Start of essay map and quotes

I have spent several days transcribing sections of my research into a single document, and creating an essay map alongside. I find this a really productive way to work, as I can order my notes and ideas and juxtapose them with the evidence and theories. I still have a lot of work to do on my essay plan and a lot more evidence to transcribe and undertake, but I'm feeling confident in my body of research thus far.

I also used the dictation function on my mac to enable me to quickly gather written evidences of my research, where I can file and store them appropriately.

Practical Proposal

In order to practically explore my essay on the relationship between colour and packaging in regards to packaging, I will look initially at colour palettes and minimal usage of colour to convey themes and messages. I will develop this through traditional print and reusing old textures in order to fully understand the relationship between colours, and help to create a more environmentally friendly body of work. This will lead me onto creating and designing more useful, innovative and responsive solutions to existing packaging through paper manipulation. This will help to develop my discussion of the consumer’s relationship with packaging, through hopefully testing my outcomes on the public to see how their responses match with my aims. I imagine that my project will be heavily influenced by recycling and reusing existing packaging and media to create more ecologically sound solutions, potentially through collage. My work will be strongly informed by Smart, who realises the importance of highlighting the environmental impact of consumer choices of product. It will also explore both Humphrey’s and Packard’s contrasting views about who owns the power of sustainable packaging between the public and the producer. My practical response will gather these aspects into a conclusion of several packaging solutions which are reflective and respectful of the current impact wasteful packaging has on the environment.

Josef Albers- Interaction of Color

I really loved reading this book, as I found it an interesting new take on colour, and how they interact.

It's given me a lot of thoughts about how to approach colour palettes, as well as how tones and moods can be created through the select use of colour.

‘as a consequence, this proves for the reading of colour what Kandinsky often demands for the Reading art: What counts is not what but how’ P. 5

‘herewith one experiences a discrepancy between physical fact and psychic effect called, in this case, a haptic illusion – haptic as related to the sense of touch– the haptic sense’ Albers p.8

‘As “gentlemen prefer blondes” so everyone has a preference for certain colours and prejudices against others. This applies to colour combinations as well.
 It seems good that we are of different tastes.
 As it is with people in our daily lives, so it is with colour.
 We change, correct, or reverse our opinions about colour, and this change of opinion makeshift forth and back’ Albers P. 17

‘therefore, we try to recognise our preferences and our aversions what colours dominate in our work; what colours, on the other hand, are rejected, disliked, or of no appeal. Usually a special effort in using disliked colours ends with our falling in love with them’ Albers P. 17

Kim Humphery- Shelf Life

I had already briefly visited Humphery's work within level 4, and I really enjoyed Humpherys writing style and in depth investigation of packaging and consumption. I looked at her book in more depth and really absorbed all of her writings. I found several key points which will be very useful during the construction of my argument within my dissertation. However, Shelf Life was written in 1998, and it does feel fairly dated in its viewpoints. I definitely need to use some more contemporary literature and some online resources to ensure that what I am discussing is reflective of current affairs.

Below are some of the key quotes which I will be able to use within my essay:

'the package is an extremely important substitute for the personal relationship that people desire'- Humphery p.65

'now the package must do its own selling job, and for that reason a great deal more interest must be taken in the proper packaging of merchandise... the package must 'get attention, arouse interest, create desire, get action'' - Humphery p.87

‘As incomes rose in the second half of the nineteenth century in Britain, the priority for the working class was the consumption of better quality and easily available everyday goods’ p.26

‘Many of these products were imported’ p.27

‘the luxurious, the convenient and the economical, all of which were emphasised in the manufacturers’ efforts to promote their products’- p.27

‘The supposed cleanliness and uniformity of manufactured goods were also sources of celebration’- p28

‘To these packets can be added colours, company logos, promotional spiels, and images. The identity of the product as a material thing becomes increasingly drawn into the cultural realm until even the most everyday of products seems to lose some of its materiality and becomes bound up with ideas and emotions to do with cleanliness, uniformity, convenience, progress, modernity, class status, gender roles and identities, luxury, sensuality and so on’ p.33

‘the meanings attached a product rather than simply the product itself becomes the central part of retailing’ p.33

 ‘by the late nineteenth century large food manufacturing concerns had become an important part of Australia’s industrial landscape. Their products were also becoming household names’ p.41