TH R E E E L E M E N TS , I N F I N I T E P O S S I B I LI T I E S Types, Materials, and Faces From stock types of packages such as clamshells, bottles, cans, flexible bags, boxes, and tubes to an unimaginable number of unique types and hybrids, the possibilities reach farther than most people can imagine. Types of packages are constrained only by the current collective imagination of the global creative community. A similar idea applies to materials used to leverage packaging design. Each material on its own has attributes such as weight, structure, strength, perme- ability, texture, colors, and many other aspects that either contribute to or contrast with the product being packaged. Category conventions, manufacturability, and basic economics will drive much of the material decisions. This is the reason we seldom, if ever, see bread packaged in aluminum or peanut butter in polymer bags. The real contribution packaging materials can make is in the creative use of materials in between these examples. When a vodka bottle needs to feel just right in the hands of a bartender, or the rubber on the base creates the feeling of the super-premium vodka Effen. The multitude of faces a package contains offers the opportunity to tell a dimensional story about the brand. Just following conventions would likely lead to the same information on the back of a package organized in much the same way. This might be interesting to a socialist engineer, but the rest of the world craves variety. The other faces of a package set a stage for showcasing the brand's ability to prove its uniqueness. D E S I G N M AT T E R S / / PAC K AG I N G 0 1 77 PLANNING C R E AT I N G I M P LE M E NTI NG