Creative students won PIDA Sweden with smart, interactive packaging concept

This year’s “Winner All Categories” prize went to students from Brobygrafiska. Their packaging concept for an oven thermometer was based on heat-sensitive ink and communication with an app that displays the temperature and other data. The packaging design was a creative answer to the assignment Electronic Connection, which was all about smart and technically innovative packaging solutions.

Congrats! How does it feel to win such a prestigious competition?

“Absolutely fantastic,” says Viktor Andersson. “There were so many cool entries that also deserved to win.”

What was the greatest challenge for your team?

“It’s a structural design issue,” says Josefine Johansson. “We wanted to make the package totally tamper-proof. But, at the same time, as user friendly and easy to open as possible.”

What can you say about the work process?

“We are efficient and had a outline on the table very early on,” says Kinna Andersson. “That meant that we had a lot of time on our hands testing a great many things – for example what technical interactivity that would offer best value for the user.”

The jury’s motivation:The winning design concept is characterized by clarity, nice design and thinking outside the box. Especially the tamper-proof sealing is clever and material-efficient. The shelf impact is appealing and gives a sense of quality. The unit connects via a smartphone app. The team has dared to challenge traditions and gave the jury a bit of an “Apple feeling”. In addition, production is feasible.

“The quality of this year’s entries was consistently high. A clear trend is how strongly the new generation of packaging designers rely on cloud/app connection via smartphones,” says Bo Wallteg, the jury’s chairman. The jury comprised several prominent industry specialists, and besides the “Winner All Categories” award, they selected winners in the following three categories:

Winner Best Level of Shelf Impact: BLANCA Elin Vennerström, Jakob Westin and Linnea Åkerberg. Packaging design for an electric toothbrush – the coloured patch is a scannable code.

The jury: The jury found this packaging concept exemplary in its simplicity and clarity, and very production-friendly to boot. It stands out on the shelves of this category and you make no mistake as to what’s inside. An extra plus! In fact, this is the only entry that is clear about the contents. A neat package design that is anything but toothless. Winner Best Level of Innovation: Stubb Jonathan Jonsson, Alexandra Forssén and Linn Karlsson. Packaging design for a razor – alarm sensors send signals to the checkout if somebody tampers with the pack.

The jury: Here is a design that replaces two plastic packs and challenges the conventional in a segment of daily importance. And it features double pilfer-proofing. It’s no easy task to persuade a consumer to hang on to a package, but the built-in functionality makes it easier. The ever-important tactile factor is there as well. A razor-sharp design project!

Winner Best Level of User Friendliness: Vibe, Yours Truly Elin Wadsten and Cherrie Rahbar Packaging design for a vibrator – unique watermark/app solution for access to product info, community and newsfeed.

The jury: Here is a sustainable concept, both in terms of structure and quality. What’s more, it’s a production-friendly solution. The result is a piece of elegant packaging that is easily reusable – nothing to be ashamed of. The promise of “love in a battery” in the Wilmer X song rings true, and it is just that bold approach the winners had the courage to incorporate in their design.