Gent, Belgium – At the 2010 EskoWorld User Conference in Tampa Florida, EskoArtwork announced that Anna-Lena Jansson, a 2010 graduate student in Packaging Design at Broby Grafiska in Sweden, was awarded the EskoArtwork Software Packaging Challenge Grand Prize.

Earlier this year, EskoArtwork invited anyone involved in packaging - from design agencies, tradeshops and converters to educational institutions and students - to show off their creative talents by entering the EskoArtwork Software Packaging Challenge. The competition challenged entrants to design the packaging for EskoArtwork Suite 10, an upgrade of the entire EskoArtwork portfolio of software for packaging and print professionals. The winning design will be produced to ship more than 10,000 EskoArtwork Suite 10 software packages.

Traditional software packaging is often based on a folding carton shelf box, but EskoArtwork was looking for something new, eye-catching and innovative. An independent panel of five industry experts from all over the world evaluated the entries. "We were completely overwhelmed by the interest in the contest. We received over 500 inquiries expressing interest and, ultimately, 62 entries," says Susie Stitzel, EskoArtwork Solution Manager for Design Lifecycle Management. "It was an interesting twist for EskoArtwork. While we develop all of the tools, in this role we were acting as the brand owner challenging the global packaging design community. And it was typical to the way the process works: we supplied the design brief, branding elements, technical support and logistics, and left it up to the participants to create packaging designs that stood out-and a group of independent judges to determine the winners."

"I was pleasantly surprised with the diversity of the entries, and the scope of the creativity that was demonstrated by each of the submissions. There were so many different creative ideas on something that you would think would be as 'straightforward' as software packaging. Design creativity and the ability to realistically produce the packaging cost-effectively were very critical to the overall judging process and the determination of winners, along with sustainability," explains Chris Lyons, Group Publisher of the Design Group for ST Media and chairman of the judges. "What was intriguing about the Grand Prize Winner was the extraordinarily clean lines and visually stimulating use of structure and graphics, together. The cube design was nice, with an adjustable sleeve to accommodate the multiple DVDs. I think that it bodes well for the future of the packaging design that a student won this competition."

And the winner is...
The Grand Prize was awarded to Anna-Lena Jansson, a 2010 graduate student in Packaging Design at Broby Grafiska in Sweden. During the three-year education program, Ms. Jansson received training and developed her skills in special subjects such as structural design (using ArtiosCAD), graphic design, packaging construction and prepress.

"I have a passion for packaging design and ArtiosCAD. So, I knew this contest was just the thing for me!" enthuses Jansson. "My basic idea was to create a simple packaging design that looked high-tech. It's produced entirely in paper, making it both environmentally friendly and low-cost to produce. I also put a great deal of attention to branding and marketing. The package can thus stand on its own for demonstrations at trade shows and can be fully branded by the company." As winner of the contest, Jansson receives €2,000.

Other winning entries included:
1st place professional: Rollo Brooke, Structural Designer at Path Design (UK): "This is a wonderful initiative to stimulate companies to think outside the box, which is exactly what we did. We aimed for a compact, economical and intuitive design. We were very happy the judges agreed it had a wow-factor."

2nd place professional: Sergio Lelli, Designer & Communication Specialist (Italy) : "I recently discovered EskoArtwork software solutions at graphic design forums and was at first struck by how the EskoArtwork plug-ins can improve Adobe Illustrator in terms of 3D capabilities. I wanted to put Suite 10 and myself to the test to further explore the value of this application."

3rd Place Professional: Rick Tuttle, Structural Designer at U.S. Corrugated (USA): "Probably what inspired my design the most were my fascination with pop-up books, and the challenge to design the same thing for DVD's. I tried to simplify the idea without taking the effect away. The end result is a little backwards fold 'pop-up' in the spine to support the DVD's."

1st Place Student: Vilhelm von Platen and Henrik Hallengren, Stockholm University (Sweden): Mr. von Platen and Mr. Hallengren both have previous experience in the graphic arts business and are currently completing their bachelor thesis in "(GI) Grafiska Projektledarprogrammet". Vilhelm von Platen: "You can easily describe us as packaging junkies. We focused mainly on the unpacking experience. We wanted to lure people by providing a fresh and appealing design and wanted the experience to continue as the user opens and unfolds." Henrik Hallengren adds: "We're Nordic designers, so less is always more in our packages. To keep it simple, we opted for a standard A4 design in flat pack. This ensures effective distribution, as well as a low environmental impact."

2nd Place Student: Andrew Soderholm, Michigan State University (USA): "I designed with recyclable paper components, and avoided the use of plastics as the paper-based package can be easily recycled. The corrugated inner liner provides structural strength and protection while the outer SBS board offers a bright background for the graphic elements."

3rd Place Student: Creative Inquiry Group, Clemson University (USA): "Our professor came upon the contest and thought that a group entry by the class would be a great idea. We considered the small size of the package an important selling point because it was not designed to stand on a store shelf, " says Ashley Robinson, team leader of the Creative Inquiry Group.

Hand-produced comps generously donated by InWork Inc.
All winners will receive complete, hand-produced comps-suitable as portfolio pieces-that were displayed at the EskoWorld user conference, compliments of NY-based InWork Inc. InWork, an EskoArtwork customer in New York City, specializes in high fidelity comps for packaging professionals. Since 2001, InWork has successfully redefined the role of the comp house, becoming a creative resource specializing in design realization, innovation studies and its throughput into production. EskoArtwork appreciates the time and resources InWork put into making these working samples.

"This has been an extremely interesting and rewarding experience for EskoArtwork. It showed us how remarkably creative and inspired packaging designers can be with our tools," concludes Simon James, EskoArtwork Vice President, Products and Solutions Marketing. "We believe the tremendous response confirms our leadership role among packaging designers. As such, we feel even more determined and obligated to continue to develop innovative tools and applications that can challenge and foster their creativity and productivity."