Catch the recorded sessions of the Pentawards Spring Festival 2023 if you missed it and hear from our packaging design experts as they explore the theme of how design can be used for positive change

For the Pentawards Spring Festival 2023 held on 23 March, leading packaging design experts shared their views on designing for positive change promoting sustainability, inclusivity, and smart technology while highlighting societal issues and opportunities for designers to make a difference in consumers' lives.

Design for positive change: How brands can make a difference

Lee is a creative leader with over 20 years of international experience, working across the UK, USA, Australia and Asia. He is part of Reckitt, leading brand experience for consumers, and helping to shape a world-class internal function with a focus on innovation via design.

He shares his perspective on how brands can make a difference touching on three important elements: sustainability, social impact and innovation. He talks about how brands have a significant impact on the world we live in and discusses solutions to how we can challenge the status quo and create a better future.

"We are seeing a lot of brands working in partnership with each other to repurpose things such as waste into new and incredible things."

The beauty in purposeful design

Lara Kerbaj is Lebanese, born in Australia and is passionate about working with diverse teams and developing talent to unleash their potential and bring disruptive innovations and communications to life with experience in development, innovation management, and building brands across the globe.

Lara's online session explores the concept of a purposeful design through engaging discussions and examples, providing insight into the significance of balancing beauty and purpose to enhance user experience and tackle the needs of a more diverse audience.

“Design is about being clear about who you are and what you stand for - both as an organisation or as an individual.”

From trying to cope to full of hope

Johanna is CEO at Pond Design, a Stockholm School of Economics alumni and a former Bocconi University student. She has the ability to look at packaging design and brand strategy from both a business perspective as well as the creative sides of it – working hands-on when developing Pond’s award-winning designs.

Johanna shares her perspective on how design can be used as a positive driver in chaotic modern times and the benefits of dopamine-filled and inclusive design thinking while using it as a catalyst for change.

“Consumers choose brands that feel more positive, permissive, progressive and simply fun acting as a counterweight to the dark times we are experiencing”

Making purpose beautiful & less mean more

Design Director Jennie Potts is passionate about driving diversity within the industry. At B&B, she manages the internship programme and regularly mentors and trains the next generation through partnerships with Creative Lives and university design departments.

Jennie shares that the power of creativity means that ethics and sustainability do not need to come at the expense of beauty. In this talk, Jennie Potts shares examples of brand design that wins hearts through desire, and then minds through purpose and sustainability.

For more exciting news, the Pentawards Festival 2023 is back on November 9 at the Science Museum in London with an incredible line-up of speakers unpacking the theme, ‘Design with Purpose’.

Join our waiting list to be the first to know when tickets go online.