Cover not available
Part of
Dimensions of Iconicity
Edited by Angelika Zirker, Matthias Bauer, Olga Fischer and Christina Ljungberg
[Iconicity in Language and Literature 15] 2017
► pp. 229–246

The role of iconicity in package design

A case of the contemporary marketing of traditional Japanese confectionery

 | University of Geneva
This paper demonstrates how iconicity functions in the contemporary marketing of Japanese traditional confectionery (wagashi) brands by analysing package designs. Two different brands, Toyara and Higashiya, are used to identify how company policies are embodied in the packages. The results show that (1) four different alphabets function differently to mirror their intrinsic meanings and images; (2) there are iconic resemblances in their forms to convey the company images and policies; and (3) a package is iconic to a product in a new type of wagashi brand. In consequence, I mean to illustrate that in the contemporary wagashi marketing iconicity is an important medium not only to attract the customers by its aesthetic features but also to create a new image, ‘Wa-Modern (modernised Japaneseness)’, which is now the trend applied to various product design contexts in Japanese society.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Analytical data: Traditional and modernised wagashi
    • 2.1The history of Japanese confectionery, wagashi
    • 2.2Data: Traditional and modern wagashi brands
  • 3.Data analysis
    • 3.1Typography
    • 3.2Iconic resemblance between packages and wagashi
  • 4.Conclusion: Iconicity in Japanese contemporary marketing
  • Acknowledgments
  • References
Published online: 8 September 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ill.15.13shi
References (26)
References
Agriculture & Livestock Industries Corporation. 2010. Agriculture & Livestock Industries Corporation Website. 〈[URL]〉 (31 August 2015).
Blommaert, I. 2010. Sociolinguistics of Globalization. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fischer, A. 1999. Graphological iconicity in print advertising: A typology. In Form Miming Meaning [Iconicity in Language and Literature 1], M. Nänny & O. Fischer (eds), 251–283. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Goh, R. B. H. 2001. Iconicity in advertising signs motive and method in miming ‘the body’. In The Motivated Sign [Iconicity in Language and Literature 2], O. Fischer & M. Nänny (eds), 189–210. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Graddol, D. 2008. The semiotic construction of a wine label. In The Discourse Reader, 2nd edn, A. Jaworski & N. Coupland (eds), 73–81. Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
Higashiya. 2013. Higashiya Website. Retrieved Sept. 1, 2015 from 〈[URL]〉 (1 September 2015).
Hiraga, K. M. 2003. How metaphor and iconicity are entwined in poetry: A case in haiku . In From Sign to Signing [Iconicity in Language and Literature 3] W. G. Müller & O. Fischer (eds), 317–335. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2005. Metaphor and Iconicity: A Cognitive Approach to Analysing Texts. New York NY: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ishikawa, K. 2007. Sho to design (Japanese calligraphy and design). In Design no Kotoba (Language as Design), S. Akazaki, T. Toda & M. Koyanagi (eds), 6–38. Tokyo: Sayusha.Google Scholar
. 2012. Hiragana no Bigaku (The Aesthetics of Hiragana). Tokyo: Shinchosha.Google Scholar
Izumi, S. 2005. Package higashi to nishi; tsutsumu to fuujikomeru (The packages, East and West – wrapping or confining). In Nihon no Package Design: Sono Ayumi, Sono Hyojou (Package Design in Japan: Its History and Expressions), Japan Package Design Association (ed.), 8–15. Tokyo: Rokuyosha.Google Scholar
. 2005. Nihon no Package Design: Europe Tono Taihi (Package Design in Japan – a Comparison with European Package Design). Tokyo: Rokuyosha.Google Scholar
Japan Wagashi Association. 2011. Japan Wagashi Association Website. 〈[URL]〉 (24 August 2015).Google Scholar
Kress, G. 2010. Multimodality: A Social Semiotic Approach to Contemporary Communication. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Kurokawa, M. 2013. Toraya: Wagashi to ayunda go-hyaku nen (Toraya: 500 years of its History with Traditional Japanese Sweets). Tokyo: Shinchosha.Google Scholar
Lakoff, G. & Turner, M. 1989. More than cool reason: A field guide to poetic metaphor. Chicago: Chicago University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
van Leeuwen, T. 2005. Introducing Social Semiotics. Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
Piller, I. 1999. Iconicity in brand names. In Form Miming Meaning [Iconicity in Language and Literature 1], M. Nänny & O. Fischer (eds), 325–341. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Saji, K. 2005. Korekara no package designers ni kitai suru mono (What I expect from package designers in the future). In Nihon no package design: Sono ayumi, sono hyojou (Package Design in Japan: A Comparison with European Package Design), Japan Package Design Association (ed.), 26. Tokyo: Rokuyosha.Google Scholar
Sasahara, H. 2014. Kun-yomi no hanashi: kanji bunka to nihongo (A Story of Kun-yomi: Kanji Culture and Japanese Language). Tokyo: Kadokawa Sophia Bunko.Google Scholar
Satake, H. & Satake, K. 2005. Nihongo o shiru, migaku: Kotoba no kyokasho (Understanding and Brushing up Japanese: A Textbook of the Japanese Language). Tokyo: Beret.Google Scholar
Seargeant, P. (ed.). 2011. English in Japan in the Era of Globalization. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Shibata, A. 2009. English in Japan: Conceptualisations of English and English Education in Japanese Educational and Social Contexts. PhD dissertation, University of London.
. 2014. Brand toshite no eigo: Sono jouiteki image to shakai eno eikyo (English as a brand: Its emotional image and influence over Japanese society). Media, English and Communication 1: 23–42.Google Scholar
Toraya. 2009. Toraya’s Trademark Designs. Tokyo: Toraya.Google Scholar
TPC Bibliothèque. 2013. Wagashi no shijo chosa: yofu wagashi, chilled wagashi nado eno tayoka ga shijo kakudai no kagi o nigiru (A Market Survey of Wagashi: The Diversity of Wagashi including Westernised and Chilled Wagashi). Osaka: TPC Bibliothèque.Google Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Shibata, Ayako
2020. Iconicity in branding. In Operationalizing Iconicity [Iconicity in Language and Literature, 17], ► pp. 246 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 14 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.