For centuries people have been collecting things like cards, postcards, stamps, gem stones etc. However, more collections are comprised of idiosyncrasies that have little value compared to the emotions of the collector. People collect things to satisfy a sense of personal aesthetics, to please personal tastes, to show individualism by collecting weird or unusual items, the collector’s need to be complete. For me am a person who enjoys and loves collecting shopping bags. Bags are characterized by their functionality and attractive designs. Shopping Bags come in a wide range of styles, such as clear, colored, low and high density poly, clear frosted, printed plastic handle.
Collecting bags is not a new habit for me it all started with my mother. My mother is particularly offended if I try to transport any object out of home in a less-than-nice shopping bag. "Wait, let me get you a _nice_ bag," she says, pulling five or six out from behind the fridge so that she can find the exact perfect size to hold whatever I'm carrying. I always thought Mom was insane, but now I've got a shopping bag collection of my own.
Here are a variety of everyday plastic bags that cover the basics of my bag collection.
Collected from a variety of businesses, most of them are from local businesses.
The collection shown here displays the variety of colors and shapes that shopping bags are known for.
Collected from a variety of businesses, most of them are from local businesses.
The collection shown here displays the variety of colors and shapes that shopping bags are known for.
I divided my collection into categories:
Typographic:
This kind is the simplest design form in shopping bags. In most bags the logo is centered in the middle or centered to the lower part of the bag. The background is plane color. But what make this type of shopping bags interesting is the spread of knowledge about typography and the layout grid system.
Pictures and digital illustrations:
The most eye catchy bags. They pop out easily because of shapes and vibrant colors used in them. Usually these bags contain photos of models, cartoon characters, some icons. Designers use a block of plane color under the logo to let it stand out and have a hierarchy.
Strips and patterns:
A new trend used now a days, aligning lines with different stroke weights under each other choosing two or more colors that have a harmony in them and then placing the logo in the middle. This trend is seen a lot nowadays, the question is what makes this kind of bags different, how can I tell the identity of this shop from these stripes, is it the stroke weights, the colors or the placement of the logo that gives it the identity?
Shopping bags are mobile ads. Their designs should convey what's inside -- both the bag and the store. Through my observation very few bags have a design that follows the identity of the whole shop specifically in local market. The question is who is responsible for this is it the designer? The shop owner? Or the viewers?
