Unique Japanese packaging art

Abstract: Japan's natural environment, traditional aesthetic concepts, and the rapid development of modern economy have given Japan a unique art form language, natural and asymmetric, simple and extreme, the embodiment of other senses of the body, the symbiosis of traditional temperament and modern atmosphere, With respect to the environment, we have built a spiritual world that goes beyond material.

Keywords: Japanese packaging Art characteristics

Saying goodbye to the relatively rational and large-scale industrial production of the 20th century, we entered the 21st century that featured informationization, advocated sensibility, and promoted the integration of people and things. The abundance and homogeneity of goods make the sales environment increasingly complex and increasingly competitive. Therefore, the connotation and function of modern packaging have already been in stark contrast to traditional packaging concepts, becoming a commercial carrier integrating science and technology, artistic thinking, consumer orientation, and environmental protection.

Japan's packaging design is based on art appreciation. It conveys the spirit of the enterprise, the brand personality, and the content of goods, and successfully builds a visual code that is applicable to commercial content. It gradually develops a unique art style, highlighting its unique aesthetics. The taste has become an important visual carrier and communication medium for Japanese products to the world.

Nature and asymmetry

Looking at the Japanese packaging, we will find that the enthusiasm and expression of nature and the asymmetry of composition and form are its major features. The formation of this unique style is influenced by the environment on which it depends, and it also has profound thoughts behind it. Source stream.

Japan is an island country with a beautiful natural environment and a diverse forest ecosystem. Surrounded by the sea, there are a wide variety of marine life and provide Japanese people with a rich source of food. From the nature, the Japanese have received all kinds of blessings for their prosperity, thus forming an aesthetic culture that respects nature. Just as a Japanese scholar put it, “Japanese cultural forms are supported by plant aesthetics.”

The worship of nature has given the Japanese great respect for all kinds of plants and eulogizes the simple and elegant beauty of nature. Therefore, many of Japan's packaging are in line with one another. They use various plants and flowers as the main body of description, or realistic, or abstract, or simple, or complex, to show keen insights and indescribable intuitions about the inherent life spirit of nature.

The chocolate package with leaves as the main decoration breaks the inherent color concept and gives a fresh feeling. In addition, the color modeling also comes from nature's grace and cultivation. It becomes a powerful visual symbol of Japanese packaging that is different from other packaging. According to Sasaki Takehiro in the article “Colored Names in Ancient Japanese”, Japan’s color names originated from light and dark, apparent and dizzy. The two sets of apparent antagonisms represent two light pedigrees, namely Chi (Ming). , black (dark), white (displayed), blue (halo) four colors. This is due to the feeling of natural light and is also the basic color of Japanese original color perception. This characteristic of advocating natural color and simple color in ancient Japanese forms another major feature of its aesthetic culture, and it is perfectly embodied in modern packaging design, forming a unique charm in modern visual language.

Due to the closeness and love of nature in Japanese national consciousness, the Japanese pantheism was formed, the worship of the gods, and the inclusive attitude towards various things and ideas became a favorite.

Scorpion bottle is a typical representative of asymmetry. It is produced by the Japanese food company "Kikkoman KIKKOMAN." The name of the wine comes from the protagonist in the novel Snow Country by the famous Japanese writer Nobel Prize winner Kawabata Yasunari. The shape of the bottle is very personal, flexible and dynamic. It reflects the soft beauty of Japanese traditional women. It is reminiscent of people and is loved by people.

The graceful scorpion wine

Simple and extreme

“The Japanese belief in Buddhism Zen Buddhism formed a simple, simple, natural culture of Japanese people. It also likes the aesthetic features of non-integrity and irregularity.” Thus, Japan’s aesthetic concept of design is also influenced by its essence, forming Japan. In the design, monochromatic, straight, simple and simple formal style languages.
A completely different style was formed during the Edo Period from the 17th to the 19th century in Japan. During this period, the Japanese business culture developed highly, forming mass and urban cultures, forming Japanese people's attention to and love of luxury flat decorative features, like commercial retouching and Popular cultural features, such as the graceful expression of the ukiyo-e paintings and the extreme language of the rich.

In the packaging design, we can often see that seemingly casual arbitrariness, the kind that removes the simplicity of the modification, the kind of large-scale full of charm and tension, showing that the Dahe people advocating simple and simple artistic temperament. At the same time, we will also see in the design of the material, color, font, space and other factors wholeheartedly measuring and scrutiny, showing the meaning of the unreachable portrayal of God.

Mr. Matsui Mitsui’s bottle of love wine contains subtle and subtle techniques to express the quality of the wine inside through a variety of bottles and unique labels from all angles: a dreamlike taste.

The Won's Love Wine Package Reflects the body's other senses

Mr. Kurokawa Yasushi, president of the Japan Society for Physical Research, called the 21st century "the shift from the century of the visual age to the tactile age" and "the era of design reflecting the characteristics of the body's senses."

In the century that goes toward returning to nature and emphasizing people and things, we see that in Japan's packaging, the design of other physical sensory features such as touch, smell, weight, and temperature are increasingly valued and developed. The designer breaks through the point of view of integration of visual elements and breaks through the pure vision brought by the smell of tea.

Limitations and flaws, valuing the original characteristics of the human senses, and working hard to develop many sensitive and instinctive sensory effects outside the visual, so that the design achieves the true feeling of human and material design.

Synaesthesia has a lot of wonderful use in literary works, and there are also wonderful places in packaging design. The use of synesthetic smelling tea, as shown in the figure, has more than just a distinctive name. More importantly, it can mobilize consumers' senses in a matter of moments: the scent of fragrance and swaying in the breeze. Bi Ye ..., this special emotional experience will give consumers a deep feeling, remember and want to have it.
Another example is ringnes swing beer bottle, the bottle shape is the visual elements to be expressed in this design, highly personalized, giving people a cheerful atmosphere, the bottle slender, ergonomic design, very easy to grip, feel very it is good.

Ringnes swing beer bottle

In addition, packaging in Japan also places great importance on the sensory and stimulatory effects of materials on humans in both visual and tactile sense. For example, the extensive application of the sanding process in alcoholic and cosmetic packaging containers, the surface of which is characterized by the combination of a delicate and delicate touch like human skin, and a metal rigid visual appearance. At the same time, there is a rich variety of light-looking plastics, natural materials with a warm feeling of the earth. Created many "general textures" that include visual and tactile sensations, which have inspired the design trends.

The symbiosis between traditional temperament and modern atmosphere

As Mr. Wang Shouzhi puts it: "After looking at the overall design of Japan, you can see two completely different features: one is more national, traditional, gentle, and historical; the other is modern, Developmental, international."

After World War II, Japan vigorously developed the design of internationalism in order to win the international market. At the same time, it also pays great attention to the protection of traditional ethnic culture. As a result, the Japanese design focuses on two major areas, both overseas and domestic: designing for the international market, adopting an internationally-designed expression language in order to win the recognition and acceptance of the international community; while designing for the domestic market is based on the traditional Japanese national aesthetics. , traditional beliefs, etc., using traditional patterns, colors, and especially calligraphy fonts as the main expression language of design. And in the international style and Japanese national design to find a new meeting point, create a new design language, has been widely recognized by the international design community.

Sake "Letters" box (bottle) designed by the famous designer Kazuya Sakiha. The Ukiyo-e image of "Write Music" was successfully kneaded into the modern style. The composition of the packaging is dense and orderly, with fast paced rhythms. The abstract strips are embellished with extremely concise figurative shapes. The color is dominated by black, with gray and pink colors. "Write music" box

Caring for the environment of green packaging

On the one hand, due to Japan's narrow land and scarce resources, it has long formed a sense of urgency; on the other hand, the designer's cultural accomplishments and professional morals dictate. Since the outbreak of the resource crisis, Japan has taken the lead in developing its products from the original thick, heavy, long, and large to thin, light, short, and small directions. Packaging has also responded to the trend of the times. There are many ways to save resources and care for the environment. Starting from the reuse of recycled materials, abandoning unnecessary forms, reducing the use of materials, and packaging itself with ease of disposal, destruction or recycling, emerged a large number of green packaging with considerable artistic appeal and market effects.

For example, the packaging of Muji, as its name suggests, after re-examining the current status of over-complicated modern packaging, its design emphasizes simplifying the appearance and color, and pursuing the functionalization of the product itself, saving a lot of resources and bringing a lot of resources to consumers. At the same time, the new impression also received a good market return.
Another example is the "MoLd PackO," which is a gift box for champagne and wine, and is a "green package" made from recycled paper that has been dissolved and formed from used newspapers. In the design, the original shape of the ancient pottery was pursued. It was unpretentious and full of gentle humanity, which was in stark contrast to the present and its gorgeous packaging.

Box for "MoLd PackO" champagne and wine

Mujia's packaging Through Japan's packaging design, we can see the humanistic design of consumers' emotional and psychological concerns, creative portable designs based on changes in modern lifestyles, and highlighting the reverse thinking approach. Personality design, etc., integrates commodity information, ethnic culture, modern technology and other factors organically in the packaging, and continuously explores the telepathy and dialogue between people and matter, with a strong cultural atmosphere and artistic tension. , presents a stunning diversity of visual language.



Source: School of Design, Jiangnan University, Cui Huachun