Each year, ProCarton gives awards to student packaging designers in various categories. These award reward students for creative and sustainable carton design.* The entries demonstrate “outside the box” thinking in terms of design and sustainability.
In this post, we show the winner in each of the six categories from the ProCarton website and highlight the reason why they won, according to the jury’s comments.
The entries in 2021 included a dried herb carton with 3 sprinkle levels, a carton for fresh herbs, quirky sock packaging, tea bag packaging that looks like a flower, an innovative, sustainable nut carton that has room for the shells and much more!
We also look at how creative thinking has helped one lateral flow manufacturer to reduce the amount of packaging used in the antigen carton.
Note re Carton Design Testing: *It should be noted that some of these designs may not be have been tested by a carton manufacturer re “fitness for purpose” throughout the lifecycle of the product. For example, before a carton structure is approved, it should be tested in every life cycle stage such as being filled with product, transported, stored in a warehouse, displayed in retail shelf/chilled/freezer, transported by the end-user, used, stored and finally recycled when empty.
Therefore, anyone considering using a similar design/carton structure should check with us that the proposed carton structure will work throughout the lifecycle of the product before proceeding to graphic design. You can read more about Carton Structure here
source: ProCarton.com
source: ProCarton.com
Source: ProCarton.com
Jury’s Comments: “it removes the need for a plastic fastener, which has always been a problem in this market. Not only is the plastic component removed but the design creates a really interactive way of opening the selection box.” See More.
source: ProCarton.com
Jury’s Comments: “It is environmentally friendly, natural fibre based, can be easily recycled, is reusable and seals the product in a bag perfectly well! A great idea that is designed to use less of our scarce resources and lower the amount of waste we produce.” See More.
source: ProCarton.com
Source: ProCarton.com
Jury’s Comments: “a lovely piece of carton construction that involves the consumer in the drama of opening the pack to reveal the product inside. The structure of the pack also ensures adequate protection of the glass bottle whilst in transit”. See More.
source: ProCarton.com
Source: ProCarton.com
Jury’s Comments: “clever because it provides an additional use. The packaging protects the frame and is also very simply but cleverly designed with a stencil that can be used to hang the product”. See More.
Source: ProCarton.com
Jury’s Comments: “the product design is very good and the structure of the pack has been very well thought out. It has 3 levels of dosage, an easy push mechanism which really makes for a pleasant consumer experience and the pack is sustainable” and “most containers are made from plastic, but this one is 100% paper-based”. See More.
Source: ProCarton.com
Source: ProCarton.com
Source: ProCarton.com
Source: ProCarton.com
“The pop-up trays ensure that less material is needed – and no glue is used here. “The Velveteen Rabbit” is helping the earth by promoting recycling, reuse and the reduction of waste”, according to the ProCarton website description. See More.
Another example of how creative packaging design can reduce waste can be seen when one compares the carton design of various lateral flow test brands. One brand, shown in the first image below, uses uses a simple perforation in the outer carton (highlighted in red), into which the user can insert the test tube to keep it upright. Another brand (shown in the second image below), has not included a perforation in the outer carton, thereby making it necessary to include an additional, separate, small carton with die cut holes to hold the test tube, making this brand’s test less sustainable.