Development of New Easy to Open Cheese Packaging for Elderly in Sweden - A Design Thinking Approach

Abstract: Changing demographics in most of western society bring a range of new demands in the field of food and more specifically in food packaging. The need for convenience is one of the biggest drivers behind many innovations over the past decades. Current trends involve psychological convenience on environmental aspects, as well as ease of opening. Easy to open packaging is desirable because consumers want hassle-free access to the product. Cheese can be considered as a staple in the Swedish market. A consumer study conducted as part of this project shows the difficulties elderly people have in opening of current packaging of cheese products. That highlights the need to develop a new innovative and convenient packaging solution for cheese products. The new packaging solution is a modification of current cheese packaging, by integrating PopPack® technology. This technology involves a bubble compartment in the packaging that will break the seal as it is popped, providing the tabs that consumer can hold as a grip while opening the package. The nature of this study is an exploratory phase of a development project with use of design thinking approach. Design thinking makes human aspects as its main focus, makes it suitable for this project in order to base its early stage on the consumer needs. Investigations carried out to learn the impact that different bubble shapes have on the performance of the solution. The results of this work suggest the best performing bubble shape (among the tested three, which are generated from the ideation session) along with the best top/bottom web materials combination. Also some assessment of the compatibility of design thinking approach in such project.