Package and Label Design 

Book Description:

In today's competitive international market, it is necessary to have more than just a great product. The package and label needs to draw the consumer's eye and entice them to purchase the item. There is no formula for great package design as each product varies in size, shape, and material. 

Designers are challenged, and their resulting creativity and innovation is showcased in this full-color volume, Package and Label Design. From hang tags on clothing items to boxes for popcorn, the 250 images in this book represent designers from thirteen countries. Filled with new and creative ideas for package and label design, you will refer to this inspiring volume again and again.

The CD-ROM companion contains all designs from this book plus 400 more from previous Rockport package and label design books. All images are referenced by designer and subject and include information about the designers and the techniques used.

The reason it rates 4 stars instead of 5 is due to the very poorly implemented cross-platform CD-ROM that comes with the book. If you are a Mac user you will be disappointed to discover that there are no Mac files to launch and fully use the CD.

In fact, the only way I could view the contents was through either Netscape or Macromedia Director. And, the Director version is old, so you have to convert the files to an updated movie to see them in that program. However, if you do that, they no longer play in Netscape. Oh, yes, you MUST have the shockwave plug-in in your Netscape plug-ins folder for this to work. All the same, many of the controls do not work in Netscape, and if you try a search the program stops altogether (you can quit, but you can't do much else).

I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in package design. I would also urge the publishers to fix their CD as a huge installed userbase of package designers use Macs as a matter of course.
by "A Reader"