Aspects of Industrial Design and Their Implications for Society. Case Studies on the Influence of Packaging Design and Placement at the Point of Sale

Abstract

[EN] This work aims to demonstrate that product design and packaging must be aligned with the point of sale and its social purpose.

Manufacturing engineering is responsible for the design, development and improvement of production systems that convert raw materials into finished products. Each product is designed to be sold to numerous potential consumers, so the importance of the stimuli surrounding the product in packaging, and at the point of sale, cannot be underestimated. The environmental, social, and ethical commitments of industrial design (and their implications in manufacturing) are establishing universal principles in a common effort to foster a more harmonious and sustainable society. This work aims to analyse, through eye tracking biometric techniques, the level of saturation of information generated by the concentration of stimuli in packaging and the retail channel, possibly creating a lower level of attention towards the product itself. This research confirms that every product associated with a manufacturing process seeks to respond to a need, so the associated responsibility is significant. This would suggest that designers incorporate knowledge from multiple fields, including marketing strategies, design, research and development, basic knowledge related to production, integration management and communication skills. More than 50% of consumer attention is dedicated to other elements/items that accompany the product, so it is important to consider this in the design phase. The results can be used to improve efficiency in both generating product attention, and stimulus design for the purchasing process.