Barb Suen, a professor with the Durham College School of Media, Art & Design (bottom centre), poses with her Graphic Design students after they came in third at the Sustainable Packaging Design Awards on April 22. From left to right: Courtney Schouwerwou, Damon Martin, Sarah Big Canoe, Denise Arcand, Laura Tout and Adam Maryn.

Six second-year students from Durham College’s Graphic Design program recently took third place in Walmart Canada’s Student Sustainable Packaging Design Awards, earning themselves $1,000 in total.

Denise Arcand, Sarah Big Canoe, Damon Martin, Adam Maryn, Laura Tout and Courtney Schouwerwou were honoured on April 22 at the Toronto Convention Centre when they were presented with a cheque in front of more than 300 business men and women as part of the Packaging Association of Canada’s Sustainable Packaging Conference.

“We were the third out of seven schools to qualify for the finals,” said Barb Suen, the School of Media, Art & Design professor who entered the students in the contest. “With six people ours was the largest group. I think that speaks well to our team-building skills.”

Tasked with designing sustainable packaging for Windex by S.C. Johnson and Son, the students had two months to create new labels and packaging for 12 Windex bottles and a convenient, environmentally-friendly box to carry them in. Students were encouraged to minimize the space needed to transport the containers on trucks while making them easier to unload for stores like Walmart.

The students ultimately created a sleek new logo for the bottles that they printed on renewable shrink sleeves using inks made of soy. In addition, they made a small box design from environmentally friendly corrugated board.

Scheduled on Earth Day, the conference emphasises the growing desire in business to adhere to green practices. According to Suen, Durham College is following suit, altering its programs to familiarize students with changing global trends.

“Sustainability is a brand new field that graphic designers need to be aware of,” she added. “Before, graphic designers were all about the design. Now because there’s so much material regarding printing, inks and the shape of the package, there’s a lot more that our students need to know. We’re revising our curriculum with a new course to accommodate this up-and-coming information that will start in September.”