Student Spotlight: Next Generation Coke Packaging

 

A very cool concept from industrial design student Andrew Kim. Not only is the simplified branding fantastic, the square bottle is beautiful, and a smart use of space. Not sure if it is manufacturable, but a great idea and design nonetheless. Many more images after the jump, including some of his original sketches for the design.

 

Comments

[mr no]

This is for gasoline?

[Juan Manuel Fonseca Zas]

great proyect!!! excellent idea and development.

[Eak]

Plant-based plastic has an incredibly low gas barrier property.It's not gonna 'hold' Carbon Dioxide in your drinks. Consumer will get only water, sugar and color. No fizzing.

You'll have to use multilayer material (plant-based plastic + barrier layer). Then, please don't claim your bottles are 100% plant-based plastic.

[John]

have you seen the way coke bottles look before they become coke bottles? they're really small test tubes that they blow up to become the shapes you see in the store. they do that so they can ship the tubes easier. i dont know if you can do that with yours, blow them up to become almost rectangular. you might, but just a tidbit that got me thinking from your design.

[Cuong]

Conceptually, it will be one marketing campaign to try and move to this new bottle shape for Coke. The brand's image is tied to the "classic coke bottle." and to break away from that mold, pun in tended, will be a challenge.

Production will be a challenge too, since different plastics have different mold blowing process.

Non the less, very cool concept.

[Ali]

It feels like design for the sake of design. It is ergonomically incorrect, hideous and unneeded inventions. It gives the impression as you are drinking motor oil instead of coke.

[supersquish]

i love gasoline coke

[Ash]

I'm surprised at the negativity towards this project. It's a great concept that is smart enough to take the whole lifeline of the product into consideration, rather than just when a person is touching it.

Yeah, it looks different, but hundreds of years ago we were drinking out of heavy glass jugs...

[diego]

how can a project have so many negatives comments and 4.25/5 ? maybe the helvetica bold and the gradients in the visuals

[Ali]

To all the daydreamers and positive thinkers,This is not new idea, there are bottles out there of square-shaped. It is a crossover between tetrapak and a bottle. As far as the off-centred spout is the matter, it is also already done and someone is working on to get the patent. Round-shaped bottles have more human / ergonomic feel if compared to the square-carton shaped ones.This idea is equally as disastrous as Pepsi if pursued.

[imsilentfish]

I don't think the offset cap would be for better drinkability. You have to hold the bottle in the right direction in order to realize the so-called better drinkability.

[Betty]

NO-THANK YOU!!! A complete and utter turn off for drinking from. Yes, it does feels like drinking from a can of car oil. A visual dissaster and it couldn't be less appealing for containing anything edible. Design for design and designer sake - not a solution. The industries of Architecture and Package Design and other Design are SERVICE industries. If you want to be an artist, be one. If you want to design packaging, don't forfeit the package purpose. Same for architecture. Betty

[Mete]

Guys, it's a student project. Keep in mind that it's totally conceptual. The whole idea of these things is for young designers to discover possibilities, what works and what doesn't.

If we could pull one aspect from this design and apply it to real life, maybe it could work. For example, I like how the bottle collapses like a piano accordion, that could be applied to the current bottle shape and save a lot of room. A genuine possibility.

[b]

make up your mind... it can be either recyclable OR made of 100% plant based biodegradable material. NOT BOTH!

[jx]

Nice coloring and layout. I love the color combination and formation of each object. This is the best among the student presentations I've ever seen. Nice idea as well.

[taciturnforsale]

You obviously thought out the idea very well. Nonetheless I don't think Coke would budge and inch till they financially had to. They did research which showed people recognized and preferred Coke over other companies because of a mental connection to the current shape. As your first picture pointed out it doesn't mean there aren't many other companies out there, which could be interest. Great job chief.

[I think I know]

Previewing your Comment



I think I knowLet's look at it this way, there are reasons why milk is sold in square cartons and bottles the way they are now. Answer that and you will know why this is not feasible.

Also, not to mention that I could do the same with the current bottles using this concept when it comes to shipping them out. Think along the lines of filling in the gaps between these bottles in a container.

BUT nonetheless, this is a cool idea! Good to see students at work!

Just my 2 cents conjured from thin air. Enjoy :)

[Neil]

Analyzing this design from a blown PET perspective, you can blow them into rectangles (look at Lenor fabric conditioner). Obviously, the sharper the corners the more plastic you will have to pack behind them to prevent weak points.

My suggestion would be to centralise the neck to assist blowing conditions, asymmetric bottles are possible but tend to have uneven weight distribution - unless you customise the preform (or test tube as its been refered to here). You could still then incorporate the push up in the base. You wouldn't have to orientate on the line then.

Having said that I do like the design. The graphics are good. Maybe this is more suitable for a brand that relies less on an iconic silhouette.

Great to see students producing well thought out work.

[James]

This looks horrible

[hey]

some people might have to buy new fridges for these, like gas stations.

[Al]

Nice design, saves up space and seems to be earth friendly. I just don't know how people would react to the changes.

[What is]

While the design is sleek and modern. I'd say from a practicality standpoint, it's not a great alternative to the current design, and certainly not a better one. There is a reason why bottles are primarily cylindrical in shape - for your hands to wrap around it and to pour into your mouth. After so many years of product design in the history of the world, I think someone somewhere must have considered designing a square drink before, and that idea obviously took a back seat to the cylindrical shape. Of course, we have square drinks today - milk cartons being the primary example. But I would have to say that cylindrical bottles are more hand-friendly than square bottles.

As to the consideration of the stack-ability of the bottles. While it is a smart and noble idea, I'm not sure how feasible it is. I assume the stack-ability proposal is to save space. But while saving space, what are we giving up here? Ease of access. I'd say the wholesale shipment would come in a single huge bulks where all the bottles are connected/stacked, which would really require a fork lift. Who has seen a simple grocery store with a fork lift? How is this huge bulk further broken down to be delivered to small grocery stores? If broken down, wouldn't that add in an added step of labor in the process because of its stack-able design? And after it is within the store and in the display fridge, who here wants to lift 3 bottles up in order to access that 4th bottle that you want because its cap is caught inside the bottom of the bottle above?

[Morgan]

Though I doubt this design will be picked up, or the actual stacking ability useful, Japan actually uses square bottles so that they fit in refrigerator side doors easier.

Its a good idea as a concept.

[April Holle]

I think there's a bit of design snobbery going on around here. I think this is an AMAZING result from a freshman design student. Sure there are some things that could be addressed, but as far as well thought out project by an upcoming design student I'm REALLY impressed.

There is a lot of thought put into this project and I think that with three more years of school to go and then some real world know-how this kid could have many of you in awe once his designs really start hitting production lines. :)

[Greg V]

This is a very cool idea, but the structural strength of the bottle is important when considering palletization. These bottles would not be able to support much weight due to the accordion collapsable design. Also, based on the way PET bottles are actually manufactured, this could be difficult to implement. Typically the neck is going to need to be centered for PET bottles in order to ensure uniform wall thickness.

Regardless of those technical shortcomings, the idea is quite good.