Miller Magazine Issue: 143 November 2021

65 COVER STORY MILLER / november 2021 in the future. A brand identity created in a unique style be- comes a “signature”. Just as your signature is recognized among friends, this signature is recognized among consum- ers and creates a sense of “familiarity” and friendship for your product. Manufacturers, which have so many products and brands under them, may unfortunately not have made their expan- sion and growth plans for years while determining the limits of their product range. Category management is a separate branch that emerged out of such a need. Experts who provide consultancy or work directly within the brand share their studies with the relevant units in order to correctly perceive and classify the products in the face of the consumer while controlling the growth of the brands owned by the manufacturer. The graphical solutions for category management and separa- tion of this category have to be very smart and simple. Such projects remind me of “Information Design”. There are simi- larities between them. At the very beginning of the project, the designer and his team should consider the possible growth moves of the brand over the years. It should be considered that the pack- aging designs can be diversified according to the category, and that they can be easily applied to different weights or volumes. The importance of the corporate identity guide for the brand is revealed here. While a meticulous guide solves many problems on the spot, if he cannot see and plan ahead the chaos that will arise in the future, the problems will need to be reconsidered. I think that the success of designers is not only to find solutions to daily problems, but also to see the future for the brand and bring solutions. WHEN ASSESSING THE DESIGN The graphic and visual elements on the packaging should be clear, simple and easily understandable. The generaliza- tion “less is better” also applies to packaging. One of the duties of packaging is to explain the im- portance and benefits of the product it contains to the consumer in a short time and to communicate with the consumer in a short time. The brand, product name, short description of the product, the effects of the pho- tograph or illustration used on each other and the order of dominance of the visual elements on the packag- ing should be decided very well. After all, the form and color of the packaging are the features that give the first signal to the consumer and communicate with the consumer first. How easy can it be to find the elegance of expensive wine bottles and similar alcoholic beverages, the explosion of energy in carbonated drinks, the color world of fruit juic- es, the magical green bottle of mineral water packaging, and to reveal an unthought-out design among tens of thou- sands of products? THE IMPORTANCE OF COLOR AND MATERIAL… There are some products that have been identified with their colors and opened an important period in known product colors. While chocolate products are generally pro- duced in red, brown, cream or white colors depending on the milk ratio, all these have changed thanks to the Milka brand. Milka brand's use of purple-lilac color in chocolate and wafers and its professional management of this process led to the emergence of packages with similar products and colors. The fact that dark brown in dark chocolates and green in pistachio has created an important awareness in the con- sumer, and when the consumer wants to buy a chocolate with pistachio, they look for the green color. The light blue packaging also created coconut brand awareness, creating a habit in the consumer and had a significant place. We see that chocolates with coconut are offered for sale in a com- position using light blue colors, supported by the image of a divided coconut. Even coconut soap can carry similar de- sign elements. In this case, it is useful to examine consumer behavior and mentality, depending on the characteristics of the prod- uct for which you will design the packaging, in the market you will enter. Color can identify a brand. It is not a coincidence that the leading brands of the industry have similar colors. Color can be used to create a “mood” such as fun, grace, activity or warmth. It is not a coincidence that a common language in colors is used in all works special for Mother's Day. It is pos- sible to see the color tones that I can describe as powder pink in all communication tools. On Valentine's Day, this col- or is red. Color serves to indicate the color, type, taste and smell of the product inside the package and provides cat- egory distinction. If used correctly and appropriately, it can achieve great things. I recommend you to organize a product-oriented trip by organizing your visit to a market specially. In this way, it may be possible to obtain very rich data and to gain more and more detailed ideas about packaging approaches. Observation, examination, realization of what has not been done...This is the formula of packaging design.