Ideas and tools for new professionals

Reflections on the design of good packaging, but also on the skills needed  to solve problems of form and communication. A contribution from the IED - European Design Institute of Milan, which launches a postgraduate course.  Fabio Bignardi

At present, there are two crucial points that designate the success of a packaging item: information control and time control.
Before the digital revolution, packaging design helped the container to dialogue with the consumer. Design times and rhythms were in another dimension. Once the product protection issues were resolved and an effective communication had been constructed that respected the technical rules, marketing logics and regulations, the packaging was ready to go to press.
 
Today the process has changed enormously, thanks to the solutions introduced by digital technology, but new difficulties have arisen that have only been partially solved. As often happens “design” intervenes to solve the challenges posed by technological innovation. The professional who has the responsibility of working on a packaging design must find new solutions to manage an ever increasing number of projects, as well as a quantity of information that increases considerably, while at the same time maintaining the need to concentrate everything in just a few centimetres.
 
In the last twenty years the speed of designing a packaging has been reduced significantly and the quantity of products that a private or national brand company is able to launch every year has increased tenfold. The segmentation of the lines on the market is being reorganized and after years of launches of new brands and new lines, companies are forced to review their product portfolio, trying to optimize and focus only on those that belong to their core business.
 
In addition to this work of evaluating the strengths and optimization of products, part of the energy must be channeled to innovate and grow new businesses: which is why professionals who have the skills to follow these processes have become increasingly crucial figures for companies.

Choosing creative solutions for a private or national brand company is not a problem. The design process has been simplified and achieved results that until a few years ago were unthinkable thanks to the availability of digital platforms, graphics-, photographic and layout software, image databases and typographic fonts that have made work more fluid.
But it is no longer enough to have a great creative idea.
To have your product reach point of sale you need to have the preparation, the knowledge, and master the language to be able to discuss with the many “actors” involved in the various design phases: with product-, production-, marketing and packaging heads, company quality control, communication agencies, installers, photolithists and printing companies, to make packaging functional for everyone.
Design has always been the most correct tool for solving problems of form and communication and a professional must know how to interpret and govern the same, because at no time like today has packaging been so akin to design.

“Innovation in Packaging Design”: a postgraduate course
Safe wrapping for the product, endowed with a strong narrative and communicative power, and subject to constant technological evolution, packaging is of strategic importance to consumer goods producers and purchasers alike.
For this reason, the skills involve include not only product design, but research into materials, the production and recycling of the same, not to mention information to the purchaser, which is why an integrated design that takes all these factors into account requires an articulated and complex professional background.
It is with this premise that the European Design Institute in Milan, as of October 2019, has enriched its postgraduate training offer with an Advanced Training Course, which addresses the world of packaging from the point of view of design innovation and research, without neglecting aspects associated with economic competitiveness.
The “Innovation in Packaging Design” course - coordinated by Fabio Bignardi, Director of DOC Design - lasts five months and aims to offer a complete update, which enables innovation in packaging, acquiring a clear vision of the supply chain and its actors, delving into the following topics: design and tools for design thinking, branding skills, methods of applying graphics to packaging, development of materials and technologies, ethical and environmental sustainability.

*The course has been activated by the IED in partnership with MarcabyBolognaFiere - the Private Label Conference and Exhibition, an annual event hosting important names in Organized Modern Distribution and a rich selection of international copackers.