A Study of the Corporate Design Packaging of Malaysia’s Processed Food

Abstract

Through the analysis of visual elements, the study identifies how the packaging designs comply with the Malaysian authority’s regulations while remaining attractive to potential consumers of the product. This study also factors in the incorporation of entrepreneurial design that matches market-driven requirements from a local product perspective, specifically how the packaging’s graphics images, fonts, and colours are presented to consumers. In-depth interviews were conducted with two food industry experts in Malaysia and further supported with content analysis on visual elements of 17 samples of durian snack packaging by three expert graphic designers. The findings showed that the snack manufacturers had made the labelling design on the packaging monotonous. This study urges the authority can take into consideration relaxing the following three components of the labelling: (1) graphic images, which do not have to be realistic images; (2) for typography and size of fonts, such as the “serving suggestion” which has to be in san serif fonts and with a minimum of 10 points font size, this information can be removed from the label of the packaging and placed into a QR code, as it can reduce the display information’s space on the product label, same goes to the secondary texts. (3) Ease the restriction of the requirement of colour contrasted on the product itself and background, allowing the young designers to unleash their creativity on it, as it can attract those young consumers who emphasised the outer appearance of the packaging in purchasing.