Proposal

Through exploring the impact of packaging on the consumer, especially with regard to colour theory, in my essay, I have begun to focus on the subliminal choices made by consumers in regard to products through a visual means. I want to focus mainly on the impact of colour with regard to packaging, and what social messages are already ingrained in us. If possible I will create small experiments using visual material I have produced in order to see the impacts of both form and colour in packaging, as well as investigating to what extent the public is aware of their predispositions when it comes to packaging. I would also like to look at the more abstract side of colour, as through exploring why colour is important, I will investigate what colour is to different people, and how people experience colour in different ways, such as colour blindness and synthenasia. After reading works by Bowlby and Humpheries, I have begun to understand just how important packaging is when it comes to making a sale, and how easily manipulated people are by what is perceived as the ‘norm’ or the ‘best’. Therefore, the investigation of big brand names has started to unearth the reliance and recognition we have on brands across the globe. In order to develop these ideas further I will continue to replicate packaging in my own manner through extensive drawing and photographing, as well as researching and visually investigating more abstract considerations of colour. I will then possibly begin to interpret these into new designs for packaging which reveal the true meaning of the design choices for the originals.