered to be more important. Mr. Cai ever put forth that people are always very sensitive to the colors. When they come into a design for the first time， the colors will grab their attention at the first sight， the image second， and then the text description. Packaging design， also includes functional design， such as the choosing， the shaping and the construction of packaging materials， graphics color and text description artistic design. No matter from which point of view， the designer must put the consumer at the very first place. For the designer， the most important task is to make out how to attract consumer’s attention and how to express the information of the related products accurately in the shortest time. Before paying attention to shapes and other factors， the first factor should be considered is the colors used in packaging design， which will give you a strong impression. Good packages should be composed of matching colors， which will certainly make people imagine how excellent the merchandise is， and then they surely want to know more details about it， such as its functions， quality， and other aspects， thus resulting in strong urge to buy it. For the same kind of products， the color differences in their packaging will lead to different popularities. Those products look like higher grade under beautiful color packaging. You will find that it is the effect of proper use of colors. Nowadays， with the accelerating product homogenization trend， product individuation demand is the dominant factor in the merchandise marketing. With powerful color design， the products could come to market successfully at the first time and lock the consumer’s eyes rapidly. If the enterprise does not pay important attention for the visual design of products， what it losses is not only one time focusing from the public， but the most important， a commercial opportunity.
3. Requirements of design for packaging color
3.1 Strong attraction and expression
Attraction refers to the capability to attract the consumers， influence people's feeling， spirit and even action unconsciously. For example， the world famous film manufacturers use different colors to expand their differences and thus to enhance their unique visual effects， for instance， yellow of Kodak， green of Fuji， and blue of Konica. The three films use different colors to create their strong identification respectively， and so that they can attract their own consumers. Expression represents product itself， arousing consumers through accurate color orientation. For instance， Procter and Gamble launches four shampoo brands， Rejoice， Pantene， Head and Shoulders， and VS Sassoon in Chinese market. In order to strengthen the different product characteristics， the packages are with appropriate colors. “Rejoice” is used for oily hair， with grass green packaging， which will make you feel youthful and silky. “Pantene” is used for protecting damaged and furcated hair， with apricot package to show nutrient-rich effect and highlight “penetrating from the roots to the ends of hair， make it healthy and shining”. “Head and Shoulders” is used to eliminate dandruff， with sea-green package， which makes you to imagine blue sea and feel very cool， and show “dandruff disappeared， hair looks better”. “VS Sassoon” is with dark red package and applicable for various kinds of hair. Named by the inventor’s name makes people feel that the quality of this brand being more stable than others.
3.2 Reflecting natures and characteristics of merchandise
Color selections should fit with the function of the product itself， the application scope， and the likings of its target consumers. In this case， to design and packaging properly and scientifically may lead to powerful sales， as appropriate packaging color would enhance the consumers’ identification and acceptance for the merchandise， and even generating strong purchasing urge. Practice has proved that cosmetics are suitable for packaging with neutral colors， such as beige， green， sea-blue， milky white， pink， and so on， which looks like with elegant and superior quality effect. For the food packaging， bright and colorful colors are used， such as pink， bright orange， orange， etc. emphasizing fragrant and sweet smell and taste. Chocolate， cereal always adopt warm colors， such as gold， red， and coffee to make people feel delicious， tasty and nutrient-rich. The tea is usually using green as packaging color， with fresh and healthy feeling. White is always used for medicines package to indicate cleanness， health and reliable curative effect. Cold foods prefer to blue and white as the package color， which are with cool and snow sensing， highlighting frozen and healthy. The Nestle of Switzerland， one of the famous coffee manufacturers， had done an experiment that they poured a same pot of coffee to three different coffee cans respectively with different colors， red， yellow， and green cans， and they asked a dozen people to have a taste for them and to make a comparison among the three. The result was that all the tasters thought that the coffee in green can tasted a little sour， yellow can with a light taste， and the red can with the most excellent taste. Finally， Nestle decided to use red color package for their coffee product， which was very popular as expected after coming into the market.
3.3 Simple and bright colors
Colors always capture the people in visual art first， not required so various， plentiful or advanced grey. They are not only required to satisfy people’s visual feeling， but also to promote the goods to the consumers through accurate color designs. Why similar goods placing on the same shelf are sold differently？ Why some of them popular， but others not like that. Except for consumer’s personal preference， the price， quality， quantity and other factors， more important is the different feelings that the color of those packages gives. Usually， the simple and bright color with integrated design would impress the consumers more easily.
3.4 Colors with creativity
The real soul of a design is from the designer’s creativity. A color design without designing concept is no more than a beautiful empty body， which may be captured the eyes at first glance， but is doubtable on whether it can be remembered by the audience for a long time. Only incorporate the creating idea into the color designs， which will be with soul to describe feeling and meaning to the audience. Mr. Cai Qiren suggested that designers should start from designing concept carefully at first rather than making color design simplified and formulated. For instance， if all cola uses red packages， chocolate with brown packages， cleaning products with blue and white packages， it must weaken the visual impact of the merchandise for the similar packages. If the designers make so many efforts on creativity and individuation， that unexpected excellent effects will be received by themselves. As we know， black is never used in cleaning supplies. However， Portuguese a paper manufacturer produced a king of black toilet paper with three-layer， which caused a great sensation in Europe. Up to now， more than ten thousand rolls have been sold in the worldwide and in short supply.