First Place Sponsored Project

My team was awarded the first place, cash price, of the Unilever and American Packaging Corporation sponsored competition. A collaborative project with industrial designers and packaging science majors. The primary goal of the project was to elevate the shelf presence of two products, within the brand, while improving sustainability. Our refill concept would be the first national refill product in the haircare industry.

View the full process book here


Project Summary

Our team took various considerations into account such as: shelf presence, consumer satisfaction, functionality, sustainability, consumer survey, market survey, and efficiency. Market research was done to inform our team about how current package designs are perceived by consumers on shelf, as compared to competing brands, such as, L’Orèal and Pantene. We were also informed about our target market’s buying decision pattern.

Mintel, an online database of new fast moving consumer goods, was used to find information about product ingredients, packaging, distribution, and pricing information. CAPE was used to help maximize the number of fixed size, primary packages that could be loaded onto a standard pallet. The sustainability aspect of the design was determined by Walmart Scorecard and COMPASS analysis, which explains, how the current design is sustainable, mainly in terms of fossil fuel consumption and CO2 gas emissions.


Goals

Our goal was to attract buyers’ attention with premium looks and our innovative refill strategy. We are confident that the improved, and more comfortable, to hold form, and the ease of use will further persuade buyers to make the purchase. By changing the form and the bottle material, the product use will be optimized to address our sustainability goals. 

Objectives

1. Redesign the packaging form and graphics to enable our products to stand out on shelf as premium products, as compared to the competitors.

2. Design the new bottles to be sustainable as compared to the previous packaging, in terms of material, structure, innovation and distribution. We chose not to use additional wrapping or packaging to stay true to our sustainability goals.

3. Add value to the consumer in terms of the way the packaging performs while in use. 
Graphic Designers: Alllison Conte & myself – Jade Cole, USA.

Industrial Designers: Lauren Schuler & Nicole Slausson

Packaging Science: Nikita Prabhu & Wenjie Gu