What do speaker packaging, plastic-free makeup palettes, 7UP, and Butter have to do with each other?
Well, they’re just a teensy, tiny sample of this year’s Dieline Award winners.
Dieline Awards, now in its 14th year, remains one of the world’s largest global packaging design competitions. Sponsored by Neenah and Designalytics, Dieline Awards 2023 recognizes the best and brightest designers and agencies creating product packaging the world over, raising awareness of the enormous value of brand packaging design.
Today, Dieline announced its 2023 Dieline Awards winners, presenting trophies to 143 recipients across a whopping 43 categories, not to mention our 14 overall top winners. The awards were presented onstage in Nashville at HOW Design Live.
This year, Dieline received nearly 1,600 entries, with winners hailing from 26 countries. Taken together, the prize-winning recipients offer a snapshot of where the packaging industry is heading, not only with bold and innovative designs but with many brands committing to plastic-free materials. Here, you’ll find some of the best design agencies, studios, in-house teams, and independent designers in the game today.
The awards’ jury featured a who’s who from the world of design—luminaries like Brian Collins of New York and San Francisco-based COLLINS, Pentagram partner Natasha Jen, Design Army co-founder Pum Lefebure, Dazzle Studio founder and creative director Zipeng Zhu, ArtCenter College of Design chair Sean Adams, The Working Assembly founder Jolene Delisle, Gander co-founders Katie Levy and Mike McVicar, A Plastic Planet’s Sian Sutherland, Utendahl Creative founder Madison Utendahl, and Stranger & Stranger founder Kevin Shaw. All entries for the awards were judged by a panel of jurors that are experts in their given field. Additionally, awards were evaluated across five categories—creativity, marketability, innovation, execution, and on-pack branding, with every entry going through two rounds of rigorous critique and appraisal.
So gather ’round, kids! Pour yourself a hot cup of coffee because you’re in for some scrolling and clicking. Here are all of the 2023 Dieline Awards winners.
BEST OF SHOW
Sonos Home Theater Packaging
Michelle Enright, Emily Ghizzoni, Matthew Chung, Khondker Hossain, Ben Blanchard, Douglas Tsai
In a year where countless pieces of stunning packaging dominated our homepage, we could see someone maybe feeling a touch underwhelmed seeing this year’s Best In Show winner. Like, we’re going with speakers? Really?
Yes. Really.
Because when you get your hands on Sonos’ home theater packaging for the Ray and Sub Mini, you’re getting one of the best unboxing experiences in electronics and tech. Right out of the gate, what most sticks out is the complete (and much-appreciated) lack of styrofoam as the brand continues to push paper pulp in its packaging suite. Throughout the product reveal, you can’t help but feel wowed by the tactile touches, minimal illustrations, and brand debossing. But best of all, the packaging celebrates the product within, and its utility and characteristics shine on the outer packaging.
Because isn’t that what you really want your packaging to do? Celebrate what you’re building for consumers while being a little more eco-friendly in doing so? We certainly think so.
STUDIO OF THE YEAR
Nice People
Every year, Dieline honors the studio or agency that has garnered the most awards across the entirety of the competition. And while that honor has gone to a handful of studios multiple times, it’s always refreshing to see a new studio join the ever-expanding list.
This year, we welcome Los Angeles’s Nice People to our esteemed winner’s circle. And they did it all with just one adaptogenic elixir inspired by vintage Murano glass perfume bottles, Deon Libra, snagging 2nd place in Functional Beverage, 2nd place in Healthcare, 2nd place Body Care, 2nd place E-commerce, and 3rd place in Health, Body & Beauty, because, yes, it’s all of those things.
EDITOR’S CHOICE
Paper Blister
Papacks
Sure, we pick out some pretty great judges for our awards jury because they have a keen, discerning eye for a lot of the stuff that crosses our editorial desk. But it’s not fun letting your jury pick every goshdarn winner—and that’s why we have the Editor’s Choice Award.
This year’s clear frontrunner was Papacks’ paper blister pack, which offers a compostable and recyclable alternative to over-the-counter pharmaceutical packaging. Most blister packs for tablets and pills get made using different materials, including fiber, plastic, and metal. The latter two offer superior protection against moisture and oxidation, critical properties to consider when packaging medication.
All the more reason that Papacks is so deserving of the award. In a recent report by market research firm Future Wise, the market for pharmaceutical blister packaging will surpass $15 trillion in five years, growing at an annual rate of 6% between 2022 and 2028. While most folks will tell you that plastic as a material is necessary to the pharmaceutical and medical industries, wherever we can cut down on single-use plastic is a very, very, very good thing. Plus, we’re looking forward to hunkering down during cold and flu season with a Tylenol or NyQuil blister pack made from paper.
PLASTIC-FREE INNOVATION OF THE YEAR
Half Magic Beauty Brand Launch
Mythology
You gotta love it when you see modern “IT” beauty brands leaning into plastic-free materials, especially when the cosmetics industry is littered with single-use plastics, many of which are unrecyclable. And that’s exactly why Half Magic’s compostable eye shadow palette made from Paperfoam—a slurry of potato starch and cellulose—was a welcome surprise and the winner of Dieline’s Plastic-Free Innovation of the Year.
Given alongside the non-profit advocacy group A Plastic Planet, Half Magic is a shining example of the beauty industry’s future.
“The beauty industry, especially in color, have been pumping out plastic for decades, constantly excusing inaction by saying it is just too hard to replace plastic with materials that nature can easily take back,” said Sian Sutherland, co-founder of A Plastic Planet and PlasticFree. “So how fantastic to see a brand like Half Magic lead the way using a fully nutrient-based composite that is not exactly new but has never been chosen as a primary material for a beauty brand before. We love how Mythology’s simple design has elevated Paperfoam to something cool, distinctive, and radically sustainable. Plus, the way this brand combines drop-in with permanent packaging is a future direction we want to see much more of. The redefinition of the aesthetic of luxury is lagging in the personal care market; Half Magic’s path is definitely one to follow.”
REBRAND OF THE YEAR
CORA – Redefining Category Tropes to Build an On-shelf Icon
Mother Design
This year’s best redesign for 2023 goes to the US-based period care and wellness company Cora, with its new brand identity from Mother Design that strengthens its relevance to millennial consumers while proudly depicting its core ethos of empathy. The rebrand concentrates on capturing the ebbs and flows felt by those who menstruate. The oscillating elements get visualized through energetic typography, a modernized color palette, and clever use of negative space.
Cora’s focus on diverting products from landfills is seen through its range of reusable period-care products. From the Easy-Does-It Cup to the Free-To-Flow Underwear, the brand isn’t entirely plastic-free but shares opportunities for those who menstruate to help reduce waste and their single-use plastic footprint. The identity’s natural yet optimistic palette emphasizes the product’s interconnectedness to the Earth and body. Furthermore, the scope of tones helps consumers distinguish between absorbance and easily navigate the vast range of products.
DESIGN FOR GOOD AWARD
Corrections – The Prisoner
Co-Partnership
Now in its third year, The Dieline Design For Good Awards honors the agencies and creatives taking up the issues and necessary causes meaningful to them, creating work that gives back to humankind while emphasizing kindness and promoting a higher quality of life.
The Prisoner is a wine brand that creates bold blends and even bolder labels. What’s more, the winery’s name and flagship label found inspiration in Spanish artist Francisco Goya’s The Prisoners, a series of etchings consisting of three pieces offering a critique of judicial torture depicting shackled and restrained men in stress positions.
In addition to the influence of Goya’s work, The Prisoner is actively involved in raising awareness and funding support for justice reform. Such efforts include supporting the Equal Justice Initiative, which provides legal representation to the illegally convicted, those serving harsh and unfair sentences, and folks facing abuse behind bars. Last year, The Prisoner partnered with NBA player Moe Harkless to support bail and incarceration reform, and they also assist The Liberty Fund, NYC’s first citywide charitable bail fund.
The latest collection from The Prisoner is called Corrections, a trio of wines (a Malbec, Tempranillo, and a Viognier) featuring labels by the agency Co-Partnership and Los Angeles artist Chris Burnett. The three collages, Finding Flowers, New Hope, and The Other Side, invite viewers to look past their own prejudices about inmates.
NEENAH BEST USE OF PAPER AWARD
Radius Welcome Experience Gift
Hagerty Creative
We don’t know a single packaging designer that isn’t a sucker for paper, and that’s why we like to celebrate the best of that glorious, pulpy tree stuff in packaging alongside our sponsor, Neenah.
This year, the Best Use of Paper goes to the Radius Welcome Experience Gift, a membership kit for an invite-only car club. Featuring Neenah’s Classic Techweave paper, Hagerty Creative built some exceptional tactile moments for lucky recipients (and a little something for the olfactory senses in the form of a scented box). It’s plenty fancy, and oozes premium—all the more impressive since the paper resembles that of the interior of a luxury sports car.
Yes, we can’t wait to see what lies beyond the pull strip, too, so I guess we’re joining a car club.
DESIGNALYTICS DESIGN EFFECTIVENESS AWARD
Basil Hayden
Design Bridge and Partners
The Designalytics Effectiveness Award was created to help elevate the role of package design by spotlighting the immense financial impact that it can have on consumer brands. Winner selection was entirely data-driven, based on sales performance in the marketplace, as well as rigorous quantitative consumer testing.
This year’s winning redesign went to Design Bridge and Partners for their work on the bourbon brand Basil Hayden, where they enlarged the metal belt—the brand’s most memorable asset—and removed the oversized paper label, opting for something more streamlined and pearly white. The new design has also fared better on the shelf and resonated with consumers, with a 71% purchase preference over the previous design.
During the six months following the redesign, sales of Basil Hayden increased by 15% compared to the same period during the prior year, despite a modest decline in sales for the whiskey category overall. Basil Hayden’s market share also increased by 15%.
“Designalytics has analyzed thousands of redesigns, and the evidence is overwhelming: smart, strategic, consumer-centric design drives brand growth. It’s prompting a sea change in design management right now, and it’s exciting to watch,” said Steve Lamoureux, CEO and founder of Designalytics. “Brands like Basil Hayden are in the vanguard. They recognized that they could leverage design to increase market share and partnered with a proven, forward-thinking agency in Design Bridge and Partners to help make it happen. The results speak for themselves.”
Best of Food
Daring
Creech
When it comes to plant-based meats, taste appeal is everything. And if there’s one thing creative studio Creech understands is that the best way to a consumer’s stomach is with crack food photography.
That’s why it’s no surprise that Daring’s plant-based chicken nabbed the top overall food prize. Sure, consumers have come across pretty close approximations of genuine meat, like Beyond Burger or Simulate’s fake chicken nuggies. But if it looks like the real thing (and you throw in a pretty decent wordmark), chances are, it’ll click—er, cluck—with shoppers.
Best of Beverage
7UP Global Brand Restage
PepsiCo Design
Do we finally have a winner in this year’s ongoing lemon-lime soda wars?
Well, it appears we do—and 7UP stands tall amongst a field of green-tinted redesigns. I mean, look at that logo already, jeez!
At the core of 7UP’s new identity by PepsiCo Design + Innovation is the brand’s aim to offer slight relief from the more mundane parts of life, something the brand calls “UPliftment.” Visually, they accomplish this with 7UP’s signature green color serving as a base punctuated with zesty splashes of citrus-inspired hues. Long drop shadows add excitement to the packaging, and core elements like the red spot are retained but modernized. The can design gets simplified without losing depth and includes thoughtful details like circular shapes reminiscent of lemon and lime wedges and empty circles like bubbles in 7UP.
Best of Health, Beauty, & Personal Care
Half Magic Beauty Brand Launch
Mythology
When the makeup artist from Euphoria launches her own beauty brand, you pay attention, and with just one glance at the visual identity system for the brand, you can see the show’s inspiration on every piece of packaging. The Best of Health, Beauty, & Personal Care winner is poised to become a Gen Z favorite as they traffic in bold, dreamy colors. They even have a mail-back program for all of those hard-to-recycle pieces.
Oh, and did we mention that they also won Plastic-Free Innovation of the Year for their Paperfoam eye shadow palette? Yeah, they did that, too.
“We wanted to create this tension in the name and the graphics,” wrote Mythology of the project, “between total fantasy and creation and real life—creating bold maximalist elements in the brand with Sara Rabin’s illustrations and having a beautiful, more restrained wordmark.”
Best of Home, Shopping, & Other Markets
Sustainability Starts Young
Jones Knowles Ritchie
If you want the next generation to be a lot more sustainable, it helps to start them young.
Looks like JKR got the message.
Reel makes tree-free toilet paper from fast-growing bamboo, as nearly 27,000 trees get cut down daily to make TP. The project started with a lemur—or in this case, Banji ,the bamboo lemur and the star of a kids’ book the agency created to teach kids about sustainability and pass along some good eco-friendly future habits. What’s more, every toilet paper roll is meant to be colored in, giving the wrapper a second life for parents trying to pottytrain their kids while they wait on the toilet. Or maybe while you’re trying to get dinner on the table? Either way, it’s tough to keep them busy.
Best of Brand Identity
Butter
CENTER
Wanting to be the Coca-Cola of cannabis is a pretty ambitious goal, but it’s also somewhat attainable, as no single weed brand has really taken the US by storm.
That might all change with Center’s design for Butter, our 2023 winner for Best Brand Identity.
“We believe cannabis makes people’s lives better and can create a better society. As regulations are changing in states around the country, we wanted to build the first mainstream, mass-market cannabis brand,” said Alex Center, founder of Center.
The branding aims for a spot somewhere between cannabis stereotypes and luxury. Center saw a landscape filled with local brands and cannabis presented as a wellness product or a sterile, minimalistic aesthetic. However, Butter’s identity is built on cannabis being something that enhances life and is social, as it positively impacts mental and physical wellness. Its consumption is commonplace at parties, concerts, or any other festive gathering, and it enhances our senses, making music, dancing, food, art—almost everything—better. It’s like life’s MSG in a lot of ways.
Best of Sustainability
Exponent
Bartlett Brands
We’re obviously huge fans of refill, and skincare brand Exponent gets it.
This year’s Best of Sustainability winner presents a gorgeous refill system designed by Bartlett Brands & Tomorrow Lab.
“Inspired by the ageless esthetician practice of mixing fresh formulations in an instant, we developed an elegant brand that blends modern-iconic cues with a dialed-in consumer experience that makes the daily routine anything-but-routine,” wrote Bartlett of Exponent’s packaging. “We designed a planet-friendly reusable package that doubles as a showpiece with 100% recyclable refills made of glass and aluminum.”
FOOD
Breads, Cereal Pasta
Dairy or Dairy Alternative
Spices, Oils, & Sauces
Fruit, Veg, Fish, Meat, Meat Alternative
Ready to Eat, Fast Food, Meal Kits
Confectionary Desserts and Sweet Snacks
Savory Snacks
Beverages
Water
Soft Drinks
Tea & Coffee
Functional Beverages
Beers, Ciders, & Malt
Low-Alcohol and No-Alcohol
Wine & Champagne
Clear Spirits
Dark Spirits
Health, Beauty, & Personal Care
Clothing & Fashion
Health Care
Body Care
Beauty & Cosmetics
Home, Shopping, & Other Markets
Household Maintenance & Home Improvement
E-Comm Packaging
Electronics, Office, E-Commerce, Entertainment
Baby, Kids, & Pets
Tobacco And Cannabis
2nd
PAX MINI, PAX PLUS and PAX ERA Package Design
pax: Marc Hohmann, Ned Hardy, Abby Lowenstein
Sustainable
Food
Beverage
Health, Body, & Beauty
Home, Shopping, & Other Markets
3rd
Ajax Ploosh – A trusted brand accelerating Zero Waste cleaning
Colgate – Palmolive
Visual Brand Identity Systems
Food Brand Identity Systems
Beverage Brand Identity Systems
1st
Sprite’s first Globally Unified Visual Identity
Turner Duckworth – London, San Francisco, New York
Health, Body, & Beauty
Home, Shopping & Other Markets
In-House
Student
2nd
Accord Bizarre by Jérôme di Marino
Lidia Jurado @telojuro.design Denise Szternberg @densz Bernardita Rodríguez @dobble_brand
