Unique Fusion of Color and Shape Makes Glass Bottle a Winner in MSU Design Contest

An elegant tear-drop shaped bottle for olive oil (at left) took first place in GPI’s Glass Packaging Design Competition held fall semester 2009 at Michigan State University School of Packaging.

The winning 12-ounce glass package was created by the team of Mike Rowe and Zack Werner, beating out 32 other MSU student teams. “My idea about glass has changed not only from our design, but from seeing the other innovative ideas,” says Zach Werner.

“The winning design makes excellent use of the material characteristics and design flexibility of glass containers. "Good use of shape and color produces a great shelf impact," says Dennis Young, MSU Instructor. The competition is part of Young’s Glass and Metal Packaging course. “We had an excellent quality of projects from all the teams of students,” says Young.

The winning design is a spherical body with a gradual sloping neck and a bulky base for overall support. “The form is based on an Old Italian wine bottle shape, with a rustic paper label,” says Mike Rowe. The amber color reduces the amount of sunlight entering the bottle, and the flint lower half provides a “window” so consumers can view the product.

For the competition, student teams were able to select an existing product and redo the packaging or invent a product from scratch. Their initial concept was to design a salsa container, but it just wasn’t coming together. Once they switched to olive oil, things changed. Werner’s back ground is in food science, and the interactions between food and packaging. “I personally have more knowledge about olive oil and how it reacts and why packaging is so important for that product.”

The competition has “changed my view and ideas about glass as a packaging material because you can really do any shape you desire with it,” says Mike Rowe. “With olive oil, a lot of people like it to sit out on their counter tops, and glass has an upscale feel and makes the bottle look attractive.” According to Werner, “It was really nice to be able to use some of the surface coatings and treatments that only glass offers.”

GPI's academic program provides lectures on many aspects of glass packaging, but they are limited to one or two class periods. A class competition, according to Rick Bayer, GPI’s Academic Subcommittee Chair, “gives packaging students soak time to learn how the attributes of glass, such as premium image, can become very effective marketing tools."

A reproduction of the winning design was created by Saint-Gobain Containers, Inc. at their Muncie, IN headquarters. It is made out of Lucite (Plexiglass-Acrilic), which is done to give a customer an idea of how the glass product will look. This will be displayed, along with the design entry, at the MSU Packaging School. “We greatly appreciate the support of GPI for the MSU School of Packaging and packaging education in all its venues,” says Young. “All the GPI programs generate great interest and awareness of glass packaging." MSU faculty completed the first round of judging, and ten finalists were judged by glass packaging industry representatives Craig Potts, O-I; Dale DeVore, Saint-Gobain Containers; Efrain Karchmer, Vitro Packaging, Sam Wilson, Anchor Glass, and Dave Wengerhoff, Diageo.

As first place winners, Rowe and Werner each received an engraved glass plaque, a $100 Best Buy gift card, enrollment at O-I’s Glass University, and a trip to Diageo’s distillery in Plainfield, IL.

Listen to a podcast with MSU design Contest Winners