In recent years, environmental awareness has become increasingly important not only in everyday life, but also in design and manufacturing. Young graphic designers play a key role in this process, contributing to sustainable development with their innovative ideas. Georgina Szikora, a second year graphic design student at the Faculty of Music and Visual Arts of the University of Pécs, recently achieved international success at the Pro Carton Young Designers Award in Berlin, one of the most prestigious European design competitions in the field of sustainable packaging. The student won third place in the Food & Drinks category with her packaging "Sweet Drops".
Sustainability and eco-friendly innovation are increasingly shaping the future of the design world, and Pro Carton, Europe's leading association of carton and cartonboard manufacturers, is supporting this. The organisation's annual Young Designers Award competition offers young designers the opportunity to showcase their creative solutions to make packaging both environmentally friendly and functional.
Source: Pro Carton Young Designers Award
The competition aims not only to discover talent, but also to promote environmental awareness.
Sustainability is a key element of the university's strategy, and this approach is already reflected in the curriculum.
Faculty and students encourage each other to produce as little waste as possible and to come up with creative packaging solutions. As the greenest university in Hungary, UP plays a prominent role in promoting sustainability.
The podium finisher of the competition, Georgina Szikora, presented her work for the first time in the packaging design class, supervised by Lotte Budai. The student explained that her motivation comes from her passion for illustration. "I wanted to create something that would create a finished product and I could express myself more creatively," said the student.
The "Sweet Drops" packaging is an innovative design that evokes the shape of raindrops. By joining the five boxes together, a small flower can be formed, which is not only aesthetically pleasing but also provides a practical storage solution.
The packaging designer, inspired by the Young Package competition, created this unique design based around the sweets. The name "sweet" comes from there, while the "drops" stands for the shape. Georgina says: "The ingenious design allows the boxes to be arranged in different shapes, so 'Sweet Drops' not only offers delicious sweets, but also provides creative storage options. My aim is for the packaging to be not only functional, but also a joy for customers to look at."
The designer's creative and design process evolved throughout the project as she rethought and refined her original ideas. "At first I wanted it to be circular, but it ended up being a bit more angular, little by little it evolved into what the final shape would be, " she said when asked about the final shape of the packaging.
The most interesting element is the opening mechanism of the box, which can "open up into a small basket-like shape" using a rotating element.
This creative solution not only serves an aesthetic function, but also a practical one, as "two things can be stored separately because it consists of two separate elements."
The competition not only gave students the chance to showcase their own work, but also to
meet established professionals,
providing them with invaluable experience. The judges evaluated creativity, novelty and the visual appeal of the packaging, which helped the participants to take their design thinking to a new level.
The young graphic designer added that during the event she not only gained experience from the competition, but also drew inspiration from other students' work. "The biggest lesson for me is how many creative elements and solutions there are in packaging. This has encouraged me to keep looking for new possibilities in the future," she said.
Congratulations to the young graphic designer!
