Authors : Abdii Hulelen

Volume/Issue : Volume 11 - 2026, Issue 7 - July

Google Scholar : https://tinyurl.com/3d335yew

Scribd : https://tinyurl.com/4atxewxu

DOI : https://doi.org/10.38124/ijisrt/26jul724

Note : A published paper may take 4-5 working days from the publication date to appear in PlumX Metrics, Semantic Scholar, and ResearchGate.

Abstract : The global shift toward environmental sustainability has pressured the packaging industry to innovate rapidly, transforming conceptual packaging workflows into highly resource-intensive processes. Concurrently, generative artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a disruptive force in visual communication, introducing new tools whose operational limits within professional workflows remain under-theorized. This study aims to evaluate the operational potential and structural limitations of Midjourney v6 in visualizing sustainable, ecological, and minimalist packaging designs, mapping out the precise boundaries of AI-driven eco-design. Utilizing a qualitative, single-case explanatory research design, this paper deconstructs a single high-fidelity cosmetics packaging archetype generated via Midjourney and cataloged within the OpenArt generative repository. The selected case is subjected to a rigorous critique across three analytical axes: the Formalist-Aesthetic Axis, the Technical-Material Axis, and the Functional-Communicative Axis. The findings demonstrate a profound asymmetry between computational macro-aesthetic synthesis and real-world functional utility. On the formalist axis, the algorithm exhibits an advanced capacity for stylistic synthesis, generating organic forms and eco-centric semiotic codes that simulate human taste. However, the technical-material and functional evaluations reveal systematic failures, including physically impossible lighting logic, spatial anomalies, and complete typographic illegibility due to the model processing letters as visual textures rather than semantic units. This study concludes that while Midjourney serves as an unprecedented macro-aesthetic ideation engine that dramatically accelerates the early conceptual phases of green design, it cannot function as a standalone production tool. It redefines the design workflow not by displacing human agency, but by shifting the human graphic designer's role to a critical curator, prompt engineer, and micro-technical coordinator who must enforce structural grid compliance and linguistic legibility.

Keywords : Generative Artificial Intelligence, Midjourney, Sustainable Packaging Design, Computational Aesthetics, Graphic Design Epistemology, Human-Computer Co-Creativity.

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