Final Packaging Examples

Learning Deficiency Reading

I found this article to be an easy read, as well as extremely relevant to designers as well as consumers. I didn't find out too much that I didn't already know because of this class and Issues in Design, but it was motivating and tied a lot of thoughts and aspects of life related to sustainability.

I could not help but relate it to my Consumer Behavior marketing class which I am currently taking. Last night I read an article from the Journal of Consumer marketing entitled "Mistaking a Marketing Perspective for Ethical Analysis: When Consumers Can't Know What they Should Want." Basically, it states that the needs and wants of the consumer that the marketing industry aims to satisfy are not always the same as what the consumer should need or want in their (or their environments) best interest. Like the article states, a good part of the so called "environmentalist" population is totally fine with driving an SUV due to the marketing strategy of such a product. Marketing feeds off of this lack of true knowledge, and plays into the self-absorbed material satisfaction we get from products.

Since graphic design plays a huge role in the marketing and possibly informational role for consumers, we must, as the article states, change consumers perception of the products and packaging they should be buying, in the best interest of both the consumer and the environment. I think that by education on sustainability, and relating ourselves to be on the same level as nature in marketing, we can change people's perceptions of things. Like the article states, we should use our power as students learning, and ability to design packaging, clothing, and products to start the "pedagogic shift" trend in education. This shift is key to spread the word to the world that we must change how and why we do things in a larger, less self-absorbed context. It also reminded me of the Buddhist teachings we learned about in the tea ceremony, about listening to others and the world in the present moment and not to be constantly absorbed in ourselves and our comfort. Because this was expressed in a ceremony related to tea, I have realized that tea is an excellent product to start designing packaging as a useful tool to be sustainable and to research.

More Innovia Cellulose

This is another product I found that uses the new, ec0-friendly packaging of cellulose/alluminum (yet biodegratable!)

I've been playing around with my logo and have tried to clean it up a bit. I think these are working better than before. I like the brown with its earthy feel, but the different background colors make it easier to distinguish between the different varieties.

For the secondary element on the packaging I want to show loose leaf tea to show the organic, natural aspect of the product as a selling point. At first I thought an illustrative outline pattern of the tea itself, or a monochromatic photographic image of the scattered tea. I will post my sketches once I can get to a scanner. I was browsing some Chinese and Japanese tea packages and designs for a little inspiration when I came across the packaging below, which is similar to what I want to do (in how they display the loose leaf tea) and I would definitely buy this tea because it looks so cool!

I think I found it!

I think the reason why I was not happy with the tin/steel reusable container was that it would be too expensive, and to a lot of consumers who are looking at buying tea often, they would want something a little cheaper and more practical. I liked the idea of steel or tin because it is best for keeping the tea fresh, and I wanted to stay away from plastic to keep the loose leaf tea in because it is not as sustainable and excess packaging. That is why I could not decide to use sustainable paperboard (tambrite) because I would need extra packaging like plastic to keep it fresh inside. Also, tea in a traditional box is what all the tea packaging is today and I wanted mine to stand out.

However, today I found this article: http://www.sustainableisgood.com/blog/2008/10/guayakitea.html, which shows a brand new innovative tea packaging. It is revolutionary for loose leaf tea because it is made of a metalized cellulose film that is strong, flexible, yet also completely compostable and biodegradable. It does not use trees, and will completely break down because it uses only a minuscule amount of metal. It creates a different type of packaging shape to most tea that is in a box or tin. It also has the metallic element which keeps out moisture, odors, and holds in flavor and freshness. It seems to satisfy my search for something that will keep the tea fresh like tins, but also without excess plastics or wrappers using the way too traditional paper box. It was just posted on the second of October, and seems like it could be an up-and coming sustainable packaging solution for food/tea.

I was looking at more sustainable packaging solutions and came across a company called Stora Enzo. They are a company that provides paperboard for packaging. It is a company that is committed to sustainability by producing lighter (therefore less material) packaging. Also they improve environmental performance where process management and controls are taken into consideration (dry debarking, process water recycling, effective emissions monitoring, safety and recycling systems, and cooling towers for biological waste water treatment). They also use steam for power. There wood fibres are managed from controlled forests. The packaging is fully recyclable. I feel like this would probably be better to use for a traditional box packing. This would be more practical and probably sell better to a wider target audience instead of expensive containers which could be reused but not practical to buy and reuse often ending up with tons of containers.

The particular paperboard used for packaging would be tambrite. It states on the website "Tambrite is a quality option for applications requiring high bulk, purity, solid structure and excellent printability. We worked in close cooperation with OTG and its printers and jointly decided that Tambrite is exactly the right solution, since the famous tea brands need to make a visually superb statement," says Peter Pöpping, Sales Manager at Stora Enso Deutschland.
The website also mentions how tea popularity is supposed to grow in the near future with a health-concious population. Below is an example of tea packaging, and cups (which could be an option as a container and reusable as a disposable recyclable cup) which use tambrite by Stora Enzo.

Packaging Ideas

Today I was again trying to look for packaging solutions which was would be sustainable since I could not seem to find one that I was happy with. I was looking at these interesting stainless steel containers last class from a company called Blomus, which is inspired by natural shapes and purity. I thought their website and line of products was visually attractive and modern, and it would be a candidate to a sustainable container that could be reused.

The problem with this packaging is that although it is sleek, attractive, and reusable it would be very expensive tea, and what exactly would you do with tons of these containers if you buy a lot of tea? I could do some sort of refill packaging element, but I figured it would probably be more practical to find a more disposable and less expensive material that would appeal to a more mainstream/larger market.