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2024 Student Design Challenge Winner Shares Key Learnings

Every year, the Paperboard Packaging Alliance Student Design Challenge tasks students across North America to create innovative, paper-based packaging solutions. One of the goals for the challenge is to meet real-world customer needs and marketing scenarios.  

In 2024, the students were challenged to create an original sustainable, stackable paperboard packaging for fresh produce products not typically packaged in paper.  

The winning project was SPUDS Potatoes, and it was entered by a team of students from the Pennsylvania College of Art and Design (PCA&D). We asked Kendall Harris-Burton of the winning team about his experience.  

What was the process of designing paper-based packaging like?  

Designing paper-based packaging was a huge challenge for me and all my teammates. I liked how the requirements of that assignment were set up given all the instructions we needed. 

Thankfully, with the help from Prof. Newsmaster’s firm FORCEpkg and the college (PCA&D), it gave me a glimpse into real-world design projects and seeking interests in the packaging industry business. 

How did you decide what type of produce to design packaging for that typically is not sold in paper-based packaging? 

When our team discussed the initial research for this contest, a commodity that is often sold in plastic, this assignment became relatively clear.  

Working with potatoes, we went through many iterations of design, sketches, and refinements before setting to a final product: a hexagonal-shaped container that is stackable, and simple enough to hold on one or both hands, making it easier to carry.  

Moving forward we defined our roles working beyond to bring the competition. 

What did you learn throughout this process about designing a paper-based solution? 

As I learned a lot from this experience, I faced multiple challenges with my classmate Bahir. For instance, I had to balance meeting competition requirements while balancing our coursework and completing my senior thesis before graduation. In terms of designing a packaging solution, we tested prototypes by adding laches and handles that could hold the top lid, face panel, and box locked in. Then, we tested the initial weight and the amount of potatoes.   

We met with our outside partner as we voiced our concerns about gluing issues in the packaging. To minimize gluing, we adjusted the design. 

What advice would you give to students entering future design challenges?  

I encourage everyone in college to explore packaging and learn the skillset, not only would it define your major, but it would help market into a career-level. 

About the Paperboard Packaging Alliance

The Paperboard Packaging Alliance (PPA) is a joint initiative of the American Forest & Paper Association and the Paperboard Packaging Council. The mission is to promote the benefits of paperboard packaging to influence preference for these materials in packaging design and selection. PPA is a proud supporter of collegiate packaging and design programs across the U.S. and Canada, donating thousands of dollars in scholarships, materials, and classroom resources each year. Alliance membership includes companies representing the full range of mills and converters engaged in the production of paperboard packaging. Additional information about PPA can be found at www.paperboardpackaging.org.

About the American Forest & Paper Association

The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) serves to advance public policies that foster economic growth, job creation and global competitiveness for a vital sector that makes the essential paper and packaging products Americans use every day. The U.S. forest products industry employs more than 925,000 people, largely in rural America, and is among the top 10 manufacturing sector employers in 44 states. Our industry accounts for approximately 4.7% of the total U.S. manufacturing GDP, manufacturing more than $435 billion in products annually. AF&PA member companies are significant producers and users of renewable biomass energy and are committed to making sustainable products for a sustainable future through the industry’s decades-long initiative — Better Practices, Better Planet 2030. For more information, visit www.afandpa.org. 

About the Paperboard Packaging Council

For 95 years, the Paperboard Packaging Council (PPC) has served as the premier North American association for converters of paperboard packaging and their suppliers. PPC works to grow, promote, and protect the paperboard packaging industry while providing its members with resources and tools to compete successfully in the marketplace. For more information, visit www.paperbox.org.