The winners and the trends from PIDA Sweden and the UK

On Tuesday the 22nd of May, the Swedish and English editions of PIDA 2018 were decided. The event gathered contesting design students, brand owners, packaging converters, designers, bloggers and journalists. Besides creative unboxing solutions, which was this year’s theme, the event offered interesting keynote addresses. Tech blogger Elin Häggberg talked about the art of unboxing and Vincent Villeger about luxury packaging for digital commerce.

Chocolate box won gold

The most prestigious prize – PIDA Gold Award – went to Linnea Danielsson, Sofie Gustafsson and Mirja Dahlgren for their entry Klimpfjäll Chokladtoppar. A packaging concept designed for luxury chocolate from the Swedish mountains – which was emphasized in the packaging design with shapes of mountain peaks that held the chocolates. In addition, the packaging opened up for new areas of use: both as a gift box and as an item for table settings. Last but not least it offered a striking unboxing experience, which becomes very clear in the film about Klimpfjäll Chokladtoppar.  

Winning is such a cool feeling. PIDA is a super cool thing to be able to brag about and include in the CV. I think the reason we won is the simplicity of the design and at the same time so different in terms of shape,” says Mirja Dahlgren.  
The jury selecting this year’s winners comprised a group of prominent industry specialists who motivated the Gold Award thus:
 
“ A great unboxing experience – it keeps the user’s focus from the start, throughout the opening process, until the very end.
 
Its great construction – with all pieces uniquely mountain (fjälltopps) shaped and, also surprisingly, every other mountain top opens in the opposite direction, not to lose the user’s attention. Still, the content is delicately shared with a small text on top of the chocolate tip without giving away too much of the content inside.
 
Extra scores for the clever, embossed wooden age-ring pattern – which gives a respectful nod to the cartonboard material, and at the same time retains the character of snow on a mountain top.
 
Overall in its full body, appealing looks and high-scoring gift quality – but also opened and used as a table decoration – it gives an extra sparkle to the after-dinner experience.”

More winning design projects

Besides PIDA Gold Award, the jury awarded three more design projects:

Highest level of Innovation went to the cosmetics packaging concept Organic Oils by Hanna Nyman, Denise Spencer Antoft and Stina Olsson. Their project was characterized by a great unboxing experience that makes the product (organic oils) pop up when you open. The package could also be used as an elegant box for the oils on the bathroom shelf.

Highest level of Sustainability was won by the champagne packaging concept Breese Champagne by Fanny Hellström, Felicia Hedström and Amanda Ekström, proving the point that less is more. This group have thought about weight and have been minimal in all senses. Less colour, less material but still unique and beautiful. Especially for a gift pack.

Highest level of User-friendliness for the praline box concept Treat by Lisa Tillander, Martina Taengh and Christian Kaplan. A packaging that takes full control of the unboxing experience, placing the consumer in exactly the right frame of mind by the time they reach the product. Using a simple but effective layering, the brand delivers its message in an economical and efficient way.

The People’s Choice

Besides the jury, the general public (or rather Facebook users) had a chance to have their say at PIDA Sweden. Counting 362 votes on Facebook, Isabelle Halldin, Alexander Harde and Helena Nilsson won People’s Choice Award with their project Mankai. A packaging concept for luxury drinks where part of the pack transformed into a lantern. And what’s more, the packaging was so neat and functional that neither bag nor giftwrap was needed when presenting the bottle as a gift.
 
­”PIDA is an opportunity for development. Looking back, it’s plain to see that it’s been hard work. But also a great honour. It feels fantastic to win this particular prize. It means that the consumer likes our package, perhaps the most important thing of all, and that our unboxing works in social media,” say the Mankai team.

The winners of PIDA UK

At the same event, students from Sheffield Hallam University participated as well, and a British PIDA winner was selected. At last, it was the project Lotus Marzipan by Jessica Salt and Emma Ramshaw that received both the PIDA Gold Award UK and PIDA People’s Choice Award UK. 
 
“It feels amazing! We weren’t expecting to win two awards at all. We were all ready to just sit down to support our peers. We’re excited to share this news with our family and friends. We’re gonna celebrate tonight for sure!” say team Lotus Marzipan.
 
Their packaging concept was designed for confectionery with a shape inspired by a lotus flower.  The jury’s motivation:
 
“This could live side by side with the Rubik’s Cube. It almost takes the user to a meditative state of mind. We can go on and turn it forever. The construction in itself could be the next big thing – in the area of stress reduction tool.
 
Extra scores for the small size, the environmentally friendly concept but also highly feasible design! Besides, we believe it still has a lot of unused graphical potential – and we can’t wait to see that explored.

The trends

PIDA 2018 offered lots of inspiration and new, smart packaging concepts – especially a number of creative unboxing solutions. For example packaging that opened nearly all by itself, products popping up out of their containers, and unboxing aided by AR technology. 
 
As for design trends, several contesting projects had a clear nature theme. We saw a lot of greens, plants, trees, leaves and flowers of various kinds, but also mountain peaks and ice crystals. The colour palette was dominated by natural shades of green, blue and brown. Pink and gold were accents that could be found in many entries. Another big trend was sustainability, taken very seriously by the contestants.
 
”Sustainability is an obvious trend at PIDA 2018. Unboxing and sustainability can be a bit contradictory and tough concepts to combine. But in this respect, the teams have really succeeded in doing this. They were very clever. The design projects had an excellent finish and high quality,” says the jury chairwoman Isabelle Dahlborg, Grow.