Archive for the ‘ To interact ’ Category

A perfume, a necklace, a woman: the Extè woman

Yes, it’s true: in the ’80s that phrase was a stereotype but we women would have liked to utter the now legendary phrase of the famous advertising…”to the man who must never ask”… duly adapted to our needs, of course! Now the time has come.

It’s called J’S Extè Woman, Eau de Parfum.

 

This is a fragrance proposed by Extè, a company  present throughout the world as reference point for a target audience of attentive young women who have learned the art of seduction. J’S Extè embodies this brand philosophy.

The packaging strategy gave image to the idea of a packaging line that immediately transmit the essence of the brand, the refinement combined with the functionality and contemporary and it was a dress tailor-made for the target with which interacts. So, to make the interaction more simple, the perfume package is absolutely transparent, with contrasting shapes that reflect light as pure as a pond, creating imaginary concentric spirals that attract the eyes towards the center of the bottle, where is the center of  energy  life. Then, the package adds an interactive function presenting a jewel bracelet that you can remove and wear.

 

All this was certainly possible thanks to outstanding companies who participated in the adventure making possible to give a body to the creative ideas. The package is strange, a complex structure where every single item must be in harmony with the whole and particularly where the seemingly most insignificant hides, however, an unexpected creativity and expertise.  

The “anti-perfumes”

Working for Comme Des GarçonsRei Kawakubo created a line of five curious “anti-perfumes”:

“Comme Des Garçons perfumes Series Six”.

Series Six is based on familiar smells of places and objects, common and artificial, such as dry-wash, garage, simil-leather and soda.

The packages are interactive communicating the synthetic qualities of the series and developing the industrial and artificial aesthetic of past series. The packages celebrate their chemical identity through the transparency of the external recipients and their ups made of poli-ethilen. They are enriched in the aspect, too simplistic  for certain characteristics, through an intelligent renew  that modifies their  proportions and underlines the details: in this way the packages are so slim, high and discover the beauty of the internal “mechanism”. The internal, in black plastic, is like frightening robotic stomachs that protect the integrity of the fragrances.

The black typographical characters, realized in “stencil” style, remember the imballaggi for the transport of goods and reaffirm the essential essence of the series. The philigran of the stamp adds a further decorative level, creates an architectural structure and the illusion of a 3-dimensional composition which gives a surprising deepness to the packages.

Here The past series for an idea of the continuity of the interactive packs:

Solid perfume

Stella McCartney is considered the queen of designers: “Stella in Two” (2007) is her solid perfume.

The graphic composition of this solid perfume act an interactive role in an extraordinary and unconventional way , through a precise use of typographical characters  made of fullstops that remember shine theatrical lights, but in the same time, they are modest and sophisticated like the intelligent, structured and meticulous approach of  McCartney to the world of the style.

All fragrances of Stella McCartney are in packages with faced contours: these are a key element of her brand and appear also in the graphic project of packaging. This magic package is made more precious by the small dimensions, by the weight of the package in fused steel and by the interaction of the asymmetries that exalt the cure of the creation and the quality of the result.

The impressed typographical characters are soft under the fingers and in curious contrast with the stamped parts. The package wants to be touched , discovered and is surprising when it go away in horizontal direction, sharing in two parts for showing a portion of solid perfume.

When the package is closed with a sure click, it ask to be put with the up under to show the changeable aspects of its design like a diamond.

To interact

I think that all packages act and interact , in various ways, but some packages communicate this function according four specific techniques.

  • First, some packages are created to be deformed or destructed by the consumers through structured operations in order to discover the content; other packages have to be agitated before the use or the chocolate packages have to be strapped to consume.

All this  packages need an active role of the consumer for opening the packages, taking the content and ending the performance.This different processes of discovering the product act an interactive role  with the creation of rituals, that is to say cultural subprojects that augment the pleasure of opening the package and represent an added value. Some of these are in the tradition, others are invented by the producers.

  • The ecocompatibility of the package is the second way packages act an interactive role. A great number of packages are projected in order not to damage the nature : the use of recycled or recyclable materials, transformable in compost, has this purpose. Both governments and customers have an increasing attention to eco-compatibility theme, so producers and designers are in search of new materials that need less energy and raw materials.

 

  • Third, packages have an interactive function enriching the product. The composition and the decoration of the materials used for the packaging can change the way of perceiving the product itself. Quality is often clear by the details but the use of few elements sometimes gives a greater value to the product rather than an excess of decorations.

 

  • In the end, the way packages interact ,in dynamical and ergonomic sense, has effects on the way we perceive them: the noise of a box when we close it gives a sense of  security.

 

 

The packaging is an extraordinary actor, a pleasure for all senses, not only for eyes.