2012 Winners & Shortlists

Brief Explanation

Certainly the overwhelming challenge was to design the packaging on its own merits and not just think of it as something to hold a couple of cards. It deserved its own design integrity while at the same time being mindful that it needed to be complementary and enhance its content. A fine balance, but an important one. The packaging had to be both stand alone yet perfectly reciprocal - hand in glove, to the business cards they were created for. Additionally each box was approached as bespoke, yet still had to remain true to its original design source.

The Brief

Our brief from client was to design business cards for the company. This packaging, is a happy by product from that brief. Our business card solution for professional Sports Group, a leading sports marketing company covering sporting events, sponsorship and athlete representation in Europe and the Middle East was inspired by the trend of collectible baseball cards of the mid 19th century. We couldn't be only half inspired. What's a card without a box?

How the final design was conceived

It was history that lead us to our final design. The very first sport cards were quickly latched onto by American tobacco companies and included on their boxes to spur cigarette sales. Sales boomed. Not least because even non-smokers and kids (ah, those were the days) were buying boxes of fags. So what was once marketing, became our packaging. What we liked about the box approach was that the design was so ergonomic. Easy to fit into a pocket. Durable. The ciggy boxes not only met our functionality criteria, but also our insistence in finding a conceptually congruous packaging solution.

Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market

As the packaging is not for sale, and designed solely for the display of the business cards it was created to package, it is difficult to quantify its outcome in the market. However we do have a very happy and proud client.