With packaging as one of their main disciplines, VBAT is part of BNO NEXTpack. BNO NEXTpack is the packaging design source of the Netherlands. Inspiring with compelling and surprising information about the importance of packaging design in the daily lives of everyone. BNO NEXTPack provides insight into the field of expertise, expresses the response of the discipline on relevant developments and social discussions and stimulates the imagination.
BNO NEXTpack unites the leading Dutch packaging design agencies.
During Dutch Design Week 2015, BNO NEXTpack hosted the Materials XL Seminar with the intriguing topic Future Packaging Concepts.
Have you missed the sold-out seminar during Dutch Design Week 2015? No worries. Wendy van Esveld, PR at BNO NEXTpack, presents you a wrap up of the most important information and useful inspiration for brand owners and designers:
Graham Sturt (Creative Director at VBAT): Tomorrow’s Consumers
As moderator and chairman of the seminar, the experienced British designer kicked off with an overview of the characteristics of Generation Y and Z, the consumers of today and tomorrow.
Here are the core features of the generations to keep in mind during the packaging design process:
Generation Y:
Is your target group born between 1980 and 1996, then you have to deal with generation Y. As a packaging designer or marketeer you should keep in mind the following characteristics of this group:
- Value-driven
-Always connected
-Ego-conscious
-Low brand loyalty
-Expected participation / engagement from brand
-Expect a brand experience
Generation Z:
Generation Z born between 1996 and 2010. Some attributes of this target group:
- Cynical (they don’t believe brands)
-Private sharing unlike public sharing (Snap Chat instead of Facebook)
-Entrepreneurial (not about the money, but to make a difference)
-Multi-tasking as second nature
-Hyper-aware
-Rely on technique
Anna Glansén (Tomorrow Machine): Sustainable packaging does not have to be a brown box ‘
Anna Glansén is founder of Swedish design studio Tomorrow Machine specializing in packaging design, product design and food concepts, working closely with researchers. Glansén and her partner Hanna Billqvistare somewhere in-between inventor and product designer. Researchers offer their newly-developed material to Tomorrow Machine,and the two come up with suitable applications.
All this comes with a beautiful design philosophy: “Our vision as designers is to build a better world through research, new technologies and intelligent material. We believe in looking at science from a creative point of view to shape the innovations of tomorrow.“
Anna Glansén showed recent work. She convinces with her statement about the look and feel of sustainable packaging (‘sustainable packaging does not have to be a brown box’) . Tomorrow machine uses new and unexpected materials to create packaging which is as sustainable as possible.
Following Glansén research companies often make the same mistake. They discover a new material and use it to replace something else. Glansén looks at attributes of a new material and uses it as basis for a new product. That way of working helps to transform bad attributes into good ones.
The Swedish Designer shared a few examples:
The self-opening packaging
For research company Innventia, Tomorrow Machine developed a food packaging that opens itself when the food is ready.
According to the laws of biomimicry (the science and art of mimicking the biological best ideas from nature to solve human problems), the designers looked at things in nature which open themselves. The packaging is made of mechanically active material which changes shape at a high temperature. The material is 100 percent organic and 100 percent natural biodegradable.
The sustainable expanding bowl was awarded the first prize in the category Sustainability during Dieline Awards 2013.
Rice in beeswax, olive oil in sugar, smoothie in jelly
Is it reasonable that it takes several years for a milk carton to decompose naturally, when the milk goes sour after a week? This Too Shall Pass is a series of food packages where the packaging has the same short life span as the foods they contain. The package and its content are working in symbiosis.
Olive oil in sugar
A package made of caramelized sugar, coated with wax. To open it you crack it like an egg. When the material is cracked the wax does no longer protect the sugar and the package melts when it comes in contact with water. This package is made for oil-based food.
Smoothie in jelly
Gel of the agar-agar seaweed and water are the only components used to make this package. To open it you pick the top. The package will wither at the same rate as it’s content. It is made for drinks that have a short life span and needs to be refrigerated, fresh juice, smoothies and cream for example.
Rice in beeswax
Package made of biodegradable beeswax. To open it you peel it like a fruit. The package is designed to contain dry goods, for example grains and rice.
Gary Scriven (Philips): Packaging design is changing ‘
Gary Scriven, senior creative director at Philips Personal Health Solutions, sees the changing role of packaging design. More and more products are ordered online. Therefore it is more necessary than ever to provide a good unpacking experience. He points out the thousands of videos on YouTube about ‘ negative unpacking experiences’. You can’t afford such negative publicity as a brand. Think about too much unused space, for example.
For Philips, packaging design itself is mainly a way to optimally meet the needs of consumers in their customer journey. Scriven was particularly proud of the interactive HUE packaging, designed by FLEX / theINNOVATIONLAB.
Sometimes Philips is using special packaging design to conquer new markets. As example Scriven shows the packaging design of the Philips Activa Fitness Monitor:
According Scriven packaging will in the near future be more and more about:
- Engagement
- Experience
- Delights.
Sustainability is a given, a hygiene factor and simply demanded by retailers.
Thanks to Wendy van Esveld for this wrap-up of Materials XL Future Packaging Concepts. If you want to be kept posted about packaging design related issues in the Netherlands, follow BNO NEXTpack.
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