Students think outside the box for multidisciplinary course

Rochester Institute of Technology students can think outside the box — and a recent project to design subscription boxes gave them the opportunity to create functional designs and prepare for careers. 

Subscription boxes are filled with merchandise specific to a customer’s interest, home-delivered and part of a growing trend to encourage customer loyalty through convenience and special packaging. RIT students designed prototypes in three product categories: health and fitness products and gear, healthy snacks and condiment sauces as part of a multidisciplinary course, Packaging Design, and a longtime collaboration between RIT’s College of Engineering Technology and College of Art and Design (formerly the College of Imaging Arts and Sciences).

Each year, projects are different and based on a national competition, the Paperboard Packaging Alliance Student Design Challenge. Designs completed are entered into the challenge. 

“This is the 14th year the course has been conducted. This is an exciting class where students get the chance to work and get credit for a design course, and to participate in a competition where their designs have been among the best in the country. The class gives them a practicum where they are immersed in just how they’d be working alongside peers in the workplace,”said Bill Wynkoop, adjunct faculty in the packaging science program in the College of Engineering Technology. Wynkoop and Lorrie Frear, professor of graphic design in the College of Art and Design, teach the course.

Teams consisted of students from the graphic design, industrial design and packaging science programs. They worked as teammates to understand how designers and packaging professionals collaborate to influence a company’s brand and bottom line. Hands-on work throughout the semester included learning skills in project management, marketing and incorporating sustainable materials in product development. 

Each team detailed its design process — what inspired them, the competition making similar products and the decisions they made at each step of the process to develop unique prototypes. The prototypes consisted of the larger, branded subscription mailers with different content packages made of cloth pouches, unique bottles or puzzle-boxes — all able to be multi-use, either to display items or as keepsakes. 

Examples of projects:

Students on the design team Tea Forte sought to expose customers to different cultures through distribution of International Tea Boxes. Four times per year customers would receive select teas from around the world, packaged in individual boxes with different designs to represent the country. Tea is more than a drink, it is an experience, said the designers; part of their package would include the history of the tea and background information about the country of origin.  

Team Scout designed the Venture Box for hiking enthusiasts, environmental conservationists and adventure seekers. Complete with different types of energy bars along with wearables such as a scarf that can be converted and used as a rope if needed, the team believed the Venture Box would be a viable competitor in the extreme sports landscape. 

Team Trio’s On-the-Go Snacks design would provide healthy snack packages for individuals looking to curb cravings while dieting or to provide an alternative to vending machines in the workplace. Contents of packages would consist of a variety of snacks in colorful wrap, based on individuals needs such as calorie intake, and scalable for active families.

Team Kan-Do was Packin’ Heat, a collection of hot sauces from across the globe. “We wanted people to travel around the world with their taste buds,” said Andrew McMahon, a graphic design major from Yucca Valley, Calif. Contents of the Packin’ Heat subscriber box will include three to five hot-to-sweet flavored sauces, recipe cards and supplemental condiments such as oil and vinegar blends at “a mild price compared to competitors,” McMahon said.

Team Origin designed a Sport/Fitness Box for the fitness adventurer who wants to try new outdoor sports such as orienteering, snowboarding or ultimate frisbee. Filled with sunscreen, t-shirts and energy bars as well as items specific to the sports, the Fitness Box would also include information about the sports’ communities and links to a “meet up” app for different cities. 

Team Potion’s subscription box was full of Natural Beauty products and focused on skin care versus make-up to differentiate it from competitors in the field so that clients would “feel comfortable in their own skin with no need for layering up,” said Emily Barclay, a packaging science student from Fayetteville, N. Y. The team’s advantage would be to provide full-size products rather than the sample sizes some of their competitors do and options to combine different natural ingredients for individualized products. Outside of the subscription service, the team also wanted to venture into different markets such as select department stores and as courtesy items in hotels. 

At the end of the spring semester, the teams displayed their prototypes and all entries were submitted for the 2018 Student Design Challenge. 

Team Kan-Do’s design was selected as one of three finalists in the national competition. Winners will be announced at the annual Pack Expo event taking place in October in Chicago. The team is comprised of Dylan Fisher (packaging science), Kelly Fellner (packaging science), Nicole Langford (graphic design) and McMahon.

Additionally, Team Scout's Venture Box was recognized by judges as a runner-up submission. The group includes Karley Allis (graphic design), Madison Griebel (packaging science), Samantha Herman (graphic design) and Sydney Ryan (packaging science).

Past Student Design Challenge competitors represented 13 colleges and universities including RIT, Fashion Institute of Technology and San Jose State, Indiana State and Clemson Universities. RIT has participated and had top placements in the competition for more than 10 years.