Throughout my career as a designer, I want to strive to create environmentally friendly design that do not drain natural resources, that do not release harmful toxions or pollute the environment in any shape or form, so I am constantly searching the internet and books to find solutions or inspiration to all design projects that way come my way.
Designer Steven Haslip won first prize in the D&AD 2007 student awards, with this environmentally friendly design for packaging for online clothing companies. The concept for ‘Hangepak’ came from his own previous experiences with online shopping. He describes the inspiration of this piece on his website by writing; ‘I buy t-shirts online and they always come wrinkled and I always run out of coat-hangers. So I designed a sustainable, reusable way to send and keep your t-shirts. As you open the package you create a coat hanger. The packaging could be made from recycled material whether it is card or plastic and the only waste is the green tear-away tab.’
It is completely ingenious, and in the worrying environmental climate we live in and in a world where people are starting to grow an environmental conscious, it would attract people to buy a certain product if they new doing so would help the environment. I am not too sure how to describe the concept, ‘gimmick’ cheapens the whole design. It is such a simple design, but such a smart design at the same time. It is such a simple solution to the amount of packaging that gets thrown out and with the recession the world is struggling in at the moment, it is nice to know that once you buy the t-shirt you have bought a hanger too. It is also a cheap design to produce, and could be produced in many different materials. I adore design that is interactive and that requires the user to think. This is a beautiful piece of design that would attract attention and actually encourage people to buy a t-shirt just to get the packaging.
Bookmarked, I love your blog!