The archive · Design & Visual · Product decision · 2025
AEG's new packaging system makes plain brown cardboard premium and cuts printing ink 60%
BVD Stockholm and Electrolux Design turned AEG's brown cardboard into premium shelf design - bold product silhouettes, 60% less ink, fully recyclable.
AEG · BVD Stockholm
What it had to solve
AEG, the Electrolux Group appliance brand, wanted a new packaging system that was more sustainable yet still attracted its target audience and maximized visibility in a very busy retail environment. The design had to reconcile two pressures that usually pull apart: less environmental impact and stronger shelf presence.
How it works
AEG, the Electrolux Group appliance brand, wanted a new packaging system that was more sustainable yet still attracted its target audience and maximized visibility in a very busy retail environment. The design had to reconcile two pressures that usually pull apart: less environmental impact and stronger shelf presence.
BVD Stockholm and Electrolux Design answered by working with the box instead of against it. Simple brown cardboard was turned into premium, aspirational design: bold graphic silhouettes highlight the structural design of the products, AEG's iconic logo takes centre stage, and product-specific labels minimize overproduction.
The system cut printing ink by 60%, and removing coatings and laminations made the packaging fully recyclable. D&AD kept the work in its Packaging Design archive, crediting BVD Stockholm and Electrolux Design with client Electrolux Group.
Why it lands
- A silhouette of the product on plain cardboard turns the box into a display of the object inside, so premium comes from the product's own form rather than from printed gloss.
- One product-specific label replaces traditionally printed cartons, which means a single packaging solution can serve a whole product series and overproduction falls with it.
- Removing coatings and laminations takes the pack to fully recyclable without sacrificing the design, so the sustainability claim is structural rather than rhetorical.
- Bold graphics and the iconic logo keep brown cardboard visible in busy retail, solving the two halves of the brief at once.
What it did
The system cut printing ink by 60%, and removing coatings and laminations made the packaging fully recyclable. D&AD kept the work in its Packaging Design archive, crediting BVD Stockholm and Electrolux Design with client Electrolux Group.
What you can take
Sustainability can look premium: silhouette graphics and one product-specific label replaced heavy printing, cutting ink 60%, keeping packs recyclable, and letting brown cardboard carry the brand.
Since then
D&AD keeps the AEG packaging system in its awards archive under Packaging Design, crediting BVD Stockholm and Electrolux Design as entrants and Electrolux Group as client. The archive page records no sales figures; the documented outcomes are the 60% reduction in printing ink and packaging made fully recyclable by removing coatings and laminations.
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