The 14th annual competition, which is open to universities throughout North America, seeks to foster awareness and appreciation of paperboard packaging among educators and the next generation of packaging design decision-makers.
Students had to design interactive packaging for wearable fitness trackers that allows a consumer to try on the wristband and later reuse it to store the device. More than 60 student teams from 14 universities across the U.S. — including Clemson, Indiana, Michigan State, Rutgers, Rochester Institute of Technology, San Jose State and University of Wisconsin — submitted entries.
Cal Poly students from a variety of majors developed their entries as Learn by Doing projects during a series of packaging and design courses taught earlier this year.
The university’s top entry earned second place for the “Moov Now” product, which featured 100-percent compostable and recyclable materials. The design was considered innovative for the product category because it used part of the packaging as a carrying case. The manufacturing process also employed efficient die lines that reduced material scrap. The design was created by industrial technology and packaging students Nicolas Le (San Jose) and Konstantine Marowitz (Culver City), business administration student Julia McKeag (San Rafael), and Cody Mindling (Santa Cruz), who is studying art and graphic design. The group was advised by packaging Professor Javier de la Fuente, packaging lecturer Irene Carbonell and art and design Professor Mary LaPorte.
A second Cal Poly team’s design for the “Moov Now” product earned one of the two runners-up awards. The entry was the work of industrial technology and packaging majors Macintyre Peek (San Marcos) and Adrian Rico (San Luis Obispo), art and graphic design student Paul Guzman (Bay Area) and graphic communication major Amanda Ornelas (Torrance). de la Fuente, Carbonell and LaPorte advised the group.
Cal Poly projects also received two of the judge’s seven “shout out” honors.
“ReCord” was created by industrial technology and packaging student David Dixon (Novato), graphic communication student Jacob “JB” Berkowitz (San Luis Obispo), 
art and graphic design student Jordon Gonzales (Pismo Beach) and Peter Jensch (Healdsburg), who is studying business administration. Faculty advisors included de la Fuente, Carbonell and LaPorte.
The “TriFit” package was created by graphic communication students Michaela Purcilly (San Luis Obispo), Leah Gilchrist (Santa Ana) and Hanna Crowley (South Pasadena) with industrial technology and packaging major Karan Singh (Los Angeles). The group was advised by graphic communication Associate Professor Collen Twomey.
Winners were chosen by a team of paperboard packaging industry professionals who rated submissions based on their response to the competition scenario, innovative structural and graphic design, functionality and the quality of the finished product. 
The second-place team received a $3,000 to share among team members, and Cal Poly also received $3,000.
Cal Poly has placed highly in the competition since 2015 when student teams took first place. According to faculty, the teams’ interdisciplinary approach that fuses package design and branding has been key to a string of recent success in national competitions.
For more information on the competition and a full list of winners, visit http://www.paperboardpackaging.org/university-features/2017-sdc-winners-and-entries.
