The Total Package: The Evolution and Secret Meanings of Boxes, Bottles, Cans, and Tubes

Exploring the evolution of packaging throughout history with an eye to the profound and absurd, a cultural critic describes the exploits of hucksters, psychologists, and engineers who have made the modern American package a dominant form of commercialism. 17,500 first printing.

In this wise survey, Philadelphia Inquirer design critic Hine (Populuxe) describes and decodes the history and effects of packages, "an inescapable part of modern life." He reflects on packages in nature (the orange, the egg) and tracks the growth of modern packaging from 17th-century London (elixirs, etc.) through the first practical folding box (Brooklyn, 1879) and other advances in technology and transportation. Urbanization produced the Uneeda biscuit and Campbell's soup, as well as the supermarket. Hine broadens his lens to cover the "contemporary packaged landscape" of drive-ins and malls and intriguingly tracks the psychology?and international cultural differences?behind package research. A final chapter considers "empties": the question of garbage and its future. We all know what's in a box of Tide, but read on to find out why the box is orange and its lettering is blue. Illustrations not seen by PW.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Hine's lively and insightful overview of the development of modern packaging, an "important and often unacknowledged" aspect of our lives, touches on a surprising number of subjects, from what and how we eat to the trance induced by a long visit to a supermarket. Hine analyzes all that packaging does, from preserving and protecting the contents to making foodstuffs and products consistent and reliable to providing useful or comforting information. As he tracks the evolution of packaging, Hine draws connections between such corollary developments as transportation, the mass production of paper, and the invention of the flat-bottomed paper bag, folded box, color printing, cellophane, and refrigeration. The establishment of brand recognition is, of course, the whole point of packaging and its offshoot, advertising, and Hine has a field day relating success stories of specific products. His far-reaching discussion embraces everything from the psychology of impulse buying to environmental issues, fast food, and the appeal of certain designs. A captivating and timely work in light of the fact that we've just seen an unprecedented change in package design in the wake of new FDA labeling regulations. Donna Seaman