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Packaging design by Jonathan Sands Are many products meaningless without their packaging? Jonathan Sands explains packaging design 's role in protecting contents, selling products, and helping people to use them He discusses the rise of green packaging, how consumer driven demand is helping to improve packaging recyclability as well as reducing greenhouse emissions. 09 November 2006, Updated 29 October 2007 An introduction to packaging design The term ‘brand’ originates from the days when farmers used to brand their cattle to register ownership of their herd. Before long the brand began to represent not just the owner but their values and quality of their product; it became a mark of security and trust. Packaging has always had a fundamental role to play in the way brands communicate these values. From these relatively humble beginnings packaging design in the modern age has become one of the most sophisticated, holistic and powerful examples of the designer’s craft. The full life cycle of packaging now touches on all of the key issues facing business today and it is important to understand its impact from cradle to grave. From where the original product is sourced and the cost of materials used, to the transportation costs to store and the legacy issues surrounding its reuse or disposal designers today must consider the full impact of a pack’s design. What is packaging design? Packaging design can be viewed in four different ways:a means of protecting the contents of a package a contributor to the cost of the end product a sales canvas on which to promote the product 's attributes and benefits a part of the product experience itself The role of packaging Packaging plays many functional roles from protecting contents to helping the user employ the product but perhaps its main job is still seen as one to help sell the product at the point of purchase. Most products are meaningless (or at least

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