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Swedish design for new markets
Competition was fierce and standards high when Sweden’s most prominent packaging design schools went head-to-head in Korsnäs’ PIDA design competition. This year’s theme was the health trend and the entries demonstrated the students’ creative approaches to customer friendly packages adapted to various sales channels like the Internet and speciality stores. “The designers of the winning entry made optimal use of shape, colour, punching and hanging features that did justice to the superb designability of Frövi cartonboard. A fine example of how the package can enhance the value of a simple product,” was the jury’s assessment.
Fascinating panel discussion among the design elite of Sweden
An event for customers, producers and design firms was held in connection with the awards ceremony in early June. Tomas Edman of Designstudio Värmland gave a thought-provoking talk on the subject of “packaging as a necessary evil – or our key communication.” Creativity and cost effectiveness were discussed in a panel discussion moderated by Bo Wallteg, editor in chief of nordemballage magazine, in which listeners also actively participated using automated audience response devices. It emerged clearly in the discussion that packaging is becoming a more significant aspect of marketing and that decisions on packaging are moving higher up in brand owner organisations. Lisa Tingvall of No Picnic Packaging & Design emphasised that packaging costs – which are embarrassingly low considering the importance of the package – should be included in the marketing budget instead of being charged to product cost. Mats Dafnäs of Embrink Design stressed the critical balance between preserving brand identity while revitalising the design and simultaneously piquing interest – a bit like buying new clothes.
Eye-tracking and what happens at the moment of decision
The competing entries were of course the main attraction of the day, but participants were also able to visit stations like Frövi’s PackLab and STFI-Packforsk during breaks between items on the programme. This gave visitors the opportunity to test the “eye-tracking” method and observe how the eye moves over a shelf filled with various packages, for instance. NORM presented a virtual store environment in which consumers do their shopping in front of a computer screen instead of inside a physical shop. This enables measurement of things like the consumer appeal of colour and graphics.
“The concept of a competition for the young and innovative designers of tomorrow has become a major success and this is a competition in which everybody wins. The students get the chance to show off their creativity to a large audience and make an impression on potential employers while discovering the possibilities for creative design offered by our cartonboard. Our customers and their customers get to experience and assimilate the students’ innovations. Contacts are made and ideas are born,” says Annica Alexanderson, PR manager of Korsnäs Frövi.
PIDA = Packaging Impact Design Award
Korsnäs Frövi has been holding design competitions for students from Spain, Sweden and the UK since 1994, focused on packaging design. The partnership with Spain (Escola Massana) was transferred to ProCarton in 2004. In 2005, the Swedish competition was intensified instead and several schools were involved in conjunction with the 2005 Year of Design - and the PIDA concept was born. That same year marked the beginning of the partnership with Marks & Spencer as sponsors of a category within the Student Starpack Award in the UK. Encouraged by the tremendous impact of PIDA, contacts were made with Hochschule der Medien in Stuttgart and there were two parallel competitions this year: PIDA Sweden and PIDA Germany. The organisation has approached a university in France with regard to participation in 2007.
