Design and Market Positioning of Featured Toy Packaging (Part 2)

3 The basic characteristics of characteristic toy packaging design

3. 1 Graphic Features

The popular street culture in recent years has added new vitality to the young people's culture circle. The creative and expressive desires of young people have been vented in all kinds of powerful graphic designs, and novel graphics that constantly appear in clothing, accessories and graffiti. , is the best reference for attracting young people's product packaging, this style of graphics can also be extended to the flat display of the package, so that it has young people's visual language elements. The attractiveness of featured toys lies in their uniqueness and individuality. They do not need to show the appearance of the product itself on the outer packaging. A graphic that gives people association, a rough outline, is enough to attract the attention of young people [3]. Young consumers already have a basic worldview, a view of life, and the necessary discernment skills. Therefore, young people's toy packaging design should not have as many restricted areas as children's toys, just as the main force of consumption is also young people's products. - Music CD, its use of visual elements in the packaging design is very diverse, and some bold and innovative applications make the product outstanding personality and sales. The packaging design of Japan's hot toy "Violence Bear" highlights the "blood" element of art processing, which is used properly and closely linked to the product name, so that the packaging is not only vulgar, but also very prominent The brand characteristics and unconventional style of work effectively promoted sales and did not bring any negative impact. Another point that cannot be ignored is that contemporary young people are basically growing up under the influence of cartoon pop culture. People who love cartoon works have a large proportion among young consumers, and toys have always been closely related to cartoons. The segmented industry, focusing on the cartoon features in the featured toy packaging design, is of course an important means to narrow the distance with and interact with young consumers; it is different from the cartoon images highlighted by children's toys, and the cartoon elements used in the packaging of featured toys are different. It should also be full of characteristics, can not be too modeled, can not be dragged down by too much educational significance, an exaggerated, full of personality, can make young people feel the heart of the cartoon image can make the charm of the toy itself greatly increased, of course, also on the packaging Can be echoed with the content, highlight the characteristics of the cartoon and increase the attractiveness of the package.

3. 2 color features

Color is one of the most important form factors in packaging design, and often attracts consumers' attention before other factors. In order to achieve the goal of widening the gap with the traditional sense of toy product image, the use of a large number of dark colors in the packaging design of distinctive toys is not a taboo. Too bright and harmonious colors not only make consumers feel like children's toys, but also Does not meet the aesthetic tastes of young people. Dark-colored or red and black and other contrasting packaging colors can make the image of toy packaging significantly different from other lively toy packaging styles. It also helps to create a series of packaging images and brand color impressions, and enhance the sense of quality of the toy itself. .

3. 3 Material and Appearance Features

Glass bottles, tin cans, cloth bags and other packaging products seem to have little to do with toy products. Common toys are mostly packed in cartons or transparent plastic packaging. This has become a common practice, but since it is a specialty toy, The form of packaging should also be full of features; closed opaque packaging is a good choice, and there is no need to worry about young consumers complaining that they cannot see the toy itself. It is just a child's request for a toy, a unique graphic expression on the packaging, and a cartoon image. And pre-sales advertising is enough to convey the information that consumers need. Under the premise of highlighting the basic attributes of “toys”, a fresh packaging form not only makes the product stand out in the counter, is full of novelty, but also can maintain a certain degree of The sense of mystery fully caters to the curious and curious young consumers. In Japan, selling “gasp eggs”—a person packed in a spherical package, the toy series is a good example. Their packaging is almost the same and opaque. The dolls of different styles are purely The buyer's luck, this characteristic toy set off a boom in sales in Japan and has not subsided so far.

4 Conclusion

China's domestic specialty toy market is in its infancy and has great potential for development. Although there are mature toy markets in Hong Kong and Taiwan regions and some developed countries as examples and references, they should not be blindly imitated. Domestically, China has its own national conditions, toy market, and The corresponding consumers, of course, have their own characteristics. How to use the accurate positioning of packaging design to win this emerging huge market is an area that design workers need to continuously explore and study. Based on the design theory and existing examples, the article puts forward some of the viewpoints we have summarized. It also needs continuous improvement and improvement after market practice tests.

Author: Yuanen Pei, Li Huan, Chongqing University,

Source: Packaging Engineering, Issue 3, 2005