OUGD503 (Collaborative) - D&AD - WWF - Packaging Decisions and Thought Process

Format

Jamie and I discussed how the condoms were going to packaged. We decided that by selling them individually as well as in a box containing a few of them they would appeal to different markets.

Individual ones could be bought by people as jokes to give to their friends, which generally appeals to the younger and more immature end of the 14-24 year old target market, whereas a box with a number of them could be bought for genuine use or as an ironic gift by the older end of the market.

Individual Packets

To minimise our workload we decided that the packing for the individual condoms would sit inside a box that would contain a few of them to sell them as a group. Because having a box containing numerous other boxes containing a plastic wrapper is quite a lot of packaging, we identified the fact the card we use for the packaging should be 100% recycled so as to fit within the message of WWF. We had a couple of goes at experimenting how we could fold paper into a little packet like the example below.

We decided that this could potentially present us with problems lining up artwork on the front because of the way it folds, a problem I had in the first brief this year. To avoid this we decided to go with a small fold that would use a staple to hold it together, a common feature on condom packets. We'll leave a 1cm border around the edges of the packet so the fold and staple won't intrude on the artwork. The whole packet will be 7cm x 7cm, so there'll still be plenty of room for the artwork.

Stock

I looked at paper manufacturers online that we could buy recycled stock from. We ideally wanted it to be between 250 and 300gsm so it was somewhat sturdy, and slightly off-white so it didn't look perfect as we wanted it to look slightly recycled. I found a website called eco-craft, which has a relatively large range of recycled stock. We decided to go for the mushroom colour, as this it's dark enough to look rough and recycled whilst still being light enough to use as a background colour.

Box

Given that the individual packets will be 7cm x 7cm, having 3 of them side by side in a box would make 21cm, which lends itself well to a net made on A size-paper having 2 rows of them would make the box thick enough to be somewhat sturdy. On top of this having 6 in a box offers more scope for a reduced price than having 3 in a box.

The front of the box would have windows in them so you can see the artwork on the condom packets. Then when the individual boxes have been removed you'll be able to see some text through the window behind where the condom packets were. Initially we wanted to stick a sheet of acetate across the inside of the front of the box, but then that detracts from the packagings green credentials so we've decided against it. Having borders around the windows will stop the individual packets falling out the front.

Having to fit the net on to an A3 sheet meant that the box couldn't be more than 9.5cm high, but that still gives plenty of room below the windows to display the WWF and Durex logos as well as some text. Our experiments showed that each packet would be about 0.5cm thick, so the box would only need to be 1cm deep. In the bottom 2.5cm of the box we'll put a cardboard insert for the individual packets to sit on top of so they don't fall to the bottom and the artwork is visible through the window.