Winning packaging design from Pentawards 2018

The awards are judged by an international jury, and this year's competition received 2,318 entries from 62 countries in 5 continents. In addition to the coveted Diamond Pentaward and the 5 Platinum Pentawards, the jury also awarded 41 Gold Pentawards, 84 Silver Pentawards and 90 Bronze Pentawards across the 55 categories competing this year.

SA beverage brand Superlatte recognised at global packaging awards

11 Sep 2018

These are this year's standout designs.

Diamond winner - Best of Show: Mutti Limited Edition by Auge Design

Mutti Limited Edition, the 2018 Best of the Show - Diamond Pentaward winner, designed by the Italian studio Auge Design, presented no challenge to this year’s jury, by giving them no alternative but to award it with nothing less than the highest level of recognition for packaging design accredited by Pentawards.

The limited-edition range of traditional Italian tomato-based ingredients have been given a new lease of life, with a blend of past and future through an intricate system of symbols, that not only represent the different types of tomatoes and sauces in the range but that also become a powerful pattern, resonating throughout the entire range. Starting from the original format, the range has been adorned with a new glamorous and luxurious feel, with a high-end gold foil finish contrasting with the ivory silkscreen surfaces.

Platinum winner - Best of Beverages: Guocui Wudu by Shenzhen Lingyun Creative Packaging Design

In a highly competitive category, the Guocui Wudu bottle, designed by the Chinese agency Shenzhen Lingyun Creative Packaging Design, stood out as a design that delivers its message with the absence of an actual description. The overall finish is bold, clean, detailed and rich, all of which are features that elude to the liquors’ high quality and premium contents.

From the Henan Province in China, this white spirit is made from five traditional Chinese medicinal materials that are soaked and brewed over time. Liquors of a similar nature in China often contain dregs, left over from the brewing process. By contrast, the biggest selling point of this product is that through multiple processes, the purity of the liquor approximates to a zero-impurity state, giving consumers a stronger sense of security.

To translate this, a striking blue transparent glass bottle has been designed as the container and its unique form presents distinctive oriental aesthetics corresponding with the idea of traditional Chinese medicinal brewing behind the product.

Platinum winner - Best of Food: Shirokuma no Okome by Frame inc.

A design that is as cute as it is curious, Shirokuma no Okome created by the Japanese agency Frame inc. is fantastically simple, yet it leaves everything to the imagination. The concept was to bridge the gap between the rice company Shirokuma no Okome and the brand image 'Polar Bear'. This led to the creation of the charming and warm illustrations, which reflect the true gentleness of the product.

The design is beyond the physical product itself (rice), however it is used to elevate the brand into a new space, away from its competition by appealing to the emotive senses of the consumer.

Platinum winner - Best of Body: Bloomdale Eyewear by Studio Kluif

Bloomdale Eyewear is a brand that doesn't follow the typical brand codes. Instead of using photography, like most brands do to promote their new eyewear models, Studio Kluif advised them to communicate in another way. A series of iconic portraits were developed to underline the brand’s tagline, A Bloomdale for every face.

These portraits play an important role in all communications. In order to create a more extensive brand experience, they created a packaging range with which the optician makes a more personal statement towards the client. Each box can be fitted with a different portrait depending the client is male, female or even a child.

Platinum winner - Best of Luxury: Diptyque Hourglass 2.0 by Servaire & Co

This new design of the Diptyque Hourglass 2.0 range by Servaire & Co renews the poetic promise of setting a dialogue between home, scent and time with an hourglass-shaped diffusing scent, with an ever-more exclusive design. A unique silhouette and a unique glass coating now differentiate each of the 6 fragrances, which asserts the house's decorative universe and pays tribute to its eclectic inspirations.

Its cold-diffusing technology delivers perfume notes through ingenious wicks, which have been developed to widen the diffusion area, through a new patent developed by Techniplast. The Hourglass remains a sustainable initiative with an unchanged refilling system.

Platinum winner - Best of Other Markets: Gatuna by The Bold Studio

The cat litter market is full of standard products with no apparent differentiation. The challenge for Gatuna and Spanish agency The Bold Studio was to leave behind the product's technical details, in favour of developing a relationship with the consumer to become their first option.

The product is sold in specialised pet shops in Spain. Inteligentemente practica (smartly practical), is a concept that highlights how easy to clean the litter is, also telling the customer that it will save them time to spend it where it matters most: with their cat. The design, based on the illustration, breaks with the visual codes of the sector (cold and technologic) to express simplicity and a sense of understanding between the brand, the physical product itself and the consumer.

Nxt-Gen Winner - Best of Student Concepts: Panda Cigarette by Yu Chen - Hubei University of Technology

Panda cigarette packaging is designed for warning people about the harms of smoking. Before unwrapped, it showcases a complete image of a panda head printed on transparent film, while the cigarettes are pulled out one by one, seen through the panda pattern, the interior skull image emerges. A transformation from a black panda head to a skull against a white background, it throws into sharp contrast.

Children are instinctively attracted to pandas, so this before-and-after contrast between a cute panda head and a horrible deathly skull is a much stronger message for them than conventional health warnings. The idea is that if they learn to avoid cigarettes at a young age, they are less likely to grow up to be smokers.

The 2019 Pentawards competition will be open for entries from 25 February to 12 April nest year. It has been revealed that the 2019 edition of the Pentawards will see its gala ceremony return to London, for the first time since 2015. Additional events will be built around the main Gala Ceremony again, including a conference, a design brunch and a new format of event.

For the full list of 2018 winners, visit Pentawards online.