FRANCONIAN COOLNESS - Packaging design with added value

A completely new and waterproof coating for application using flexo coating unit was presented by WEILBURGER Graphics GmbH, an international coating, flexo inks and adhesive manufacturer based out of Gerhardshofen in Germany. To demonstrate the properties of this coating, the company designed and made a special drink cooler to be used with bottles from the Loscher Brewery GmbH & Co. in the nearby town of Münchsteinach. This folded carton packaging made from 4 pieces comes equipped with a cooling tray and can take up to 500 g of crushed ice or cold water. To optimize the cooling the box was designed in a way that a removable cover achieves a long lasting, continuously hermetic cooling chamber in which two 330 ml bottles from the drink family of Loscher Brewery are contained, namely CLUB MATE and CLUB MATE COLA.

This demo cooler was produced together with the Martin Spiegel GmbH Carton Factory, whom leaded in an exemplary way the construction, printing and finishing, as well as the graphic decorating company RIEKER GmbH + Co. KG, who was responsible for the screen-printing finishing.

This demo cooler was produced together with the Martin Spiegel GmbH Carton Factory, whom leaded in an exemplary way the construction, printing and finishing, as well as the graphic decorating company RIEKER GmbH + Co. KG, who was responsible for the screen-printing finishing.

The main body of the box, made by a bottom and a cover, was made out of 340 g/m² MetsäBoard Classic FBB, while the special cooling tray, as well as the compartment separator for easy fill up was made with the new MetsäBoard Prime FBB EB in 265 g/m².

The offset printing was made with the two pieces of the main body using 5/0 colors in Euro Scale 4 colors plus a special Pantone® 288 C. In terms of coatings, the external part was fully covered with SENOSOFT^® WB MATT COATING FP NDC 350210 and the inner part with the new SENOLITH^® WB BARRIER COATING 350025 as splash protection. In an offline process a screen-printing finishing was applied to both pieces. On one pass a high gloss SENOSCREEN^® UV ANTI-SLIP LACQUER 363055 to optically stand out the letters and bottle motives around the box and on another pass a SENOSCREEN^® UV RELIEF LACQUER WATER DROPLETS 363056 to create an optic and haptic contrast with the previously applied SENOSOFT^® WB MATT COATING FP NDC 350210.

The two cardboard pieces for the tray and the separator were printed in the same color scheme using offset 5/5 and coating. In terms of coating, the exterior was coated using SENOLITH^® WB GLOSS COATING FP DC 350179 and the interior with the new SENOLITH^® WB BARRIER COATING 350025.

While the cover and the bottom of the cooler main body are made in a way that they can be put together without gluing, the tray, which does not have any edges on the inner side so as to waterproof to the highest possible extent, is glued on the outside with a special gluing machine for food packaging. This is mainly done to avoid errors while putting the tray together.

The thus conceived cooler achieves in laboratory tests water and ice-filled times of over a week without soddening.

The FRANCONIAN COOLNESS Augmented Reality App

We have also developed another app. This is an augmented reality app specifically for the FRANCONIAN COOLNESS drink cooler, which was launched in November last year. The purpose of this app is to familiarise the user in a playful way with the functions and effects of the demo packaging through the use of the new waterproof SENOLITH^® WB BARRIER COATING FP DC 350025 as well as other SENOLITH^® WB, SENOSOFT^® WB and SENOSCREEN^® UV protective and finishing coatings used in this project. The app is designed to work both with and without the sample box. If the user has the original sample box, he can scan it with his camera in the first variant and can call up multimedia information as well as instructions and tutorials in German and English about the project. If the user is not in possession of the beverage cooler, the app guides them to simply project a virtual version of the box into their environment and they can then explore this fully animated 3D version of the beverage cooler in the same way as they would with the first version. The app is currently available for iOS for use on iPhones, iPads and iPods and can be obtained free of charge from the App Store.

Link to the app:

https://apps.apple.com/de/app/franconian-coolness-ar-app/id1541136861

The whiteboard video for the project

We have also produced another explainer film about the project.