Help the Industry Get Out the Word:
Packaging Design is a Noble Calling

by Marianne Klimchuk

Every year at this time, students across the country find out whether they have been accepted into the college or program of their choice. Many of these students are gifted artists who seek to combine a strong liberal arts education with an art concentration that would lead them into the creative business world with a uniquely marketable skill set. With limited knowledge of the professional opportunities in the design disciplines, academic advisors and parents guide artistic students to consider institutions that have basic advertising design or graphic design programs.

Although the Western world handles many consumer products and packages on a daily basis, few realize that there is an immense global industry with great breadth and depth called Package Design, and that there are professionals educated in this creative business discipline. Most consumers think that the design of their cereal box, bottled water, or personal care items are developed under the umbrella called advertising. Packaging design still often exists as an invisible profession and a hidden academic discipline.

Student competitions are just one way to promote the Package Design profession as a challenging and captivating vocation.

All of us within this profession face this bias regularly. As the head of the only Packaging Design Bachelor of Fine Arts program in this country, I have learned that the struggle for public awareness is endless. Our faculty spends countless hours assuring young designers that the artistic endeavors they enjoy most can be realized in our profession. These are students that truly enjoy thinking strategically, delving into architecture, conceiving of three-dimensional structures, and assembling models. Yet, many of these students are led to believe by others outside of the business that this discipline is monotonous and limited. Unless students are guided appropriately, they are left to believe that advertising is the only option for their passion and skill set.

A respected profession

I envision a packaging design profession that is as nationally recognized and respected as architecture. This exists in many European countries, England being a chief example of the value given to those that are the brand architects.

When the Packaging Design Council (then the Brand Design Association) existed, student outreach was part of their mission. Academic support was provided through industry mentorship, guest lecture series, student design competitions, scholarships, and program funding. Although a number of academic support systems exist, within the mission of various industry associations, professional relationships with educational institutions remains low. The responsibility to inform the next generation of design professionals on the opportunities in packaging design remains on the recruitment shoulders of educational institutions.

In a 1963 article on packaging design, William Longyear of the Pratt Institute spoke of the vital need for business to support education in packaging design. An example of the kind of support he had in mind was student design projects sponsored by corporations. Longyear perceived these projects as a way to acquaint future designers with the scope, challenges, and career opportunities in the varied disciplines with packaging design. Forty-two years later, the involvement of businesses in design education and public awareness has changed little.

What we also need is more involvement and better outreach on the high school and community college level. Design professionals should speak at local schools and art institutes. Federal, state, and local budget cuts force high school art programs across the country to be reduced or eliminated, leaving students without the arts enrichment they need. At the university level, budget cuts cause hiring freezes, hamper technology initiatives, and stall critical infrastructure needs. Institutions need innovative and inspiring learning environments suitable to design education in the 21st century - few can claim this.

Industry partnerships can and should be the conduit to change. Across the country, design firms can open up their design studios for group visits and provide scholarships and incentives to the most talented students, and provide financial support to programs that educate their future leaders. The transfer of their passion and expertise, combined with accessibility, would make a difference for many young artists in need of guidance and make the profession attractive to creative students. What better way to gain public relations and create a name for a firm or designer than through the youth market?

In addition to direct involvement in educational institutions, packaging designers need to get their names out into the public arena. Let's make a name for our profession. With design taking front stage for many of today's brands, there is a perfect forum to let the world know who designed the packaging of their favorite products. The industrial design icon Karim Rashid has done this successfully through Target commercials, print ads, and magazine articles. Few of us within the profession can name our own packaging design icons or heroes. The work and the names remain concealed behind corporate walls.

The halls of our academic institutions are certainly not empty. Applications are up, professional colleagues visit regularly, and business-sponsored design projects do happen. But we want more. Of course we want more scholarship offerings, funding to support technological initiatives, facility upgrades, and a growing amount of internship sponsors and professional opportunities for our students. What we want most of all, though, is not to be part of the best kept secret - that packaging design is an exciting, creative, challenging, strategic profession that combines business and design and provides global opportunities in diverse areas. The future of the packaging design industry lies in the ability to attract the most creative and brightest students into the profession and to provide support to keep these programs alive. Let's let the secret out.

Marianne R. Klimchuk is the Associate Chairperson of the Packaging Design Department at the Fashion Institute of Technology, where she has written curriculum, taught courses, and directed the packaging program for 13 years. Marianne can be reached at marianne_klimchuk@fitnyc.edu.