Convenience culture versus the environment - a packaging design dilemma

Packaging has to a large extent helped shaped the world we live in. It helps us transport vast quantities of goods from continent to continent and town to town. It preserves and protects our food from contamination. It adds value and texture to the things we buy. It allows us to inhabit the convenience culture, which pervades every aspect of modern life. But convenience comes at a price.

The challenge for packaging designers is to balance consumerism with sustainability. Consumerism demands more and more product choice and more and more freshness whilst consumers themselves demand more and more sustainable solutions. It is important to understand that environmental constraints need not crush creativity and can make the design challenge more exciting.

Through the work with clients such as Kraft, Dairy Crest and Cadbury Schweppes, Laurel will illustrate how a designer can find a path through both the consumer driven and the environmental mazes.