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The Total Package: The Secret History and Hidden Meanings of Boxes, Bottles, Cans, and Other Persuasive Containers | 
 enlarge | Author: Thomas Hine
Publisher: Back Bay Books
Category: Book
List Price: $17.99
Buy New: $7.99
You Save: $10.00 (56%)
New (16) Used (14) from $5.00
Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 376374
Media: Paperback
Pages: 289
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.9
ISBN: 0316365467
Dewey Decimal Number: 658.564
EAN: 9780316365468
ASIN: 0316365467
Publication Date: August 25, 1997
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
An American design critic describes the ways in which manufacturers appeal to the emotions in order to sell their products. Marketing people know that they have to trigger desire immediately - and they do so visually, creating packages that make all the right promises, through hidden messages which are intended to play on the consumer's deepest fears and desires. The book traces the art and science of package design from its emergence in the last century to today's most instantly recognizable brand images. It is aimed at students of popular culture, designers, marketing people - and anyone who goes shopping.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
 What a fantastic surprise! July 23, 2007
William J. Jehle
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I was actually interested in the history of the cigar box when Amazon suggested The Total Package to me. I bought the book as an impulse purchase (despite the cheap yellow cover that the book itself criticises) and I have been very happy that I did. I have not been able to put this book down. This book far surpassed my expectations and has been a wealth of historical facts and connections between the technology of packaging and our civilization.
I have read one strong critique of Hine's book in that it does not go very deep into the psychology of packaging and how it shapes the choices that consumers make. I think that is beyond the point here. Hine's work does an outstanding job of making an interesting historical narrative about packaging. Hine sees the world through the eye of the consumer from the epoch of the proto-package, through the world of boxes and tin cans, and on through cellophane and plastics. That perspective in this book has opened the world up to me.
I cannot recommend this book enough!
You buy, therefore you must read this book. April 10, 2005
T. Lenon (Seattle, WA USA)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
My community college graphic design students read this book for a class, so I've read it six or seven times now. Every year I look forward to it. It is a wonderful way to get my (mostly) American students to think their role in an economy they've rarely questioned. They learn about how products have been adorned and contained over the centuries and they also learn why great cities thrived with the advancements in packaging, why suburbs keep growing and why cars and groceries are an intertwined pair.
There plenty of insights here for the consumer who wonders why there are so many kinds of toothpaste and why there will always be a battle between Coke and Pepsi. You eat a lot of tuna? Did you know it was canned for the first time because a cannery ran out of sardines? Did you know that canning itself was developed for Napoleon's military campaigns? You know yellow makes products look cheap? You do, but you didn't know you did.
For designers it is an indispensible history that will help you locate your place in the world of business and the American economy.Thomas Hine discusses how research dominates design and how brand managers can wipe out your precious work with a single "Natural!" violator.
Packaging Is What We Are January 2, 2005
Astrid
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
I fell in love with Thomas Hine's The Total Package: The Secret History and Hidden Meanings of Boxes, Bottles, Cans, and Other Persuasive Container from page 1 for this book pulls you into a world that on the one hand is so familiar to you, but on the other hand yet also so unknown, namely the world of package - design and the world of stores.
In his book, Mr. Hine writes about the development of things that I had never even given a thought like the invention of the shopping cart and how it should not take up too much space or the design of the grocery store as a maze, but the book also tells so much more like what colors on the packages say about the products and so on. Mr. Hine even argues that "packaging is what we are" for "packaging mirrors its expected customers, and thus it provides an unfamiliar and provocative perspective about who we are and what we want."
Well, I consider this book to be a true eye-opener and I experience just walking down the aisles in a store as a truly unique experience now for I came to realize that there is a whole theory behind everything I see around me or every aspect of the store.
Excellent Book! May 20, 2004
Amanda Miller (San Francisco, CA)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
A wonderfully interesting book about the history of product packaging. Very thorough and engaging -- I had no idea how important the paper bag was! Rich with insights about consumer behavior in marketplaces and the geographic evolution of the American shopping experience. I go it from the library and wound up buying it as a reference book for years to come!
 What's up with the icky cover? September 30, 2001
5 out of 19 found this review helpful
What can I say? As a book about packaging, it should take a lesson from itself. Sheesh...!
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