November 2, 2015
Young designers re-invent condom branding and packaging
The winners of an international competition to redesign the branding and packaging of condom has been announced.
The design competition is being run by Swinburne University of Technology as part of the UOW-led Project Geldom, a research initiative that is developing a new type of material called a hydrogel for making condoms to improve universal access to reproductive and sexual health, one of the great challenges and human rights issues of the 21st century.
The competition was created to encourage designers to share their ideas on innovative and culturally appropriate ways to communicate safe sex in South-East Asia and Africa.
With more than 50 entries from countries around the world including USA, UK, South Africa, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Europe and Australia, the judging panel had a hard time choosing the winners.
The winners for the Young Designer category were:
- Jose Luis Pinzon
- FBM Diseño
The winners for the Design Student category were:
- Xolisa Sibeko
- Raquel Ribero
The judges said that the quality of the entries was high, and that the entrants submitted imaginative, clever, witty designs that showed a high level of consideration of the brief they were given.
One of the judges, Professor Scott Thompson-Whiteside, Dean of Swinburne’s School of Design, said that the competition gave the research team an insight into how 18-25 year olds view condoms and sexual health from different social and cultural perspectives.
“This will help us develop our ideas further and assist us to design more appropriate and meaningful brands and packaging. The ideas will ultimately assist us in developing better sexual health practices.”
The ideas submitted around the branding and packaging of condoms were creative and thoughtful, demonstrating the depth and diversity of design skills around the world. The entries also demonstrated an understanding for the issues and barriers associated with condom use as a preventative of STIs.
The brief challenged designers to share their ideas on innovative and culturally appropriate ways to communicate safe sex in South-East Asia and Africa.
Project Geldom is a design-led innovation project combining expertise in biomedical engineering, material science, industrial design and population health from UOW and Swinburne University of Technology to revolutionise the condom.
Project Geldom is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Grand Challenges Program, UOW Global Challenges Program, and Swinburne Centre for Design Innovation.