A couple of years ago for some reason I really started to notice the packaging on everything which came into the house. It changes more than you might think. Almost from week to week
A tin of Heinz Baked Beans still looks much the same to me as it did 60 years ago. Same colour, same size etc. Yet if you lined up succeding 'editions' you would probably be surprised. I guess changes would mostly be gradual, some (such as the change to metric), more sudden
Packaging changes for all sorts of reasons - technical, economic, fashion ....
It undeniably has a designer
Or rather, many designers. All working within constraints
The artist designs to technological & marketing constraints & government regulations about labelling. Government is constrained in turn by policies on the regulation of international free trade or public health or pressure group concerns. The accountants, boards of directors work to free market rules, government regulations, investors concerns, constrained by costs, availability of raw materials. etc, etc, etc
There are extinctions too. The ring-pull means that the can opener is an endangered species
If a latter-day Darwin collected, collated, analysed & pondered masses of information about packaging might they discover an important new law of evolution under design?
