Examples of innovative packaging?

February 3, 2015 8:39 AM

Currently working on some packaging options and have been doing a lot of Google searches and got a book from the library called Structural Packaging: Design your own Boxes and 3D Forms to help give me ideas and possibilities. The most exciting designs I found are in Origami (which have been done time and again), but I cant seem to find any truly innovative techniques on how to open packages for example. Any ideas on where I can find intelligent packaging solutions?
posted by omar.a to Media & Arts (6 answers total)

The one that springs to mind immediately is L'eggs. They came in white plastic eggs.

Here's an article about how they're bringing it back.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 8:51 AM on February 3, 2015

Ideas for curated websites to look through for great packaging design and innovative packaging structures:
- The Dieline
- The Dieline Awards
- Lovely Package
- Packaging of the World
- Searching for innovative packaging / packaging design / etc on Pinterest

Also, are you working with a vendor to produce this packaging? The vendor would probably have a lot of samples, examples, options, ideas. The advantage of brainstorming with them is that you'd be more certain your innovative packaging idea is reproducible and scalable.
posted by Uncle Glendinning at 8:53 AM on February 3, 2015 [5 favorites]

Pinterest is king here. Just search for product packaging and you'll get thousands of hits from all sorts of great places.
posted by Hermione Granger at 9:30 AM on February 3, 2015

Perhaps some sustainable packaging designs and challenges will inspire you.
posted by amtho at 9:33 AM on February 3, 2015

Possibly the best (functional) packaging I've ever seen was on a fairly high-end HP printer circa 2000. The box had instructions on how to take the packaging apart--the outside of the box said e.g. "pull here, pull here, lift top off," and then you'd get to the next layer of the Matryoshka, which would have its own instructions. At the end of all this, you just lifted the printer up, no fussing about with trying to remove that stupid Styro bit on the bottom or whatever.

I guess what I'm saying is, with good design form follows function. So consider first all the functions that your packaging needs to fulfill, and design from there, ideally in concert with a vendor.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 10:08 AM on February 3, 2015

This is more innovative in the sense of reducing waste, but how about packaging that's reusable as a bag afterward? http://www.environmentalleader.com/2008/09/02/hp-thinks-outside-the-box-sells-notebooks-in-messenger-bags/
posted by at at 11:17 AM on February 5, 2015