Package Design - November/December 2014 - 8

front

PA N E L

Insight on Global

Clemson University professor helps students develop an international
perspective to package design.

T

o help the next generation of package
designers understand how packaging
graphics must consider more than
language differences but factor in geographic,
regulatory and cultural concerns from country to country, Nona Woolbright, Ph.D., associate professor, department of graphic
communications, at Clemson University,
started a study abroad program that introduces American students to European packaging. Package Design spoke
to Woolbright about the program to help marketers and
package designers interested
in moving beyond the United
States ask the right questions to avoid design and
branding pitfalls.

They go through the full process of designing
a product package with all the steps included
from researching the competition, to determining brand colors, to the considerations
involved in shelf shape and even shipping
costs when deciding the substrate to use for
the physical package. And to do this while
considering the ramifications from different
global markets as well.
Next, the students experience the diversity

PD: What inspired the
project topic?
Woolbright: Our graphic
communications students
were wanting a study abroad
experience that was specific
to their major. While on a
2012 exploratory trip to the
U.K. to determine if a study
abroad opportunity could be
developed, I found I was fascinated by the differences in the look and design of the packaging in that country. Upon returning to the
States, I came up with the idea of introducing
the students to these differences directly and
then building the course around that
concept.

PD: What were the top three
findings from the project?
Woolbright: First, because Clemson's graphics program is technically orientated from
the science of printing and the management
of the manufacturing process, this course
allows the students to go deeper into other
concerns equally as valuable to packaging.

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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2014

PD: What potential pitfalls are
there when designing packages
that need to be marketed in
multiple countries?
Woolbright: Poor color choice is a prime
example because psychology of color is different across the globe. You will find red in the
U.S. denotes everything from danger to love to
passion while in China it symbolizes good
luck, happiness and joy. Likewise product
naming can be tricky. A perfectly
acceptable name in English might have
a translation completely inappropriate
or even offensive in another country. A
notable example was Schweppes Tonic
Water, which when translated to Italian
means "toilet water". You must also
consider how package design/structure
fits the consumer's lifestyle as well as
their pantry shelf. Food storage
requirements-from shape and size-
can vary across the globe. The students
quickly become aware of the fact that
not everyone has a large Americanstyle kitchen.

PD: What's the next research
project you're working on?
of the many cultures that all come together
within the lively city of London and how that
kind of variable should play a key element in all
aspect of their package design. They learned
first-hand what might work well and even
more importantly, what might actual fail in
their own design process.
Finally, the students return to the U.S.
with an experience that I believe makes them
think in a new way. They realize there are so
many options outside their comfort zone and
now that they have spent a month living in
the heart of one of the largest cities in the EU.
They hopefully see they can make the leap
from "being from the Southern U.S." to
becoming a global citizen.

Woolbright: Perhaps offering a version
of the course in Japan or adding an expanded
section to the class where the student would
follow a live consumer package from actual
design to production and through the distribution chain so they see the full life cycle from
concept to the store shelf. Our students have a
strong foundation is the technical side of
graphics and packaging as a manufacturing
process, but they are equally grounded in the
business, management and much of the supply
chain of the products they create. As our graduates are hired across the board from print
production management to advertising and
marking agencies, we want to be sure we have
these sorts of non-traditional opportunity
available as well. l
Package Design - November/December 2014

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