Packaging design for bicycle helmets Edwin van der Sar Foundation

We didn’t take long to decide when the Edwin van der Sar Foundation approached us for a special packaging design.
The Foundation offers all children in the first two years of primary school a bicycle helmet. Together with the ANWB [Royal Dutch Touring Club], they are striving to improve safety when cycling to school and reduce the number of traffic accident victims with head and brain injuries.

Offering them is great, but how do you promote wearing a bicycle helmet among young children? They form a critical target group because young children decide within seconds whether they like something or not. The packaging forms an unconscious important part of that first impression. What a great challenge for our design team!

Starting points of packaging design
We took a number of points into account in the design.
Children are curious. With a partially open design, we rouse their curiosity. The packaging is easy for small hands to open because when you are ‘given’ something, you want to be able to open it immediately yourself.
Children are the future, and for them we must take care of our planet. The entire design therefore consists of recyclable cardboard, is easy to fold ‘flat’ and can be put in the recycle paper container.

From design to smart implementation
At an early stage our designers contacted the manufacturers. In this case there was an immediate connection with the packaging experts at Topa Verpakkingen. The valuable contribution from their knowledge experts made the result smarter and faster to implement.

And next…
Once the primary schools open again after the summer holidays, the ANWB starts taking action. The ANWB provides information for the schools with its Streetwise programme.
In it, there is a major focus on stimulating helmet use. Children talk about the helmet, and then they all receive one afterwards. They can personalise their helmet with their own favourite skin. In this way, each child has their own personal, unique helmet.