Unrealized carton designs win praise

The judging panel for the Pro Carton Design Award has praised students who submitted entries for the 2012 prize, citing the quality of entries, the concept approach and presentation of the designs.
 
The Pro Carton Design Award 2012 is for creative, as-yet unrealized carton design ideas, and was previously held in 2004, 2006 and 2008. There was no prize awarded in 2010, but two winners will be announced during the Pro Carton Congress 2012, held April 18-19 in Düsseldorf, Germany.
 
The next Pro Carton Design Award will be held in 2014, with the call for entries expected in early 2013.

 
Finalists in 2012 include a carton for accessing plasters quickly, a carton that utilizes sound in its opening mechanism to enhance consumers’ emotional response (pictured, below), an adaptable two-piece folding carton, a carton that becomes a child’s dress-up toy, a curving box with shelf-appeal and a one-piece customizable, transportable cupholder (pictured, above). Full details of the finalists can be found here.
 

The judging panel included: Wilfried Duivenvoorden of Unilever, John de Somer of Van Genechten and Satkar Gidda of SiebertHead, who also served as chairman of the jury.

'Don’t be constrained by current views and beliefs'

Gidda said: ‘It is always interesting and thought provoking when looking at carton designs that are not constrained by restrictive or sector specific thinking because of production parameters, manufacturing constraints or retailer requirements.
 
‘A mind that thinks freely can really come up with some clever thinking. Ideas that no one had thought of before or different ways of doing something that had not utilized cartonboard before.
 
‘That’s exactly how it was with the 2012 design awards that we had the pleasure and challenge of judging in The Hague. The judges and I walk into the judging room never knowing what to expect and yet we were pleasantly surprised at the creativity and innovation that lay before us. The lateral thinking was very evident but what was even more interesting was the attention to detail and of not forgetting the requirement of the consumer.’
 
Gidda added: ‘Well done to all those that entered and I would encourage you to continue thinking with an open mind. Don’t be constrained by current views and beliefs and look at other, non-carton packaging and see what can be learnt there and brought into cartonboard.’