PACKAGINIG MATERIAL DESIGN WITH HOLOGRAPHY APPLICATION

Žiljak Ivana

Packaging material design with holography application

The packaging material's design is of vital importance for the product – it protects the product and makes it recognizable amongst other brands in the market, and has direct influence on the relationship between customer – product. Well designed packaging material must bear the personality stressed by the designer and transfer this charge onto the customer. Some will consider it to be motivated and attractive whereas others will consider such packaging material as bold and repulsive. A designer must build up the image of a product; a recognizable and clear picture that will be transferred onto the customer by making him want to use products of a certain brand – with certain packaging material design. The packaging material must be recognizable, clear and unique.

The greater part of the packaging material surface is reserved for obligatory information, so the designer's job is growing in significance because he must bring into accordance legal, designer and safety issues. All companies insist on instant recognition of a corporative identity. The designer's job is really important here – to bring into accordance new graphic and printing protective elements and to make a conceptually clear and recognizable graphic product design.

In contemporary product promotion it is necessary to apply the most recent designer and technological achievements. A multi-level approach to protection techniques should be applied in protecting products with the help of packaging material. The first step in a product’s packaging material protection is by using holograms in printing, a technique that may not be reproduced or copied by any other graphic technique. The most frequent protecting supplements are those that are determined by machine reading. Furthermore, there are procedures of application with optically varying numbers, invisible and electronic colours, micro-texts, animated images, morphol images (changes from text to log, for example), and oncoming new generations of materials. Let’s add colours that change under different kinds of illumination, or colours that change if they are touched, colours that change depending on the temperature. Not all the listed elements against forging are available to all, and they are poorly readable or not readable at all, nor can they be reproduced with the usual scanning equipment and other forging procedures.

A hologram has a unique optical effect, evident to the bare eye and when moving under different angles the graphic element colors and shades change - as many as three. Today the holograms applied have as many as three reading protection levels - Multimatrix hologram:

1. Recognition with the bare eye – no tools are necessary

Holograms are observed under a light, by rotating the image – horizontally, vertically, rotation. A kinetic effect is observed (linear, spreading, rotation, counter-rotation). Dynamic holographic micro-texts may be read, 2D/3D and 3D (stereographic) display.

2. Professional control

Micro-texts and micro-graphics are controlled. Special lasers are used in case the cryptogram ( covered image that may be seen with the help of a laser beam) or dyinagram (dynamic cryptogram) should be observed.

The best types of protection are top sorts of coding for image and colour recognition, but such protection may be read only with the help of machines with various laser systems, so that the customer cannot check anything without having tools.

3. Forensic laboratory

Nano-texts and nanographics (05 microns+), coded nanostructures, coded nanobarcodes are observed

One of the interesting holograms I would like to point out is the transparent hologram applied onto bottles (containing alcohol beverages, medicine, motor oil) in the form of PVC protection covers that prevent the bottle content to be tampered with. The holographic tape on the covers may be numerated as well. It may be glued over the packaging material as well as the opening area. Many types of holograms may be glued over the packaging material in the form of stickers or embossed foil such as 2D/3D holograms, Dot-Matrix holograms, Flip-Flop holograms, holograms containing micro-texts and holograms with printed serial numbers.

Holograms open many possibilities in developing multi-layer visual messages, messages in motion and a 3D presentation. It is possible to postpress them on packaging material in modified series and forms, for each production series separately. Small editions may be produced with digital printing, reaching top-quality results with modest production expenses. Such small editions are especially suited for: celebrations, business gifts. Even one single copy may be produced for some special occasion.

Certain groups of business entities are ready for the implementation of holography and this means specialization and implementation of holography in general. In order to apply and implement holographic solutions into the packaging material area in a systematic manner it is proposed to organize several work groups: a group for holography application follow-up with the goal being to encourage and direct the necessity of mass protection of the very products, as well as financial control, a group for developing authentic design and creating databases of holograms created in Croatia and in the world, a group for organizing holography educational implementation and product protection techniques as well as a separate work group for covering protective holography application on food products where it would be used on packaging material that does not fall into the graphic products group. Such products are, for instance victuals, fresh foods. The proof of the product's authenticity is important, as for instance whether it is of domestic origin, and whether it is free of genetically modified substances. In such cases a hologram is proof that the packaging material contents are in accordance with the goods declaration. Soon holograms will be found on all products as control of state taxes. We are joining this important struggle so that holography application falls into a system and is treated appropriately.