A new ice cream giftset packaging
Master Industrial Design Engineering 2021
This project was done within the course Packaging Design and Management 1. The aim of this project was to create a new giftset packaging design for an existing brand and product. For this project I decided to focus on the brand Ben & Jerry’s and their ‘Classic Cool-lection’ ice cream set.
To start the design process, the existing branding and packaging of the brand was analysed. From this, it was concluded that they play into the Jester archetype with their marketing and graphic language on their packaging. Besides that, they try to be sustainable and Fair Trade with their products. In terms of the packaging, the graphic language is maximalist, and four core elements are always present: the blue sky with the white clouds, the green hills, the flavour name in a cloud and the signature cow graphic. As for the shape of the packaging, almost all their ice cream is sold in these round ‘pints’ which can vary in size. Only, the collection packaging consists of a rectangular box with the small pints inside.
From this analysis, the idea came to design a pack that combines the 4 classic flavours of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream with a spoon and a spoon buddy, such that the user will not feel guilty about eating a whole tub of ice cream on their own. Basically, we want to design for those people that are able to eat a whole tub of ice cream on their own but will feel very guilty about it. With this giftset, the classic scene could be altered, and the user’s self-esteem could be improved.
The final design is as in the stated purpose; a packaging that combines the Classic Cool-lection pack with a spoon, a buddy, and a case for the latter two that is in line with the packaging of the regular ice cream. When designing this packaging, three subgoals were taken into consideration. First, the boxes that the current Cool-lection comes in do not suit the image of the other ice cream packaging. Therefore, a tube-like shape was chosen to be more suitable. A second subgoal was to make the packaging more recyclable, but that still looks sustainable to the consumer. Currently, they mostly use paper board as their packaging material. However, this board has to be coated with some type of plastic to prevent moisture and gas from going through and getting in the food. This coating makes the board hard to recycle, which causes it to be not recycled. The last sub-goal was to create a packaging that would fit into the brand’s aesthetic. This means that the label had to be recognizable. However, most importantly it had to fit their jester archetype in branding and their sustainable view and goals.
The packaging design consists of the spoon case, the tube, and the wrapper.
The goal of the spoon case is to create a case for the spoon and the spoon buddy that can be kept and used for a longer time. It consists of two parts, a top and a bottom. The rib inside makes sure that the buddy is separated from the spoon and that the buddy will stay in place when travelling. Furthermore, no hinges are used to make sure that the case can be stored in the freezer. To make sure that the case fits the brand’s aesthetic, the top part has a slightly raised image of clouds and the bottom part has the logo slightly raised. The case will be made from High-density PE, to make it storable in the freezer. PE is a material that is good to recycle. Other than that, this case is meant to be used multiple times which prevents it from being just a single-use plastic, which is eventually better for the environment. As for production, both the bottom as the top part will be produced with injection moulding. However, for the top part, the clouds will be painted after injection moulding and will then be coated with a Low-density PE.
Then there is the redesign of the Cool-lection packaging. To have it blend in more with the regular ice cream packaging, the choice was made to create a tube that from the outside looks like just an elongated ice cream cup. However, inside there will be four little ice cream cups instead of just ice cream. An interesting feature is that parts of the tube can be ripped off when the corresponding ice cream cup is taken out and used. As the tube will constantly be in a wet environment it will have to be made of laminated board that is coated on the outside, but due to the plastic cups, the inside does not have to be coated. To produce the tube, a piece of material will first be printed with the label with offset litho printing. Then the material will be coated with lacquer on the base of starch to seal the ink. After that, the material will be cut, folded, and glued in place.
Since the surface of the tube is the largest, it will contain the main label with all the important information on it. This includes the table with all the nutritional information and a list of all ingredients for each ice cream flavour. This information will be in the languages of six countries to maximise the use of this design. However, the language on the front is in English to keep it consistent with the brand. Also, allergy sensitive ingredients are made extra clear.
As for the graphic design of the label, all elements that are usually on a Ben & Jerry’s packaging are included. The goal of the design is to make clear that this is a collection pack of multiple flavours and that the part of the packaging can be ripped off when not needed anymore. This is also why the nutritional information table is placed at the bottom, such that it cannot be ripped off.
The lid will close off the tube and will make sure the little ice cream cups will not fall out. Moreover, the lid is the only place where it is indicated that this is the Classic Cool-lection packaging, as the label indicated which flavours it contains. As the lid has to be able to withstand a wet environment and since it will not come into contact with food, the material for the lid can be the same as for the tube. Therefore, it will be made out of Laminated Paper Board. The production process is also quite similair to the tube. First the material is printed with offset litho printing. Then it is coated with a starch-based lacquer after which it is cut, folded and glued.
To inform and ensure the user of the fact that the packaging has not been opened or tampered with, a plastic seal around the lid is used. It will also include a part that can be ripped off for easy use, but this is not shown in the render. As the sole function of this seal is to keep the lid close and to show that the lid has not been opened since production, the cheapest shrink film is used. This film is made out of PE. PE is fully recyclable. However, the small size of the seal can cause it to not be detected in the sorting process. As for production, the material is first cut, then the tear lines are added. After this it is placed around the lid and tube and then shrunk with heat to have a snug fit around the packaging.
The ice cream cup is the part holding the actual ice cream. In each packaging, there will be four cups for the four different flavours. The cups will be sealed with a seal and on that seal, the brand logo and flavour name will be printed. The seal will also have a little lip to make opening easy. The cups are made of a semi-rigid plastic. As ice cream is not hot-filled, the cups can be made out of PE. However, with PE a gas barrier is needed. The seal will be out of a flexible plastic. It needs to be able to seal, to be in the freezer and to hold the weight of the other cups. Therefore, Heatflex is chosen, which consists of three layers with glue in between; PET – OPA – CPP Peel. The cups will be produced with injection moulding and the image on the seal will be printed with offset litho printing. Also, the seal will be sealed and connected to the cup with heat. The choice was made to have plastic cups inside instead of paper ones. As PE is fully recyclable it is a more sustainable solution than board that will need a couple of (plastic) coatings and thus will not be recyclable.
Finally, the Classic Cool-lection and the spoon case will be hold together with a simple wrapper. This wrapper will communicate the goal and intention behind this pack. As this wrapper will be wrapped around the smallest part of the spoon case, it will be able to hold together the parts when the packaging is picked up. The wrapper has to be thin and strong. Therefore, Kraft Paper is chosen as the material. As for production, the wrapper is first printed and coated with a starch-based lacquer. Then it is cut, wrapped around and glued. For the glueing a dedicated glue strip is taken into account. Also, the brown colour of the wrapper will not be printed but be the colour of the paper.
As the product will need to be shipped from the factory to the store, multiple products have to be packed together. For this, a box was designed. This box is a simple, standard design that will hold six products. On it the necessary icons for distribution and handling are put and the brand name and product name. As the box does need to hold some weight, but not a whole lot. The choice was made to have it be made out of Corrugated Board with a B-flute and a semi-chemical paper liner. The material is first printed with flexography printing. Then the box is cut, folded, and taped shut. Corrugated board is fully recyclable. Moreover, it will be non-bleached corrugated board which is even better. The white background in the flay layout image will not be the colour of the box, it will be as indicated in the 3D view.
The boxes will be shipped on a pallet. They will be stacked in an alternating pattern that goes six layers high. After that the pallet is wrapped in film to hold the boxes in place during transport.
This project was done as an educational project for the University of Twente, there is no official connection to the company of Ben & Jerry’s, all their rights are reserved to them.