{"id":9983,"date":"2022-06-24T20:01:14","date_gmt":"2022-06-24T20:01:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/2022\/06\/28\/its-a-wrap-strategic-design-masters-students-shine-in-package-refresh-competition\/"},"modified":"2022-09-07T15:49:03","modified_gmt":"2022-09-07T19:49:03","slug":"its-a-wrap-strategic-design-masters-students-shine-in-package-refresh-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/its-a-wrap-strategic-design-masters-students-shine-in-package-refresh-competition\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s a wrap: Strategic design master\u2019s students shine in package refresh competition"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Institute of Packaging Professionals\u2019 48HR Repack Student Design Competition<\/a> is in the books, and four women in Furman University\u2019s Master of Arts in Strategic Design (MAS-D) program are among those recognized for their creativity and design-thinking.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Clockwise from top left: Margaret Hughes, Caroline Williams, Judith Rios, and Abigail Jackson.<\/p><\/div>\n

The M.AD Gals, including teammates Margaret Hughes (\u201920, Christopher Newport University), Furman communication studies alumna Abigail Jackson \u201921, Judith Rios (\u201920, Clemson University) and Caroline Williams (\u201919, University of North Carolina Wilmington), came away with the competition\u2019s inaugural People\u2019s Choice Award (sponsored by Printpack<\/a>) for reimagining The Coca-Cola Company\u2019s 12-can fridge pack.<\/p>\n

The IoPP Southeastern Chapter presented the virtual two-day design throw-down, which took place February 4-6. It drew 33 teams representing about a dozen universities across the country including Clemson (1st place winner), Virginia Tech (2nd place), California Polytechnic University (3rd place), University of Florida, Georgia Tech, Michigan State, Rutgers and others.<\/p>\n

While the field was packed with big name schools in packaging, Jackson believed her crew was up to the challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew we were competing with schools that had packaging programs and 3-D printers and rendering capabilities. But we were like, \u2018We\u2019re in this, and we\u2019ll just see what happens,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cWe did our best and it was so unexpected to make the top 10, much less earn the first ever People\u2019s Choice Award.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jackson came into the online event with a few competitions under her belt, including three Furman 24-hour \u201cSleep When You\u2019re Dead\u201d battles. She and her team selected The Coca-Cola Company\u2019s challenge to refresh the fridge pack to make it more sustainable, portable, and consumer- and shelf-friendly.<\/p>\n

The M.AD Gals, named for Furman MAS-D partner Miami Ad School Atlanta, gathered in Jackson\u2019s and Hughes\u2019 apartment and began hashing out ideas.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t just go to the computer and immediately start designing \u2013 you have to sketch things out in black and white first because introducing color can interrupt the overall vision for your idea,\u201d says Jackson who leaned on past competitions to inform her strategy.<\/p>\n

Keeping The Coca-Cola Company\u2019s branding principles in mind while taking a \u2018no idea is a bad idea\u2019 philosophy, the M.AD Gals blurted out ways to recreate a package that had been a mainstay on shelves for 20 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe actually came up with our idea within the first two we screamed out,\u201d Jackson said. \u201cThen we just kept going \u2013 thinking about materials and exactly how we wanted to execute it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The design team arrived at a stacked \u201cdouble-click case<\/a>\u201d for the package, employing plastic lids that snap onto the tops and bottoms of six-pack Coke cans.<\/p>\n

\"materials

Sustainable and affordable, HDPE plastic was employed in the double-click case.<\/p><\/div>\n

With no access to 3-D printing, the team scavenged the recycled high density polyethylene plastic bits from beer packages. The team\u2019s graphics for the package reflected environmental themes and a renewed vision for waste reduction design.<\/p>\n

Turns out the M.AD Gals didn\u2019t need the allotted 48 hours. They finished the package, design rationale and pitch video in about 35 hours \u2013 not a bad investment for bragging rights, the first People\u2019s Choice prize and $500 cash.<\/p>\n

With the sheer number of submissions to be evaluated, the judging process by industry professionals took some time, Jackson said. The team learned it made the top 10 in April, but didn\u2019t hear of the final award until a month later.<\/p>\n

In the initial fray surrounding the emailed results, Jackson, who assembled three different Furman\/Miami Ad School cohorts, wasn\u2019t sure if any of her teams had actually won.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were like, \u2018Wait, wait, is this us?\u2019\u201d Jackson remembered, when she read that an Atlanta team had snagged the People\u2019s Choice Award. \u201cWe were so excited once we figured it out. We found out in class and just couldn’t hold it in, so we broke the news to\u00a0 everyone. With all the schools we were up against, we were shocked and thrilled \u2013 we couldn\u2019t believe it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

The M.AD Gals score the People’s Choice Award, sponsored by Atlanta-based Printpack.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Institute of Packaging Professionals\u2019 48HR Repack Student Design Competition is in the books, and four women in Furman University\u2019s Master of Arts in Strategic Design (MAS-D) program are among […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":257,"featured_media":18812,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,3,45,51,43,35,78,61,7,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-department-page","category-alumni","category-art","category-communication-studies","category-graduate-studies","category-parent-news","category-strategic-design","category-the-furman-advantage","category-top-four-news-2nd-story","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/257"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9983\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}