PRESS RELEASE /

ORCHID - Vase included

Packlab Partners' packaging concept 'Orchid' blossoms at prize ceremony

Packlab Partners was awarded with the first prize at the Nordic Aluminium Package Design Award 2009. The novel floral packaging challenges packaging's role as a medium by exploring its interactive qualities and the consumer experience. 'Orchid' was an envisioning project to design a packaging experience that seeks new opportunities by adding value.

The plastic (PE-LD) coated aluminium foil allows for the flexibility of packaging to transform into a vase. It also presents the aesthetic qualities of the aluminium material, yet supporting its function. The innovative packaging and secondary functions are made possible through heat sealed edges that can be found at the bottom of the pack. These attributes are integral in allowing water to be held. The opening and closing of 'Orchid' is achieved through optional means such as resealable tape, semiadhesive latex or labelled stickers. This enables the pack to hold its form when closed to protect the flowers during transportation.

Ian Rooney, Partner at Packlab Partners, says: "Senses have been overlooked in many areas of communication and design, but none more so than in packaging. Great looking graphics and an eye pleasing structure are no longer the recipe for success. 'Orchid' is a good example of packaging design which looks beyond pure aesthetics. Design can add value by influencing behaviour: triggers, flow, participation, intensity, coverage and emotions which then leads us to meaningful and memorable experiences".

The Nordic Aluminium Package Design Award 2009 is organised by Aluminiumriket Sverige, a cluster of companies in Sweden that work with aluminium, on behalf of Packalu Sverige. The competition invites Nordic designers, design engineers and architects to free their thoughts and think in new ways. The objective is to design exciting and practical packaging wholly or partly from aluminium. The jury, which is chaired by Tom Hedqvist, Principal of Beckmans College of Design in Stockholm, is made up of representatives of the packaging industry, the aluminium trade and designers.

Packlab Partners is a design consultancy specialised in packaging and brand design with a focus on holistic packaging design.

Packlab Partners
www.packdesign.com

Protecting the sentiment

AIMS
Holistic packaging experience.

The initial project aim was to challenge packaging’s role as a medium by exploring its interactive qualities and the potential consumer experience. This was an envisioning project to design future floral packaging experiences and seek new opportunities by adding value. Some of the ideas were highlighted through personal observations and later more in depth ethnographic research.

METHODS
An explorative and participatory approach to understanding the experience of giving and receiving flowers.

There was no particular initial design question as this was an explorative project. Yet, through out the project we adopted approaches and methods that questioned the existing design processes. This lead to a more participatory approach and the use of people-centred design and their narratives as an integral part of the ideation process. These methods were introduced to simply allow all stakeholders to participate and communicate their ideas. These narrative ideas helped with the envisioning process to conceptualise new experiences. We intentiously use the word ‘experience’ instead of packaging, product or services. We discovered very early on that user doesn’t differenciate or divide their consuming experience in sections but as a whole. The word ‘experience’ also allows us as a design team to look at packaging from a more holistic perspective. The vase is made customizable through the use of material. The plastic (PE-LD) coated aluminium material allows for the flexibilty of packaging to tranform into a vase. It also presents the aesthetic qualities of the aluminium material, yet supporting its functions. The innovative packaging and secondary functions are made possible through heat sealed edges that can be found at the bottom of the pack. These attributes are integral in allowing water to be held. The opening and closing of this packaging is achieved through optional means such as resealable tape, semiadhesive latex or labelled stickers. The sealing can be found between the joining sections or preferably at the top of the the pack. This enables the pack to hold its form when closed to protect the flowers during transportation.

Ceremony of opening

BEYOND FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTIONS
Form follows function and function follows experience and experience follows our senses.

Great looking graphics and an eye pleasing structure are no longer the recipe for success. Packaging and brands can no longer purely sell to consumers: consumers want to be seduced and they want a relationship. That’s why it is worth considering why as much as 83% of all commercial communication appeals to only to one sense, our eyes. That leaves a small amount of around 17% to cater for the other four senses. The most influential sense is smell: 75% of our emotions are influenced by what we smell. And there is a 65% chance of a mood change when exposed to positive sounds. Senses have been overlooked in many areas of communication and design, but none more so than in packaging. These senses, smell, audio, visual, touch and taste trigger experience alongside cognitive processes such as thought, awareness and observation. This then leads to flow touch point, interactions and journeys. In this case it has the ability to influence time and in turn the value of the experience and our participation. Participation intensity can be passive, active and even social from flash moments to full immersion. The coverage of the intensity can be found in products, service and environments. It’s important to remember that consumers don’t necessarily divide their experiences but they accept its entirety as a whole. Understanding the full wholeness of an experience guides the emotions. Looking beyond pure aesthetics helps us to build comfort, trust and meaning. Triggers, flow, participation, intensity, coverage, emotion and meaning allow design to influence behaviour creating memorable experiences which in turn add value.

DO WE HAVE TIME FOR FLOWERS?
The importance of time, insight and rejecting assumptions.

Beyond the traditional physical functions of packaging the two most important are: 1) to speed us up so we can think less or 2) to slow us down giving us permission we can think more. Flowers are a reflection of our thoughts and they carry vast and very different cultural meaning around the world. In China, for example, flowers are considered a waste of money unless there is additional benefit or value for having them. Yet, this is slowly changing through globalisation and the introduction of western traditions. When speaking to a Chinese woman, she said: ‘‘If my boyfriend brought me flowers, I would hate him as it would be a waste of money. I would want something more functional, this would be more romantic, something I could use’’. Unstructured interviews, like this one, gave us vast nsight and encouraged the design team to not just work on assumptions. Through our research we also noticed that people commented about the importance of timing and resources: having the time and resources to deal with the gift. Many spoke about having to carry flowers around on a date or receiving them at the office. So inadequate resources i.e. a vase or a place to rest them on without them dying was an interesting point of focus for the design team.

Value added experience beyond packaging

CUSTOMISATION PACKAGING EXPERIENCE

In the future consumers may visit their florist or order on-line and have the ability to personally customise the experience they wish to give the receiver. This might be achieved through digitally printed messages or images. This kind of product and service diversification of floral services might encourage a relationship with social networking especially with the use of personal messages, images and creative applications all being so readibly accessible. This points to the possibilities of co-creation, which is the practice of developing systems, products and services through the collaborative execution of developers, stakeholders and most importantly the end user. Although these ideas address future possibilities of customisation the experience already offers countless opportunities for the end user to present their flowers.

BENEFITS
A convenient and customisable floral experience.

- Goes beyond packaging: a floral experience
- Flower vase anywhere: "Vase included"
- Less waste and easy disposal
- Added consumer value with re-usable possiblities
- Empty packaging can be stored flat