The Paperboard Packaging Alliance (PPA)’s 2025 Student Design Challenge is an annual competition in which university students apply their talent and design skills to innovate, creative approaches to paper-based packaging in response to real-world customer needs and marketing scenarios. The Paperboard Packaging Alliance (PPA) organizes this competition to foster awareness and appreciation of paperboard packaging with the next generation of packaging design decision-makers. 

Cal Poly submits entries every year from a quarter-long class projects developed in a partnership of two courses and three faculty advisors:

• ITP 408 Fiber-Based Packaging (Profs. Javier de la Fuente and Irene Carbonell)
• ART 437: Graphic Design III (Prof. Linh Dao)

Each year, cross-disciplinary teams identify competitive angles to solve unique industry and real world problems through original and sustainable packaging solutions. Student backgrounds included packaging, graphic design, food science, industrial technology, and business. These projects earned the right to participate in the global competition after receiving national awards in the United States.

This marks the fifth consecutive year that this collaboration between ART 437 and ITP 408 has produced at least a top-three award winner at this competition:

• 2021: Sweet Pea - Second Place
• 2022: Froot - Second Place
• 2023: Sun Ease - Second Place
• 2024: Lively Roots - Third Place
• 2025: PAWSH & Teef Story - TBD

 

PAWSH

Designers:

• Sophia Levin (Graphic Design '25)
• Brandon Schwartz (Graphic Design '25)
• Elizabeth Ridley (Graphic Design '25)
• Sonia Andrade
• Dominic Corrente

 

Teef Story

Designers:

• Jenni Martinez (Graphic Design '25)
• Mairi O’Toole (Graphic Design '25)
• Kevin Elliott (Graphic Design '25)
• Natalie Cheung
• Maya Lojo
• Hailey Groff