국내 쌀 브랜드 패키지디자인의 기호학적 연구

Abstract

In domestic rice market where many brands with standardized quality compete, the package design and the area of production are important factors for low involvement consumers to select a particular brand. Their perception of the production area is an especially important factor. Reflecting the characteristics of the area can enhance the brand competitiveness. However, visual signs can be a barrier to successful communication between producers and consumers, due to the semantic complexity of the symbols. Identifying the essence of related meaning, how accurately the intention of producers is conveyed to consumers, and whether it produces a signification is valuable to enhancing the design competitiveness. To carry out the task, 8 brands of allocated areas were selected and their rice package designs were analyzed with semiotic methodology. If the analysis proves that established interpretation matches the meaning intended by the sender, it demonstrates the following fact: The design elements are serving as symbols that lead to successful communication. The analysis revealed that the intention of producers is conveyed to consumers in many cases to a certain degree. However, it was limited to general concepts such as ‘the best,’ ‘clean,’ ‘honest,’ and ‘traditional.’ Reflecting the characteristics of production areas were rare. It indicates that the overall communication with consumers is limited. Thus, it is necessary to pursue more characteristics of production areas in the visual image of brand rice packages.