CIS and Packaging Design
(A) The Concept of CIS
In the 1950s and 1960s, many companies around the world successively implemented a new corporate management strategy, which is the so-called corporate image design and promotion plan.
The English term is Corporation Identity System, abbreviated as CIS, which means corporate identity design system, and in China it is also called “corporate image design”.
Corporate image needs to be recognized through identification methods. The so-called “CIS design” means “using the overall communication system (especially visual communication) to convey the corporate business philosophy and spiritual culture to the stakeholders or groups around the company (including the internal and the general public), and master to make them have a consistent sense of identity and values for the company”.
Its fundamental significance lies in: the visual uniformity of the company’s external and the homogeneity of the company’s internal.
1. Basic Components of CIS
CIS consists of the following three basic parts.
(1) MI (mind identity) is the spiritual leader of corporate management, the soul of the corporate identity system and the concentrated expression of corporate connotation, as well as the driving force and implementation basis for establishing the operation of the entire corporate identity system.
It belongs to the conscious level of thought and culture, including the company’s business purpose, business strategy, business policy, motto, values, spiritual slogans, etc.
(2) BI (behaviour identity) is to establish the corporate image identity through dynamic activities or training forms, including two parts: internal and external.
Internal includes cadre education, employee training (service attitude, etiquette, dedication, etc.), work environment, living welfare, production equipment, public hazard countermeasures, research and development, etc.
External includes market research, product development, public relations, promotional activities, distribution strategies, public welfare and cultural activities, etc.
(3) VI (visual identity) conveys the corporate business philosophy and information to the outside through individual visible visual symbols.
It has the most communication power and appeal in CIS, and can quickly and clearly achieve the purpose of cognition and identification. It is a static identification system.
2. Implementation of CIS
Since the purpose of implementing the CI plan is to prevent the confusion of corporate image, the effective tool to achieve this goal is to formulate a CI manual, in which the corporate image visual identity system is the VI manual, mainly including two parts: the basic design system and the application design system.
(1) Basic design system
It mainly includes: corporate name, corporate logo, brand trademark, standard font, corporate standard color, symbolic pattern, corporate modeling (mascot), designated printing font, and other basic elements, as well as the standard combination specifications of basic elements such as logo and standard text, standard color, etc.
(2) Application design system
Apply the basic elements to the design of the following application projects
① Office supplies: business cards, envelopes, letterhead, memo pads, data bags, file folders, work permits, notebooks, official documents, invitations, certificates, badges, pens, stationery boxes, ashtrays, tea cups, etc.
② Signage identification: company signage, entrance and exit signs, activity signage, window displays, road signs, various signs, etc.
③ Architecture and environment: exterior of buildings, facades, interior design, community environment, etc.
④ Transportation: corporate special vehicles (such as passenger cars, cars, vans, tool vehicles, trucks, shopping carts, etc.), engineering vehicles (such as excavators, bulldozers, etc.), ships, airplanes, turnover boxes, etc.
⑤ Product packaging: various product packaging produced by the company and related packaging paper, shopping bags, packaging box sealing tape and stickers, etc.
⑥ Flags: corporate flags, table flags, string flags, knife flags, etc.
⑦ Advertising and publicity: TV and radio, newspapers and magazines, online advertising, road signs, poster advertising, direct mail (DM) advertising, POP (point of sale) advertising, product samples, commemorative gifts, aerial advertising, etc.
⑧ Product design: the form and image of the company’s series of products.
⑨ Employee clothing: manager’s clothing, management personnel’s clothing, employee’s clothing, receptionist’s clothing, sportswear, cultural shirts, T-shirts, ties, tie clips, bow ties, work hats, buttons, belts, epaulettes, chest cards, etc. Divided into spring and autumn, summer and winter clothing according to the season.
The VI manual has strict regulations on the usage rules, special usage rules, standard colors, advertising slogans, and transaction processing methods of standard graphics, fonts and their combinations in VI design.
(B) CIS and Packaging Design
The emergence of corporate image design is due to the needs of large enterprise management and market competition.
The development of market competition has prompted enterprises to merge and expand, and some large-scale enterprises with a certain monopoly across industries and countries have gradually formed in various fields.
They have divided the main market share and formed a situation where one or several enterprises monopolize the production and sales of a product.
In this way, a company’s products often appear on the market as a family series, and various related products form a cluster and are displayed on store shelves.
As a result, packaging design has undergone fundamental changes. For the entire corporate image, packaging design is no longer an isolated point in the traditional sense, but a line and a surface related to corporate publicity and promotion plans.
Now when people design a package, they not only need to solve the problems of the package’s own image and information configuration, but also rationally solve the relationship between this package and the entire series of packaging (including transportation packaging) and the relationship between this package and the entire corporate visual image.
Packaging design must be carried out under the guidance of the company’s entire CIS plan.
Today, standardized design and production of packaging (and other internal and external items of the company) is a necessary means for modern enterprises to manage and participate in market competition.
It can facilitate management when enterprises display their own image and carry out external promotional activities, while reducing costs and maintaining high-quality visual quality.
The main characteristics of packaging design under the guidance of the CIS plan are: designers should use various visual design elements specified in the CIS design to carry out serialized design, and ensure the unity of the visual image while maintaining a certain space for change.
Specifically, this includes the application of standardized brand logos, text fonts, colors, graphics and layouts and other visual elements in packaging design.
