Our senior designer, Iris van der Heide, enjoyed sharing her valuable expertise with design students at a guest lecture of the minor ‘Packaging technology’ at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. A digital setting this year due to COVID-19 that ended in lots of enthusiastic chats with the students.

Packaging Design is so much more than just creating a nice-looking pack. Our packaging expert, Iris, explained the basics of structural packaging design and what’s required to create a successful packaging. She used some relevant packaging design cases to illustrate the variety of needs and reasons for new packaging development. The students got an insight into the different aspects that are important to make an excellent structural packaging design, ranging from functionality, packaging technology, packaging cost, communication, and added value for end-users and sustainability.

Packaging and sustainability are inseparable. We believe that especially designers can – and should – make the difference in creating sustainable packaging. That’s why Iris shared some essential principles for developing more sustainable packaging with this future generation of designers. She illustrated each principle by explaining a relevant packaging design case to make the theory tangible.

HVA: “It was a dream start of our new year in the Corona period. Glad you were willing to do it digitally. It’s a great story!”

We hope to be present again at next year’s kickoff at HVA!