On Color Elements in Food Package Design

【Abstract】Color is an important element in modern food package design.The quality of color design will directly decide peoples perception of goods and affect the sales of products.There are many factors affecting color design of food package.One of the more important factors is culture.Consumers affinity for commodity can be enhanced by combining color design with regional culture.Chinese food enterprises should fully consider the characteristics of Chinese culture when designing the color of food package.We should make full use of the graphic， Chinese characters and color elements in Chinese traditional culture to design food package with local characteristics.

【Key words】Color Elements; Package Design; Chinese culture

【作者簡介】陶青青（1997-），女，浙江臺州人，漢族，杭州電子科技大學(xué)信息工程學(xué)院，在讀本科生，研究方向：翻譯。

Color is an important factor in modern design of commodity，which has strong visual impact and emotional expressiveness.The color design of a product has a great influence on the sale volume and word-of-mouth of the product. we should design food package according to different attributes of food，so as to fully express the symbolic meaning， color attributes， color psychology and color aesthetics of food package.

1. The Importance of Color in Food Package Design

The contemporary American architectural theorist Julian Garci once said that the decorators job is to adjust the relation of colors.With regard to art，the aesthetic characteristics of color are the first.On the contrary， in the design， the function of color is the more important than aesthetic function.Color must be combined with the characteristics and functions of the product in the design.In addition， the use of color in design often has a direct relationship with the audience of design.Usually，Color always plays the role of ‘silent salesman before the audience reads the text of the product.

A psychological study shows when people observe objects，colour perception accounts for 80% of the total perception ， sensation of shape accounts for 20% of the total sensation.Two minutes later，colour perception accounts for 60% of the total perception and sensation of shape accounts for 40% of the total sensation.Five minutes later， they both accounted for half of the total.It is not difficult for us to see that，color plays an important role in package design and in the sale of goods.

2. The Cultural factors in color design——take Coca-Cola as examples

The color design of food package is not only a simple choice between various colors.Colour design also needs to take into account the collocation of colors and the choice of patterns.Therefore， cultural factors must be taken into account in color design.We can also find that a good product packaging design must contain strong cultural elements.

We can take Coca-Cola for example.On the Visual Element Design of Package，Coca-Cola combines internationalization with nationalization to enhance the cultural affinity of package to consumers.According to Chinese culture， the designer designed the Chinese symbol of Coca-Cola and 12 zodiac package.These package designs are closely related to Chinese politics and culture， meeting the emotional demands of Chinese consumers and creating a spiritual resonance. As a result， Coca-Colas commodity image is gradually established in the Chinese market.

3. The Traditional Chinese Culture Elements Which Can Be Absorbed In Modern Food Package Design

In order to make the best use of Chinese cultural elements and enhance the market competitiveness of food enterprises，We need to make extensive use of traditional cultural elements in food package.Specifically， Chinese cultural elements which can be integrated into food package design are mainly divided into the following aspects：

First is the color and pattern representing Chinese culture.In Chinese long cultural tradition， a series of colors and patterns with special cultural implications have been produced.In terms of patterns， there are well-known animal patterns such as dragon， phoenix， which represent good luck.There are Chinese red Bright yellow and ?green which respectively represent happiness nobility and elegance.Among them， dragon， phoenix， Chinese knot and Chinese red are the most famous elements of Chinese culture，They have been widely used in modern food package design.

The second is the combination of Chinese characters， colors and patterns.Chinese character is the main carrier of Chinese history and culture.This form of expression not only has the function of Chinese characters as a complex information carrier， but also has the advantages of easy recognition of patterns and colors and vivid images.

In summary，We should make full use of the graphic， Chinese characters and color elements in Chinese traditional culture to design food package with local characteristics.

References：

[1]Chen Hui. Color design in modern food packaging design[J]. Yihai 2011.