RIT student team named finalists in national packaging design challenge

Five students from RIT combined talents and designed a packaging campaign for garlic that will be among the finalists for the Paperboard Packaging Student Design Challenge.

The packaging design for the Grovey Garlic project is one of three finalists among 20 teams from five U.S. universities that participated in the annual challenge. It is a familiar, but hard-won spot for RIT’s teams that have competed in the challenge for nearly 20 years.

Each year, the Paperboard Packaging organization develops a different design challenge, and universities like RIT use this as an opportunity for students to apply concepts such as design, material choices, performance, and shelf appeal. Teams detail project needs and possible solutions and, by the end of the semester, they have prototypes. Most are “shelf-ready,” said Lorrie Frear, professor of graphic design in RIT’s College of Art and Design.

“The students put a lot of hard work into the projects and doing well in the competition gives a sense of pride. It feels like we were in the Olympics,” Frear said.

Grovey Garlic was developed during the previous spring semester course Packaging Design that combines concepts of technology, art, and design, as well as real-world problem solving. Design requirements for the 2024 challenge were to create sustainable paperboard packaging for a fresh produce product that is not typically packaged in this type of material.

Packages are designed to protect products, reflect brand messaging and incorporate sustainable materials and practices. They also must be user friendly.

“You have to know what the people want, and we have to make a product that people will know how it works,” said Malena Juif, a fourth-year packaging science student from Rochester, N.Y. She worked with Nicole Wright, ’24 (graphic design); Lucy Rose Miles, ‘24, (graphic design); Nathaniel Cardiel ’24 (graphic design); and Mackenzie Gidusko ’24 (graphic design) on the Grovey Garlic team.

Frear and Carlos Diaz-Acosta, professor of packaging science, mentor teams to create innovative packaging solutions. RIT has an edge in this area with its focus on alternative packaging materials and sustainability.

“Through the Student Design Challenge, students all across the country get to exercise their creativity and apply their knowledge of sustainable design at the same time,” said Heidi Brock, American Forest & Paper Association chief executive officer, in a statement.  “Each year, we are impressed by every submission from the next generation of sustainability leaders. The challenge also gives participants real-world experience. Many Student Design Challenge participants have pursued careers in packaging design.”

Winners will be announced at the Paperboard Packaging Alliance’s fall meeting and leadership conference in Atlanta in late September. The Alliance is a joint initiative between the American Forest & Paper Association and the Paperboard Packaging Council. Student teams must present final designs to a panel of judges, all professionals in the field. This year one of the judges is RIT alumna Kelly Fellner ’22 (packaging science), who was on three winning project teams while an undergraduate, and is currently creative manager at Burt Rigid Box, Inc., in Oneonta, N.Y.