The double-blind peer-reviewed International Journal of Food Design (IJFD) seeks full articles (8,000 words) and case studies (4,000 words) on Food Packaging Design invites papers for a special issue on food packaging design.
Food design extends beyond food itself to include its related artefacts and the meanings they communicate. For most people the first contact with food is packaging, framing its meaning before it is consumed. Packaging protects and preserves, but it also communicates powerful emotional messages whether associated with purity and strength or luxury and value. In the hands of the best designers the elements of packaging design (materials, form, color, imagery and typography) can achieve deep cultural and psychological resonance. The imagery on a yoghurt pot can shape our view of nature. Stereotypical imagery on international food packaging can skew our understanding of ethnicity and nationality. Likewise, the sheer abundance of packaging in landfill casts a cloud over the practice, shaping our perception of food packaging as a necessary evil. Does packaging limit inclusivity? Packaging has many meanings and we are open to papers that stretch its definition beyond a container for food. Are baby bottles, transport vehicles, restaurants and factories or even animal skins kinds of food packaging? How do social, cultural and technological systems in which food design is embedded – education, management, marketing, distribution and manufacturing – determine food packaging?
- Some of the questions the Special Issue is keen to answer include:
- How does the design of food packaging affect the eating experience?
- How is cultural meaning shaped by food packaging design?
- How does the design of food communicate individual and group identity?
- In what ways can the definition of food packaging design be expanded?
The special issue aims to elucidate the various cultural, historical and theoretical meanings of food packaging design. To do so it seeks papers from a diverse range of disciplines and practices that connect aspects from Culinary Arts, Hospitality, Food Science, Food Culture, and any other food discipline, with aspects from Design Theory, Design Education, Industrial Design, Design History, History of Technology, and any other Design and design related disciplines.
The deadline for completed papers is January 1, 2017.
Send papers to: Dr. Nicolas P. Maffei at n.maffei@nua.ac.uk