This was a winning live project for the Uganda based company Eco-Fuel Africa. It was another joint project with fellow student Justin Rodgers. The brief required us to create packaging for the company's charcoal briquettes. We decided to create a drawstring paper bag to contain the charcoal briquettes. This would allow for easy transportation as the bag could easily be placed over a shoulder or hang from a bicycle handle. The drawstring handles also allows for more display options in a retail situation - for example, they could hang vertically from hooks so the design is clearly visable. The design means the bag can easily be opened and closed to keep the messy charcoal briquettes contained before they are required for use. We also created a tag that would be attached to the string to give customers information about the great work Eco-Fuel Africa does, which will hopefully encourage them to buy the product again. This could also be written is various languages so it is only the tag which needs to be replaced rather than the whole package design.

We were absolutely delighted to find out that our design was selected and will be sold all over Africa. The founder of Eco-Fuel Africa, Sanga, wrote us a lovely poem to say thank you:

It Doesn’t Seem Enough

“You have touched our lives with your kindness;
We want to tell you "Thank you,"
But it doesn’t seem enough.
Words don’t seem sufficient--
"Blah, blah" and all that stuff.
Please know we have deep feelings
About your generous act. we
really appreciate you;
You guys are special, and that’s a fact!
Thank you, thank you so much”

The company do great work to help the local people in Uganda, especially by helping young girls get a better education. For more information about the excellent work they do, have a look at their website www.ecofuelafrica.com