8 Top Packaging Design Firms from The Dieline Awards 2015


The 6th annual Dieline Awards recognize the world’s top packaging design firms and brands.

With over 39 winners across 13 categories, we are highlighting the best graphic design, branding and packaging agencies from across the world. Winners were announced at the HOW Design Live conference in Chicago on May 4th 2015.

So, let’s take a look at some of the top design agencies that caught our eye! All of the winning design firms and agencies can be found on Agency Spotter, so log-in and start your agency search now.

Studio of the Year – mousegraphics

Mousegraphics, the creative agency based in Athens, Greece, won Studio of the Year for their collective work and overall contributions to the field of product packaging design over the past year.

Besides winning the first annual Studio of the Year award, Mousegraphics won 1st & 3rd place in the “Dairy, Spices, Oils, Sauces, Condiments” category and also 1st & 2nd place in the “Health, Cosmetics, Fragrance, Fashion” category. Mousegraphics had one hell of a year.

mousegraphics studio of the year dieline awards

Best of Show – Dorian

Dorian, a graphic design studio based in Barcelona, won Best of Show for designing the packaging for Gin Rawal. This unique line of gin is produced by a small cocktail bar also located in Barcelona called “Pesca Salada,” and they are well-known for being one of the local leaders in gin-based cocktails.

To showcase their ingenuity & playfulness, Dorian created an interactive element to the bottles of gin by showing divers transitioning from being underwater to above it as the gin is consumed.

dorian gin rawal packaging design

Editor’s Choice – Horse

Horse, the design studio hailing from the UK, won Editor’s Choice for The Adventurous Blend of William Whistle – a small tea and coffee merchant.

The inspiration behind Horse’s packaging design came from the client’s process of sourcing the highest quality ingredients from around the world, and visually focused on the Victorian-era curiosity for expedition. With the theme of travel and discovery in place, Horse used the William Whistle character to showcased the playful concept of exploring the world to find the most interesting ingredients and flavors to bring home.

horse design studio's packaging for the adventurous blend of william whistle

1st Place in Beer, Malt Beverages & Tobacco – Design Bridge

Design Bridge, a brand design agency from London, took 1st Place in Beer, Malt Beverages & Tobacco category for their rebranding of the Finnish beer brand, Karhu.

To compete with the bigger beer brands from around the world, Karhu needed to unleash the edgy side of their brand and show more personality. So with that in mind, Design Bridge took the Karhu Bear, the most famous symbol of the beer brand, and featured it front and center on every Karhu bottle.

design bridge karhu beer

1st Place in Spirits – Stranger & Stranger

Stranger and Stranger, the graphic design firm that specialize in alcohol packaging, took 1st Place in the Spirits category for their packaging design of the limited edition Don Papa 10 Year Old. Don Papa is a small batch rum from the Philippines.

stranger & stranger packaging design fro don papa 10 year old

1st Place in Personal Care – Pemberton & Whitefoord LLP

P&W, the packaging design studio from London, won 1st Place in the Personal Care section for designing the packaging for Tesco Kid’s Tissues. This unique design of tissue boxes placed animals as its central theme while adding fun interactive elements to the box.

When tissues are dispensed, the animal themed boxes illustrate water blowing from an elephants trunk or whales spouting water from their blowholes.

pemberton & whitefoord llp packaging design for tesco kid's tissues

2nd Place in Fresh & Prepared Foods – Big Fish

Big Fish, Dorset Cereals’ design and marketing agency for the past ten years, took 2nd Place in the Fresh & Prepared Foods category.

Big Fish was placed with the task of reimagining Dorset Cereals’ brand and giving the packaging a facelift. To execute this task, they developed a campaign called “Life Begins at Breakfast” to help consumers feel positive before their day starts. With the campaign in place, Big Fish had to give the normally simple cereal box concept new life by making Dorset boxes into a work of art.

big fish dorset cereals

3rd Place in Technology, Media, Office & Self Promotion – Character SF

Character SF, the branding agency based in San Francisco, won 3rd Place in Technology, Media, Office & Self Promotion category for creating the packaging on Adobe’s first hardware product – Ink & Slide.

Ink is a fine-tip, pressure-sensitive digital pen for the iPad that makes sketching and drawing more fluid, and Slide is a digital ruler that lets you draw any shape on the iPad. To pull off a packaging strategy to match this innovative yet simple product, Character focused on keeping things clean and simple so the hardware is the star.

character sf packaging design for adobe ink & slide pen

 

Expert judges included:

Andrew Gibbs (Founder & Editor In Chief at The Dieline)

East CoastDebbie Millman (President of Design at Sterling Brands), Ron Burrage (Head of Global Design at The Hershey Company), Roanne Adams (Chief Creative Director & Founder at RoAndCo), Jessica Hische (Designer); MidwestTrina Bentley (Founder at Make & Matter), Mary Zalla (Global President of Consumer Brands at Landor Associates), Philip Thompson (VP of Design at Newell Rubbermaid), Elizabeth Nientimp (Director of Creative Content & Design at General Mills); West CoastGerardo Herrera (Director of Packaging the Art Center College of Design), Aaron Draplin (Founder at Draplin Design Co.), Primo Angeli (Designer at Primo Angeli Design), Branko Lukic (Founder at NONOBJECT), Ben Pham (Creative Director, Co-founder at Character SF), Shannon Gabor (Founder/CEO at Clever Creative), Katrina Luong (Owner & Creative Director at The Yellow Loft); International – Fabrice Peltier (Director of Design at Diadeis), Sebastian Padilla (Creative Director at Anagarma), Masanori Eto (Creative Director at ADBRAIN)

Many More Amazing Agencies

Branding, packaging and graphic design are in our Top 25 Most Popular Agency Services on Agency Spotter, and why wouldn’t they be? Look at all these beautiful and innovative designs!

So, if you want to rebrand, reimagine or revamp your packaging, turn to the thousands of packaging design firms and branding agencies doing great work. All the winning agencies I named above are on our site, so check us out!

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Daniel Kim