Dizaina Studija. Telpa Forma Laiks

American middle-class perceives design as high fashion – something refined, dangerously expensive and in actual fact, unwanted. Scandinavians have recently succeeded in implementing the utopian idea about the presence of design in household situations. The opportunities for design are everywhere. Every day we encounter countless signs, which inform us, warn us, show us, and offer something. What is the visual culture of these signs, how precisely does the message hit the target? Coded information in the subconscious can press the ‘choose’ button.
Food is not one of life’s trimmings, but is an essential requirement for the maintenance of life; packaging is the only way for a food product to address the consumer and to influence their choice. At the decisive moment, one of the aspects of communication sciences takes the stage – advertising. And it turns out, that the theory about the overproduction of Latvian specialists in humanitarian studies is a gross generalisation. There is a shortage of good academic advertising education, although the Latvian Academy of Art prepares specialists in visual communication. And further – in the field of advertising the designer is viewed by both employers and consumers as an artist with ambition, who will not be capable of adjusting to manufacturing limitations or market indicators. A heap of ideas arise for contemplation. It is possible that the only Latvian art institution has cemented the foundations for this assumption and continues to do so. Knowledge is also marketable, and the educational institutions which boast of their design potential, have no recourse but to address the advertising education if they wish to be competitive. This is most certainly not a testing ground for personal artistic explorations. The practice of companies to have their own team of designers is now rare, jobs are often handed to advertising agencies, and the actual designer does not have any direct contact with the client. Over time, a number of artists can work on the development of a brand so that its authorship becomes collective and indefinite. Additionally, prestigious education in itself does not guarantee success in the advertising world.

What are the rules of this game? Experience in this field was shared by Agnese Laganovska, marketing director of Rīgas piena kombināts, the food processing giant which is rich in Latvian tradition, and Līga Rimšēviča, their director of public relations; Ģirts Ozoliņš the director of the advertising agency Euro RSCG Riga (which works on the packaging of products of the company); and the author of milk product design, Jānis Lauznis, who designs under the pseudonym Lomiks.
The visual image of a product is limited by a string of conditions: the consumer and their perception, the available technology and equipment – how much of the idea can be implemented, the demands of the seller: this pressure has the tendency to increase as a result of monopolisation of the market. Adjustments to design can be stimulated by simple practical things, for example, the shape of a shop shelf, which covers up part of the packaging.
The law of business makes you avoid assumptions such as “I like...” or “I don’t like...” A designer can come up with a tasteful design, but more important is the ‘lady from Bauska’, the irritation of the buyer’s optical nerve and their selection. The target group of users of milk products is unlimited; they are people without specially groomed artistic interests: the product design has to be democratic and understood by all. Perception is studied in focus groups (comprised of around 7–8 people, mainly women who do grocery shopping for the family, or target groups for specific products, for example, mothers of children, etc; the results of the studies tend to differ depending on the nationalities of those participating in the target groups). In 2005–2006 the company undertook a large study to clarify the colour perception of potential buyers and the colour codes of packaging of different categories of products. It was found that milk is associated with yellow or white, kefir with green, cheese with yellow, and the widest and most cheerful colour range, which stems from its association with fruit, is for yoghurt. Another study revealed that the shopper trusts the milk produced by a large company, for example, but prefers cheese from a smaller producer. Associative perception operates with the use of different images. For example, the milk ‘Rasa’ is associated with the city, while Limbažu piens – with the country; a design that is too bright and dynamic can stimulate the negation that is associated with imported foods and the preservatives and additives used in their production. The audience of children is more receptive to experiments in design, although is less stable. Foreign experience can only be partly utilised, because a significant role is played by local market tradition. The visual image of the product is not only important; studies show that the client is ready to pay extra for ease of use (for example, the lid on a carton of milk) – although this is a question of technology.
The most important consideration in the saleability of a product is not the name of the producer, but the brand of the product (Rasa, Lāse, Lāsēns etc). The task of branding is to stand out from a host of products, it doesn’t matter how – this can be done by using reserve (for example, Eksporta sviests) or through bright provocation. The development of the brand for each next product encourages following suit: experiments are too risky. Graphic design within the boundaries of the brand has to provide comfort for the buyer, allowing information to be understood immediately: for example, information about the fat content or additions to the product. The message of the design also includes a price component: the packagings for the cheaper and more expensive lines are created with different resources.  
The graphic design of packaging is limited by the physical size of each product, but nevertheless it has to contain and concisely communicate the most important points to the buyer: for example, that the product is new, without fat, does not include preservatives and is made from natural ingredients. Packaging also includes the possibility for manipulation, which teeters on the edge of misinformation, while not breaking the law. A saleable brand tempts its competitors to create a copy, if the producer has not protected its product with a patent in due time.
The Latvian market is not favourable for experiments: it is small and trials in this environment cost more – the investment is the same, but the risk is greater than in large markets. At the foundation of the market are logic and the conviction that the investment will pay off. However, even this iron-clad reasoning does not deny the opportunity for the quality to improve. The sum total of all of these conditions practically makes a study assignment – which of the emerging graphic designers will be ready to take part?