According to the WHO, every year millions of children suffer from diarrhoea and abdominal pain caused by food poisoning. Among them, unfortunately, 96,000 children die having drunk spoiled milk. Children can drink spoilt milk without realising it or without noticing the expiry date, which they may not yet be able to read or simply because the label was difficult to read. This smart milk packaging solves the dilemma by using colours that can change over time: at the beginning, the word “Milk” on the packaging is clearly visible in a uniform colour. Over time, however, part of the blue surface of the letters changes, so that the word “Milk” gradually becomes “ill” as the expiry date approaches. Finally, after ten days, it is easy to see that the blue colour has completely dissolved from the individual letters to leave only a clearly visible “ill”. This means that the expiry date has passed – the milk is bad and should be disposed of. Even children notice this change of name and can thus recognise that they should no longer drink the milk.
Statement by the Jury
The idea of this packaging design is downright impressive. It uses the factor of time, which causes dairy products to go bad, and turns it into a visual indicator. The way the lettering “Milk” turns into “ill” over the course of a few days is well thought out and implemented – a feature that can successfully help children, even if they cannot yet read, to recognise when milk has literally gone bad.
Credits
University:
Dongseo University, Busan, South Korea
Supervising Professor:
Mikyeong Moon, Dosang Ryu
Design:
Yeongjun Lee, Seoyoung Lee, Eunbyeol Ha, Dongha Jo, Junhyeok Park, Dongseo University
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