Better with Less;
a design challenge by Metsä Board
"The Better with Less – Design Challenge is an open idea competition. We aim to find new solutions for some of the most frequently used consumer packages, to deliver better experiences with less impact on the environment. How should we wrap our take-away lunches? Is there an alternative to the oversized boxes delivered through online shopping? Can cosmetics and wellness products be ecologically packaged while still providing the necessary safety and durability?

Packaging is both a necessity and a part of the way we interact with brands and products. That is why we are calling all designers and students to partner with us to create smarter, lighter and better ways to package goods. Can you design impactful packages? Will they scale? This is your invitation to work on innovative packaging solutions with us."​​​​​​​
Metsä Board - 2019
Stacked;
a packaging concept that minimizes waste in an industry where it's most needed. 
When participating in the Better With Less Challenge, we opted for the Cosmetics category, because to us, a big problem was the fragrance industry. Fragrances get packed in cardboard boxes, with inside these cardboard boxes, a thermoformed, plastic tray to keep it in place. And on top of that, the whole package gets shrink wrapped in plastic.​​​​​​​
Striving to reduce plastics and even packaging as a whole, while adding value by implementing a premium feel.
Ideation
We began our ideation by sketching and brainstorming, essentially splitting our ideas into three main categories; ideas focussed on optimal storage and transportation, ideas focussed on a premium feel and an unboxing experience, and ideas focussed on a more sustainable solution to packaging.
Our ideation resulted into three main design directions. Stacked, Organic and Wrapped.
Development
We opted for direction Stacked, as we thought it tackled the existing packaging problems moreso than other directions. In addition to this, we implemented a more premium feel to the whole packaging concept by adding necklabels that provides the user with information, rather than having this printed on a cardboard box.

We also added an outer box, folded according to the FEFCO 205 standard to reduce costs. This outer box comes with a tear off strip that easily seperates the top half from the bottom. 
Final Design
We wanted to reduce plastics and packaging as a whole. We did so by creating stacked, playing into the trend of selling products on retail counters.
The outer box used for transportation, doubles as an attractive-looking and sleek display stand (after removing the top half).  The beauty of this concept is that it's universal, the general idea will work with different bottles/products that differ in size.
Essentially what we did, we removed all of the plastic packaging materials from these conventional fragrance boxes, and we reduced the amount of cardboard used by a significant amount. By adding necklabels to provide information, rather than using a cardboard box, we managed to add a more premium feel to the whole product. Even when it gets sold in a cardboard display stand.
The final design design consists of an outer box that doubles as a display stand. Inside this box there are two cardboard trays with portruding openings that hold the fragrance bottles in it's place. All of the bottles are equipped with a premium neck label to provide adequate information regarding the product. After the top of the box is removed by tearing it off through the tear-off line, it results in a modern and sleek looking display stand. This really helps play into the currently growing trend of selling products on retail counters.
The models are modelled in SolidWorks and Autodesk Fusion 360, rendered in Keyshot and touched up Adobe Photoshop.