Design students triumph at packaging awards

NQ and HND product design students at City of Glasgow College won a number of prizes at this year’s Starpack Student competition.

The competition introduces a new generation to design packaging as a career, and provides an opportunity for students to showcase their ideas and solutions directly to a global industry which is looking for rising stars.

The NQ students each created a point-of-sale display for Doritos and Pepsi, while the HND students were all challenged with designing a novel plastic gin bottle suitable for use in e-commerce.

All the designs had to consider sustainability as well as commercial viability. Of the 12 students who entered, two secured gold medals, two won bronze and eight were highly commended.

Keith Moir, lecturer in design at City of Glasgow College, said:

“There were over 160 entries for this competition which saw our students competing against some of the top universities and design schools worldwide. For 12 of our NQ and HND students to win at this level, and two securing the main prizes, is an outstanding achievement. We are very proud of them all. Their designs were carefully considered, and professionally presented, and all received well-deserved recognition from the judges.”

HND product design student, Krisztina Panczel, from Hungary, won the gold medal for her ‘let the fun be gin’ gin bottle concept which judges said, “was a truly eye-catching design with a very clear focus on the sustainability message. With some small changes this could possibly work in the real world. A truly great effort, well done.” 

Krisztina believed the competition was a great boost to her confidence, saying:

“It gave me a sense of urgency and excitement which motivated me and I’ve learned a lot about the design process. I enjoyed creating the final page, putting together an ‘advertisement’ for what I was working on, using transparency, shadows and other techniques to make it as realistic as possible.”

“I wanted to challenge myself and took the sustainability aspect of the competition very seriously. It was important to find the most eco-friendly companies related to this area. It believe anyone with any say in matters of the environment, such as product designers making the correct choices in materials and manufacturing processes for sustainability, should try to do their best to help our planet.”

Along with her gold medal, Krisztina also wins a £600 cash prize or an all-expenses paid trip to Portugal to visit Logoplaste - who sponsored her category - and their design and technical centre for all group research and development activity. Krisztina will work with the teams, focusing on design packaging and engineering support, raw materials and sustainability.

NQ product design student, Adrian Listwan, won gold for his point-of-sale display for Doritos and Pepsi. As part of winning the main prize he will receive a £250 Amazon voucher and one week’s work experience at Smurfit Kappa Display UK, who sponsored his category.

Adrian enjoyed getting a taste of what it’s like to work on a professional brief, saying:

“Having a set brief is more challenging but can lead to a better outcome. It was also good getting feedback from the judges, which has helped my confidence. I enjoyed that it was a competition where a lot more people saw my idea and offered comment on my work.”