The That’s a Wrap: Best and Worst Packaging of 2018 results are in!
The results are in and we have discovered a interesting connection between the top Best and Worst voted packaging. But if your not paying attention in the supermarket aisle, then you may not notice the big packaging difference hidden under the cap until it’s too late!
Worst packaging of 2018
Like last year, we received significantly more nominations and votes for the Worst packaging category. Your top five picks were:
5 – Plastic bottles – with water and sport drink bottles being the biggest offenders
4 – Glass jars – with salsa and jam jars topping this list
3 – Child resistant push-down-and-turn medicine packaging
2 – Milk packaging – from half-moon inductions seals found under caps through to milk cartons.
But your top pick for the worst category was plastic ring-pull tabs, found under caps of products like vegetable oil and soy sauce, as well as long life (aseptic) milk and soymilk packaging.
Best packaging of 2018
For the Best category we also received a number of product nominations for long life and soy milk products from two different companies, Vitasoy and Devondale. We went and bought samples of the aseptic packaging for testing and found that they had the same special cap! The turn-and-pour cap for aseptic packaging removes the additional ring-pull tab stage and instead breaks the seal as you turn the cap to remove it. As it’s found on some of the same products as our worst packaging category, we would encourage you to look closely next time you buy a product in aseptic packaging as your votes show there is a big difference when you get the product home and remove the cap.
What’s Next
Your stories continue to make waves. Each nomination and comment helps push the conversation forward, showing industry leaders that packaging isn’t just a design feature; it’s an access issue. The next phase of the campaign will involve us reaching out to companies whose products were nominated, both best and worst, to share these insights and advocate for meaningful, user-centered changes.
Together, we’ll keep advocating for changes that make packaging safer, easier and more inclusive.
What does the ‘worst packaging’ mean?
- you couldn’t open it at all
- you opened it after a struggle
- caused you pain
- hurt your self-opening it
- had to use a tool, like a knife or scissors, to open it
- had to ask someone else to open it for you
- caused you to damage or spill the contents
- caused a brief moment of hesitation, anxiety or fear about opening it due to previous negative experiences.
What does the ‘best packaging’ mean?
- genuinely easy-to-open, not just slightly better then a really bad alternative.
You shouldn’t have to struggle with any packaging, but until that happens we want to know what packaging consistently makes your life easier. We may also buy samples of nominations to confirm that they are in fact reasonably accessible.
About That’s a Wrap
Our annual campaign to highlight both good and bad packaging designs. Your voices help drive change in the packaging industry and assist our Accessible Design Division to educate the packaging industry and determine if packaging is becoming more user-friendly or increasingly difficult over time.