Packaging
Graphics & Design
by Renée Phillips
Rockport
List Price: $30.00
Reviewed June 2005
By Daniel Fogg
If you are interested in package design process and theory then check
out other titles like This End Up or Packaging Makeovers
because all you will find in this title are endless product photographs.
That does not mean this book has no use or purpose, but as a compilation
of product photographs, I'd say this book doesn't execute the concept
very well. Each product takes up one page with usually just one "beauty"
pass photograph and no detail insets. In many cases a large amount of
page space is wasted with small photographs wedged against the gutter
of the layouts. Many products are shown only in their "closed"
orientation and do not show the interior inserts or reverse angles.
A one to two sentence commentary supposedly provides insight although
generally the information states the obvious such as "this design
uses clean type". Another problem with this book springs from its
focus on food products. While food items often employ interesting designs,
the majority of innovative package design is often derived from media
and toy packaging -two product categories largely ignored here. I am
splitting hairs on this issue but I don't feel that label design is
truly package design. Using my narrow definition I'd say more than a
quarter of the images shown in this book are in actuality, label designs
not package designs. To be fair, the title of the book says "packaging
graphics" but I would venture an opinion that the "& design"
was more of an afterthought.
Organization of content is effectively absent from this book with no
chapters, topic headers or section delineation.
Pros: High-quality photographs of many international products and brands.
Cons: Limited usefulness and complete lack of informative content make
for a nice coffee-table style book.
Final Verdict: Only for package designer junkies.
