In Kaisa Elina koivisto master's thesis on industrial design, she studied the essence of sustainable packaging and the characteristics of sustainable packaging design methods. The challenges of sustainable development are complex and need to be considered from different perspectives. Kaisa Elina koivisto studied industrial design at Lapland University. In recent years, she has been studying in Tampere.
In this article, what kind of sustainable packaging and its design method are considered. When looking for topics, we encounter the consumer's principle of zero waste and how people tend to buy food that is not packaged in their own containers. The zero-waste principal aims to reduce our own consumption and impact the environment. With the in-depth study of the subject, it is noted that buying packaged food is more sustainable than unpacking. What is sustainable packaging, that is, sustainable packaging is not very clear?
What about the method of sustainable packaging design?
Want to know how sustainable packaging design methods play a role in practical design work. However, the packaging designers I interviewed didn't use these methods, so I didn't get an answer on how these methods support the design process. However, another study (MA & Moultrie 2018, "understanding sustainable packaging design in practice") interviewed international packaging designers using these methods, that is, at least someone has used them.
What is durable packaging?
Sustainable packaging is sustainable gift box packaging that considers environmental, economic and social aspects in a balanced way. It should be designed and evaluated with the products it contains. Packaging is considered to have a so-called dual effect because it is also indirectly responsible for the effect of the products it contains. The most important function of packaging is to protect the product because if the product is destroyed, the investment in it and the product will be wasted. Usually, the impact of products on the environment is greater than their packaging. For example, the effect of food packaging may be only a few percent of the effect of the whole product packaging combination. Durable packaging also seems to be recyclable. Recyclability means that packaging is part of the material and energy cycle in the biological or technological cycle.
What happened to the design training for you?
Design training is our first vocational training, so it gives me a career. Professionals do not directly prepare for the design of any specific product or service, but generally what is a good design process, what methods can be used, and how to apply them to each task. Education makes us believe that we can solve all kinds of problems through design. These studies have now lagged behind us. How does it feel? What's next?
It's great to finally finish school. For a moment, we can at least enjoy summer. We happy to continue working on sustainable design, but on the other hand, service design and activity production are also interesting. However, the most important thing is to get started and gain experience. On the other hand, one day, it will be good to continue the research work without completely giving up the design work.
What do you think of the future of design education?
Design, especially service design, seems to be expanding to professionals in other fields. It may change the role of our designers. Maybe we will pull and support this design work. It is hoped that sustainable design will increasingly become a part of excellent design teaching in the future.