New competition looks for creatives with all-round design vision and on-brief performance

Creative Edge Software, developer of the award-winning iC3D packaging design software, is challenging packaging designers to embrace total creative freedom powered by iC3D in a “no-holds barred” competition to design a premium beauty package. Running in conjunction with How Design Live 2018 and The Dieline Conference, the winning entry will be announced and awarded during the event in Boston (April 30 – May 1).

With the top prize of a year’s subscription to iC3D including personalized web tutoring – valued at $15,500 – the competition requires entrants to design packaging for a limited-edition perfume, make-up item, or nail lacquer intended as a VIP gift by a luxury beauty brand. Using a downloadable iC3D trial license, designers have free rein on styling, naming, form, function, and the materials to be used. Entries will be judged on their degree of innovation, aesthetic qualities, material choices, special effects and how well they have met the “client” brief. The winning design will be selected by a panel of How Design Live judges and displayed at the Conference alongside other entries.

The iC3D How Design Live competition is open to any member of a company attending this year’s conference. Designs must be submitted no later than April 12th 2018 via the dedicated website: http://www.creativeedgesoftware.com/competition/. 

“With this competition we’re throwing down the gauntlet to agencies and packaging creatives to show what they can do with access to a complete set of high-end professional design tools and without budget constraints or an approval chain,” comments Nick Gilmore, CEO of Creative Edge Software. “Rather than setting limits on their ingenuity, we’re actively encouraging entrants to explore their ideas and embellish them. We hope to see a wide range of unique designs making use of some of the latest premium treatments, structural effects and finishes to elevate them far beyond the everyday.”

With the latest iC3D v5.0 software at their disposal, participants can exploit a comprehensive set of capabilities in designing their luxury brand entries, according to Gilmore. Advanced Shape Modeller, for example, enables the creation of highly complex 3D shapes and shape combinations; Point Editor provides the ability to add curves, creases, crumples and dents to models selectively; Bump Displacement allows for selective embossing/debossing on glass, plastics, cartons and labels. In addition, entrants can test their designs in different environments with professional lighting rig effects using capabilities such as Light Map Editor, Dynamic Backgrounds, and Shelf Visualizer.

The competition website provides full information on rules, regulations and criteria, as well as design guidelines, hints and tips, and links to an extensive library of tutorials on using the iC3D software.