On the Green Design Concept of Product Packaging

[Abstract] The concept of green product design is discussed from the aspects of product modeling, product structure and product materials, and the guidelines for the design of simple products, regenerative design and detachable design in green product design are proposed.

Keywords: product design; green design; design criteria

Green Design is an international design trend that emerged in the late 1980s. It focuses on the ecological balance between man and nature. Every decision in the design process fully takes into account environmental benefits and reduces damage to the environment. The green design reflects people's reflection on the environmental and ecological damage caused by modern science and technology culture. It also reflects the return of designer professional ethics and social responsibility. This paper discusses and discusses the concept and criteria of green product design from aspects of product modeling, structure, and materials.

1 Green Product Design Concepts and Guidelines

The basic idea of ​​green product design is: people-oriented, ensure functions, incorporate environmental factors and pollution prevention measures into the design of products during the design phase, take the ecological environment as the goal and starting point of product design, and strive to make the production and use of products to the environment. The least impact.

2 Green Product Design

The product design of green products is not particularly focused on the performance of aesthetics and the narrow design language. It emphasizes minimizing unnecessary material consumption and paying attention to the reproducibility and detachability of materials.

The criteria for designing green products are simple design. Minimalism means that the design language does not place too much emphasis on narrow aesthetic expressions. Instead, it reduces the shape of the product to the extreme, emphasizes the reduction of unnecessary material consumption, and reflects “small is beautiful” in the design. The meaning of "less is more". Minimalism sums up three basic principles:

1) Extremely simplified forms. If you use basic shapes, single colors, pay attention to objectivity without pursuing style.

2) Use the least basic ingredients and elements in the design creation.

3) Simplify the design content and remove unnecessary things that interfere with the subject.

The core of the product design is "appropriateness". Specifically, it considers the rationality of the design function, emphasizes the perfection and refinement of the composition, other factors are considered in a secondary position, and a balance point is found between refinement and function. Simultaneous interpretation of functions is indispensable.

3 Green Product Structure Design

Products are material entities that have origin and destination. Products from the environment, but also to the environment, today's products will be tomorrow's waste. Therefore, when designing a product's structure, a designer must seriously consider whether a product can be reused at the end of its life cycle—that is, the product's multiple life cycles, or whether it can be safely disposed of.

To make the best use of it is not only a person's request, but also a requirement of a large natural resource. For example, “Longmu Zhuanggu Granules” produced by Wuhan Jianmin Pharmaceutical Factory, the product packaging contains large and small plastic cups. Besides being used for medications, it can also be used as baby cups, student cups, and for other articles. . The glass contained in the product package can be used as a general cup. Garment factory bags can be used to hold other items. Computers have brought great convenience to our work and life, but the life cycle of computers is extremely short. According to statistics, two old computers are scrapped every day and two old computers are scrapped, which means that the speed of recycling computers is It's as fast as making a computer. Then, when designing computers, it is necessary to fully consider the reuse of parts to save resources. Architecture is an urban product, but with the development of the city, a large number of old buildings face the destiny of demolition, wasting a lot of natural resources. Therefore, we must promote the regeneration of the design of the old buildings into modern buildings. As a public transportation vehicle, the scale and quantity of production are increasing. At the same time, urban rubbish caused by end-of-life vehicles is a great danger to nature and humanity. Automotive designers must focus on recycling design and recycling design to protect natural resources and the human environment.

The green product structure design should adopt the detachable design criteria. The detachable design refers to not only the assembly of the components but also the detachability of the products in the product design. It has been applied in automobiles, computers, copiers and other products.
The principles for detachable design are:

1) Reduce the disassembly workload. Identify the parts that should be dismantled, functionally integrated, and accessible.

2) Predict product structure. Avoid the combination of materials that affect each other and avoid contamination of parts.

3) Easy to disassemble. It is easy to access the discharge port, select the appropriate fastening method, reduce the number of fixed originals, simplify the movement of the disassembly operation, provide easy-to-grip disassembled surface, and disassemble safety.

4) Easy to separate. Avoid auxiliary operations with other materials for easy classification; different materials should be easy to identify.

5) Reduce part diversity. Parts should be standardized.

4 Green Product Material Design

Materials are the material basis for all scientific and technological applications. Today, research on advanced materials is inseparable from the development and application of information technology, energy, transportation, and high-tech products. Without a fiber optic cable, there would be no modern communications industry; without the support of high-temperature materials, the aerospace industry would be difficult to sustain; without silicon crystal materials, there would be no CPU. Green materials refer to the finished materials and materials that have low energy consumption, low noise, no toxicity, and no harm to the environment during the preparation and production process.

1) Use recycled, recycled materials, green recycled materials, biodegradable plastics, renewable materials.

2) Use clean, green energy, use wind energy, solar energy.

3) Develop green materials. Green materials refer to materials that are conducive to environmental protection. Japanese scientists researched synthetic materials using high-strength carbon fibers, aramid fibers, and ordinary pitch fibers, successfully building two buildings of up to 42 floors.

The design criteria for green product materials are for recycling designs. Recycling design is the most effective use of recycled parts and materials in new products. There are two main aspects for the design of regeneration:

Reuse parts. The dismantling of parts and components should not damage the original functions as much as possible, and make the dismantling process as convenient as possible; select the parts that can be renewed (the same process processing, function and service life as the same new parts) as much as possible; use series Modularized product design;
Reuse of materials. Limit the number of types of materials. The reduction of material types can increase the use of the same kind of materials, which not only facilitates the sorting of more pure materials during the recycling process, but also reduces the purchase price of the materials; considering the compatibility of the materials. Materials that select a part in a product are considered for compatibility with each other and can be regenerated together when the part cannot be disassembled; use recycled materials. Recycling materials should be selected when selecting materials for product parts, so that the natural resources can be well-circulated.

5 Conclusion

Green product design is a new design method that has been widely recognized and valued in developed industrial countries. Studies in Japan and Korea in Asia have carried out relevant research, which has brought about the attention of the natural environment in various stages of the product life cycle. China's green product design research has just started and the road to go is still very long. The academic community and the business community should strengthen international cooperation. Only through joint global efforts can we leave a better living environment for future generations. (Text / Zhang Zhihua Wu Guorong)