As part of my investigation into my proposed research question : 'How, through the hypothetical decriminalization of illegal drugs, would I design the branding & packaging of the products for a commercial marketplace?' I have begun by looking at the most relevant products currently on sale.
Visiting pharmacies and "legal high" shops, I have been photographing and obtaining examples of packaging to research common design features and how the visual language communicates the nature of the products.
It goes from the bog standard, shout-at-you-from-the-shelf packaging, to the clinical, serious, behind the counter packaging and then to the ultra tacky, cheap and childish examples found wrapped around the likes of 'BUZZ' in a certain "legal high" shop.
Even if Heroin and Cocaine etc. were legalized and sold on supermarket shelves, they are still serious products with serious consequences if misused. Therefore it can be easily determined the packaging should reflect their serious nature.
As with legal drugs, most illegal drugs are industrially manufactured. Were they to be made legal, and manufactured by a legal corporation under state regulations, they would be made to a high standard and sanitized. This brings me the idea of 'Designer Drugs', an intriguing link of sophisticated drugs, designed to a high standard and sophisticated packaging, designed to a high standard.
With this thesis, drawn upon from my first week findings and conclusions, I now have a solid foundation to build my design ideas upon. Sophisticated and serious.
Exploring ways to communicate the drugs, I am researching the most known illegal drugs, particularly in the UK. I am also researching the effects of the drugs themselves as a way to begin developing how to communicate them.
Heroin
Heroin gives users a feeling of warmth and well-being, bigger doses can make people sleepy and very relaxed.
Cocaine
Taking cocaine makes users feel on top of the world, wide-awake, confident and on top of their game but some people are over-confident on it and so may take very careless risks. Its effect is much like speed (amphetamines), but is usually stronger and doesn't last as long.
Cannabis
Taking cannabis can make people feel chilled out, relaxed and happy, and they may get the giggles or become very talkative.
It can make you more aware of your senses, and the hallucinogenic effects can even give you a feeling of time slowing down.
Ketamine
It can make people feel very chilled out and relaxed, giving a feeling of floating away, as if mind and body have been separate.
It can make you physically incapable of moving. You can feel completely detached from your body and surroundings, which has been compared to having a near-death experience, sometimes called “entering the k-hole”.
Amphetamine
Speed makes people feel wide awake, excited and chatty. Clubbers take it because it gives them the energy to dance for hours without getting tired. Amphetamines were once the main ingredient in diet pills because they stop people feeling hungry.
L.S.D
A trip can appear to involve a speeding up and slowing down of time and movements, while colour, sound and objects can get distorted. Users experience hallucinations (seeing and/or hearing things that aren’t there).
Ecstasy
Ecstasy makes people feel ‘in tune’ with their surroundings, and can make music and colours more intense. Users often have temporary feelings of love and affection for the people they're with and for the strangers around them. Lots of people feel really chatty on E., (although these chats don't always make sense to people who aren't on an E!).
If I'm designing the packaging for each of the drugs. I want to display them as part of a set as the likelihood they would be. I'm going to experiment with manipulating the type for each of the drugs to communicate their most notable characteristics (effects). Choosing a neutral, sans serif font would be best as it can be ambiguous enough to represent each of the drugs whilst also appearing sophisticated and modern.
