Logo

CalPoly Team Shares Lessons from Pet Packaging Challenge

PAWSH Team Reflects on 2025 PPA Student Design Challenge

The Paperboard Packaging Alliance’s annual Student Design Challenge invites college students across North America to create innovative, paper-based packaging solutions.

Students in design, graphic arts, and engineering programs gain experience through creating real, recyclable packaging solutions.

In 2025, students were tasked with creating a packaging line for a pet care company, PPA Pets. They were required to include a DNA testing system or a similar lab-dependent item.

One of the finalist projects was PAWSH, entered by a team of students from California Polytechnic State University (CalPoly). We asked the students on the team about their experience.

Who you’ll hear from:

Sonia Maria Andrade — Business Administration—Consumer Packaging major

Sophia Levin — Graphic Design major

Brandon Schwartz — Art & Design major with a concentration in Graphic Design

What inspired your design concept for the challenge? Where did you go or look to seek inspiration?

“I found that existing pet DNA kits and pet care products served as a great starting point for the structural design process. They inspired me more by highlighting what could be improved rather than what could be replicated.

Once I identified major pain points, like potentially costly manufacturing choices, I was able to narrow down my design concept.” — Sonia Maria Andrade

“Our group’s initial concept developed from trying to identify what in the market has not been addressed with sustainable yet visually striking solutions.” — Brandon Schwartz

What was the most challenging aspect of designing a packaging solution that also needed to be widely accepted for recycling?

“It was challenging to strike a balance between recyclability and functionality. A biotechnological product such as a DNA testing kit has specific material requirements to ensure sterility and safe transport. I had to come up with solutions that minimized plastic waste and simplified the consumer disposal process, while still keeping the DNA sample safe.” — Sonia Maria Andrade

“This experience taught me how critical it is to minimize adhesives and eliminate mixed materials in packaging design. Even one small design choice can determine whether a package gets recycled easily or ends up in a landfill.” — Sophia Levin

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

“This process taught me the importance of creating a streamlined paper-based solution that minimizes waste, while still being intuitive for the user.” — Sophia Levin

“My main takeaway was learning how interconnected the packaging and design portions of this process were.” — Brandon Schwartz

If you could do one thing differently about your design process, what would it be?

“I would limit the amount of experimentation we did in the ideation process of the visual and packaging design. I would instead focus on quality of design drafts rather than quantity.” — Brandon Schwartz

What did you find most rewarding about participating in the PPA Student Design Challenge?

“I found it rewarding to work so closely with our team’s graphic designers. Working with such creative-minded teammates helped to balance the technical side of structural design.

I loved seeing the structural and graphic elements continuously come together throughout the project and was really proud of the final result!” — Sonia Maria Andrade

“The most rewarding aspect was collaborating with the ITP (Industrial Technology and Packaging) students. Working alongside packaging students helped me visualize 3D structures in a new way. It was refreshing to prototype and produce a final product that existed beyond my computer screen.” — Sophia Levin

“This was my first time being able to work with packaging in its developmental stages. It was very rewarding to be able to express my ideas beyond design and have a say in the structure of what I would be designing on. The most rewarding part was seeing it come to life in its final production.” — Brandon Schwartz 

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

“Don’t be discouraged if things don’t work out the first time. Every good design requires multiple rounds of iteration and refinement.” — Sonia Maria Andrade

“I would advise students to test their packaging design early on by printing and assembling the design on an 8.5x11 sheet of paper. Doing this helped our team catch points of frustration in the user experience. Above all, it is essential to maintain a positive attitude and play to each team member’s strengths to create a successful final design.” — Sophia Levin

“Embrace the experimentation phase and trust the process by exploring new ideas. Creativity is what fuels a successful solution to the proposed challenge, and coming up with it can take some time; patience truly is key.” — Brandon Schwartz

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.