Sustainable Packaging
Project Background:
75 to 119 million tonnes of plastics are being thrown into the ocean, and it ultimately comes back into the human body through the consumption of seafood. Sushi packaging contains a lot of single-use plastics and paper. How can we repackage sushi sustainably with more natural materials?
Image from Pexels
Introducing Ying and Ying Sushi
This is a sushi grab-and-go product targeted at office workers who value quick, convenient meals during their busy workdays. Caters to colleagues who enjoy sharing lunch without the waste, typically associated with fast food. The brand's slogan is 'Wrapped in Sustainability, Unwrapped in Delight", to give the impression that our sushi is packed with sustainable materials and is tasty
Pattern for packaging
Illustrations of fishes drawn were intended to imitate the look of Japanese woodblock printed stamps.
Color explorations with bold and high contrast give a refreshing look and feel to this sushi brand.
The aim of designing this sushi packaging is to:
1. Cut down the use of plastic
2. Reduce the use of cardboard
3. Auto-lock mechanism to reduce space for transport
Normal sushi packaging should contain the following:
Why Rice Husks?
Rice husks make up 20% of rice weight therefore generating almost 100 million tonnes of agricultural waste in our eco-system. So, why not put this waste to a better use while reducing the use of cardboard?
Production Cycle
From rice to rice husk and rice used in sushi, and finally into the packaging.
They are fully utilized.
Circular Economy
Features and Highlights:
Educational Surprise Element
Enhances the value and attraction of our packaging, beyond just sushi packaging.
Sparks curiosity when opening, and adds on to the fun and interactivity.
Fish Illustrations
Using vibrant colors for the abstract fish illustrations turns the overall packaging eye-catching.
Chopsticks
With a compartment dedicated to chopsticks, the need for extra packaging for the chopsticks is removed.
Double Layered
Packaging reduces the use of materials during production since it is designed to be able to store double layers of sushi.
User Experience
Design Process:
First prototype had an extra piece of paper used to hold 2 boxes of sushi together.
A tab sticks out to tell users to pull and open for user experience.
It was however not ideal because too much material was used, and it was flimsy.
Inspired by other packaging designs, instead of using extra paper, an extension of the flap directly from the box is used. The flap extended was cut into shapes that could hold 2 boxes together.
However, it is still too flimsy when users hold them together.
For the following prototypes, it was further simplified by combining 2 boxes of sushi into 1.
This was also an experimentation of the size of packaging to ensure that it fits the size of sushi.
The handle, however, was still too thin and could be broken easily with weight and pressure.
The next step is to make the handle into the body of the packaging itself. While it became sturdy, the hole created would expose dust to the sushi.
For the following prototype, we intended to cover up the hole. One thing that is not user-friendly is opening the entire sushi box too widely and sushi might roll when consumed, There might be a problem in carrying the box everywhere as well because there is no handle and the material is too smooth.
The next prototype explores on handle using the most stable shape, a triangle. However, through user testing, it was not a fast way and easy way to fold the packaging back to its original position, due to the weird angles.
Therefore, taking inspiration from other packaging used for cakes, a larger handle was created. The constraints were, however, the space to put 2 layers of sushi rolls.
At the same time, packaging for soy sauce was experimented with. After many tries, the final design for soy sauce one was inspired by the current jelly packaging from Japan, with a protruded material and a slight cut for easy tearing.
Final packaging
Instead of approaching the problem of ease of carrying through adding a handle, changing to a rougher material
would be a faster approach to retain the idea of 2 sushi rolls stacked on top of each other to reduce the material used
for packing 2 portions.
Explainer video
Finally, if I were given more time for this project, I would:
1. continue to tackle the problem of handling without limiting it to one layer of sushi only
2. Make the perforation open to the height of one stack of sushi instead of opening them all
3. Add a slightly heightened tray for 2nd stack of sushi.
