Interaction Design · Project 1 of 3 · Weeks 1–5
Package Design Project 1: The Structure Sampler
Six boxes. Two materials.
FORMAT
Individual
WEEKS
1–4
METHODS
Paper engineering · Score and fold · Structural construction · Prototype assembly · Recycled material sourcing · Single-color graphic application · Dieline construction · Adobe Illustrator · Iterative critique
TAGS
Package Design, Design Thinking, Design Education, Sustainability
Why this project
The Structure Sampler serves as the opening project of the redesigned course. It draws on a teaching method I've previously used in other classes — specifically, the pop-up book project in Interaction Design. That project starts with hands-on, low-stakes physical creation before tackling the complexities of screen-based interaction. This deliberate parallel emphasizes that packaging design begins with tangible, manual work rather than digital screens. A student who has never scored and folded a tuck-end box, or struggled to fit a lid onto a tray with just the right resistance, misses out on an essential understanding that cannot be fully conveyed through words or shown on a monitor.
The four required forms are chosen because they represent the discipline's fundamental structural logic. The tuck-end box is the industry standard. The tray and lid introduce the two-piece fitted form and the tolerance problem: how much gap is too much, how much friction is too much, and how do you resolve that in cardboard? The sleeve and slip case introduce sliding entry and the behavior of a contained surface. The origami fold box — no glue, no tape — introduces the idea that a structure can hold its own weight through geometry alone. These are not arbitrary choices. They are the four structural arguments on which most subsequent packaging structures are variations.
Student choice forms empower students with ownership and self-direction within a specific vocabulary. When a student selects a gable box or a hexagonal structure, they are choosing what to learn rather than just following an assigned task. This sense of ownership is especially important at the beginning of a semester.
Phase 2 intentionally limits options: one color, one substrate, one label, one paragraph. This restriction serves a teaching purpose. When students have access to full color and unlimited graphic options in Week 3, they often focus on visual details before addressing structural aspects. Limiting to a single color directs their focus to structural decisions—such as how the label wraps around the panels, where folds interrupt the design, and what the dieline geometry dictates. These are the key questions to address at this stage of the course without focusing on the visual aethetics
The Brief
PROJECT PROMPT
Packaging design begins with your hands, not your screen. Before you can design a package, you need to understand what packaging does: how a flat sheet becomes a three-dimensional form, how a lid fits a tray, how a sleeve slides, and how paper locks itself closed without glue.
Construct a set of six packaging structures — four required forms and two of your own choosing. Phase 1 is structure only: no graphics, no color, no branding. Focus entirely on form accuracy, score, and fold quality, and fit precision. Each structure must be functional — closures should close, lids should seat, and sleeves should slide.
Required forms: tuck-end box, tray-and-lid (two-piece), sleeve/slip case, origami-fold box (no glue or tape).
Student-choice forms: choose two from a provided list or propose your own with instructor approval.
At least one structure must use recycled or found material. Document the source.
Phase 2: Choose a completed structure and apply a monochrome graphic treatment—using one ink color, one label, and one invented product name. Create the dieline digitally and include a paragraph explaining how the form influenced your graphic choices.
Consider this project as your foundational structural vocabulary, which will inform all future projects.
DELIVERABLE
Six completed structures: four required forms, two student choice
At least one structure using recycled or found material, source documented
Annotation card for each structure: construction method, material and source, what worked and failed, appropriate product or context
All six structures and annotation cards presented as a set
Phase 2: one structure with applied single-color graphic treatment
Phase 2 dieline (Illustrator file, .ai): panel layout, fold lines, bleed
Phase 2 written rationale: one paragraph on structure selection and how form influenced graphic decisions
Self-assessment — see separate assignment sheet
What I've learned from running this
The Structure Sampler is new to the curriculum, introduced in the semester when this course was redesigned. It replaces the Gift Box Redesign, which required students to work on structural and graphic aspects simultaneously during the first three weeks. Often, structural issues were postponed, as students uncertain about paper engineering focused on what they knew best. The sampler separates these phases: Phase 1 focuses solely on structure, while Phase 2 involves applying graphics to a structure the student has already built and understands. Though the change in sequencing is simple, it should prove to be quite impactful. I found that students who created sampler books and fully explored various pop-up mechanisms in the first project of interaction design, had more success in that first and subsequent projects. It is my hope that creating this new project, a sampler, in which students investigate different types of packaging forms, that they will feel more competent with the subsequent projects.
I am still uncertain about how effective the annotation card requirement will be in practice. I expect that students who genuinely reflect and consider what worked, what didn’t, and which product or context suits the structure, will develop a richer structural vocabulary by the time they reach Phase 2 and Project 2. In contrast, those who see the annotation as merely compliance may not benefit as much. The annotation is meant to compel students to articulate: if you cannot describe something, you do not fully understand it. Whether this leads to better subsequent work is an empirical question I have not yet answered. I will revisit this reflection after the first semester of implementation.
The single-color constraint in Phase 2 has been used in different forms earlier in the course and consistently prompts resistance followed by understanding. Wanting full color in Week 3 is understandable, as full-color packaging is the professional norm. However, students who work through the constraint often discover that the graphic problem becomes clearer when its variables are limited. A label that functions in one color and on a natural substrate is effective for structural reasons, not just for decoration. This understanding provides a solid foundation for all subsequent projects.