The innovative four-year Great Northern Collaboration Experience kicked off with the 2021 fall semester at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. The collaborative course was co-developed by Great Northern and UW-Stout instructors. Great Northern produces packaging and merchandising displays for CPG and retail customers.
“The Collaborative Experience is a multidisciplinary design and packaging class that replicates the way we work with our customers on design projects,” says Great Northern CEO John Davis. “The students will learn that teamwork and problem-solving skills are critical in any collaborative effort and that these skills are highly valued by employers. I can’t imagine a better learning environment in which to bring two disciplines together to simulate the real-world challenges of creative problem solving.”
Great Northern employs 30 UW-Stout alumni and has provided funding for the collaborative course, which supports the co-teaching model and course development including objectives and outline, evaluation methodology, registration criteria and promotion.
UW-Stout Chancellor Katherine Frank met with Davis at Great Northern’s headquarters in Appleton to discuss the experience. “Our relationship with Great Northern and ability to design a curriculum in collaboration with our industry and business partners are intended to best prepare our students for what they will encounter in their professional lives and make them most competitive in the job market and exemplify what is distinct about a UW-Stout education,” Frank says. “We are incredibly thankful to Great Northern for their generosity and ongoing support of students, faculty and the UW-Stout learning experience.”
This past fall, six teams of packaging and graphic design students were tasked with creating new sustainable packaging for Reckitt, a Great Northern customer that makes Air Wick plug-in scented oils and diffusers. When the fall semester wrapped up, the students presented their final projects to the class and industry professionals.
Attending the presentations were Great Northern Structural Design Manager Kris Johnson, Graphic Design Manager Sarah Murawski, and eight other Great Northern and Reckitt representatives. “I was impressed with the diversity of packaging concepts developed,” Johnson says. “The students’ efforts into this project were impressive and ultimately what made this class a success. They are leaving with an experience they can draw from throughout their careers.”
The teams learned to look ahead in the design process, especially in short timelines. “We didn’t have time to backtrack or address problems,” says Lance Anderson, a packaging design student. “The tight timeline forced us to think ahead and confirm that our ideas would be sufficient for the next steps of our design process.”
When asked what the most significant benefit of this class was, Anderson said, “Having experienced professors from both majors, along with the personnel from Reckitt and Great Northern, really made for a massive number of resources to learn about careers in both fields and to see how they intermingle and depend on each other throughout the design process.”
The students’ final packaging designs were printed at Great Northern. Johnson and Murawski say the course exceeded their expectations, as the students worked together to develop a sustainable solution to a real-world packaging challenge. “I learned so much and was energized by the students’ work,” Murawski says.
Company: Great Northern Corp.
Innovation: The Great Northern Collaboration Experience at the UW-Stout
Website: greatnorthernpackaging.com
