The Packaging Analysis is a short group paper (~2-3 pages) that explicates how the features of your packaging materials help them target an audience, suit a context, and accomplish a purpose. To do this, the Packaging Analysis should refer to the five design principles discussed in the Technical Communication Today excerpt (balance, alignment, grouping, consistency, contrast). The Packaging Analysis is not an advertisement, a one-sheet, nor a design document; think of it as a short document that you might give to your parent company to convince decision-makers that your packaging materials will be successful.

This document should have three parts: introduction, body, conclusion. An effective structure for the Packaging Analysis is outlined below:

1. Introduction: Establish the audience the packaging materials target, what context they fit, and what they seek to achieve. Perhaps the trickist issue is context, which can be considered many ways, including physically (ex: how the materials will stand out on retail shelves), generically (ex: how the materials will signify visually what kind of game they represent while highlighting their unique traits), and culturally (ex: how shooting games remain sensitive to social issues). Deal with the aspects of context that are most relevant to your particular situation. The introduction is generally one or two paragraphs.
   
   
2. Body: Proceed through each material individually. Identify specific features of each that help it target its audience, fit its context, and achieve its purpose. The five principles of design will be useful here to discuss the actual composition of your materials. Also, if you modified external sources to create your materials, identify where you acquired them. The body should take up the bulk of your Packaging Analysis.
   
   
3. Conclusion: Briefly reiterate what your materials accomplish and key ways that their features do it. The conclusion generally is no longer than a solid paragraph.
   
   

Remember that an analysis does not use first person; it should not talk about the group's design process nor the designers. Essentially, the Packaging Analysis is like a legal case. It should establish an argument to prove in the introduction (this is the thesis). It should then present its evidence in the body (this is the proof). Lastly, it should make its closing argument in the conclusion (this is the recapitulation).

Feel free to contact me with specific questions.