The Packaging Council of Australia's (PCA) Sothern Cross Awards, held October 9, once again highlighted the cream of up and coming young designers.
The Southern Cross Awards are a national packaging competition aimed at tertiary students studying design at Universities, TAFEs and Private Colleges.
Students are provided with briefs, developed by the sponsors, and are required to produce innovative solutions to packaging design.
Just a few of the winners include Chloe Dam, Rebecca Van Stekelenburg, Benjamin Lees, Michael Gregoriades, Pui Shan Yolanda Sze and Mark Cassells.
With her gold winning entry "Light & Shade" Chloe Dam, of the Faculty of Design Swinburne University of Technology, in Victoria took out the Best in show and Environmental Design Award.
Chloe Dam not only created an innovative packaging concept but she has taken packaging to a whole new level.
She has allowed her package, which holds compact florescent lamps, to become the shade for the consumer once the contents are unpacked, hence the name Light & Shade.
Her mock-ups are of an extremely high standard and her accompanying rationale was well researched and beautifully presented.
Dam's concept not only allows the packaging to have an alternate use, she uses the labelling space to provide environmentally aware consumers with tips on how they can better the earth.
According to the judges, Rebecca Van Stekelenburg's entry, "Eze Open", displayed a high level of innovation in a very simplistic form.
The Chisholm Institute student won the Innovation In Design Award.
Resolving the open ability of packages, Rebecca has conducted research into the material choice, shape of the seal and the manufacturing requirements for her concept.
This was a well researched and presented solution that could be easily adapted across a wide range of products and materials.
Benjamin Lees, of Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, Gold Coast Campus in Queensland took out the Innovative Aerosol Product Award with his entry "NU Tooth Paste".
NU Tooth Paste is just that. Lees has taken an everyday product and converted the packaging material to an aerosol format to provide a quicker,efficient and user-friendly result.
His visual design steps away from the norm of toothpaste and has considered the entire product category and colours to be used across the range.
The move to aerosols provides great benefit to those with hand movement disabilities eg. arthritis sufferers. This is a well thought out concept that considered the product, manufacturing requirements, size of the button to release the paste and the overall shape of the bottle.
Michael Gregoriades, of Box Hill Institute of TAFE, in Vicoria won the Dairy Desert package Award with his entry "Rockin Robots"
Identifying the 5-15 year old age as the target market, Gregoriades has designed a package that has hit this audience perfectly.
Meeting the challenge of creating a dairy dessert, Rockin Robots has two components— a flavoured dairy snack (bottom component) and a mixing ingredient (top component), offered in 3 different flavours.
This product has strong shelf appeal and turns the package into a character successfully. Following all the mandatory requirements Gregoriades’s result is a clever solution to packaging dairy desserts.
Pui Shan Yolanda Sze, of Holmesglen Institute of TAFE, also in Victoria, won the Shrink Sleeve Label Award for her entry "Spirit - Apple".
Through the use of a shrink sleeve, Pui Shan has created a product with high shelf appeal and strong branding.
She has used this specific labelling technology to the best of its ability. The use of great photography allows the product — Spirit Apple Juice — to look fresh and attractive.
It has the ability to be carried across an entire range of products within the Juice range.
Another gold winning entry was Ballarat University's Mark Cassells, whose entry "Gogo" won the Energy Drink category.
Cassells has designed an energy drink — Gogo — that is suitable for his specified target audience.
Through his research, he has met all the technical requirements of the brief and used PET as his packaging material.
The ribbed edges are able to withstand the hot fill process and he has also designed the bottom of the pack to prevent shrinkage during this process - meeting all the technical mandatory requirements. He has used these design aspects to create an interesting and dynamic shape for the bottle.
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