A new PET bottle concept
Popsop is running an article on a new, green Coke bottle concept by 18-year old designer Andrew Kim. We were intrigued by the design.
The design sports:
- an off-center cap, that is smaller and shallower
- pocket in recessed bottom to house the cap from the bottle below for distribution efficiency
- a square cross-section
- accordion collapsible
- renewable material
Pro’s
- Higher distribution efficiency through square cross-section plus the recessed bottom.
- off-center cap may improve pourability
- renewability
Con’s
- Can not make it work for high pressure applications, like Coke. Square cross-section and high-pressure fizzy drinks in the age of PET downgaging do not work. Square becomes mostly round under pressure. However, non-pressurized drinks (Fiji water is a great example) can be packed in square cross section bottles.
- Recessed bottoms with pocket for the cap below can cause interlocking and neck damage on the bottle below.
- Collapsibility is not possible as shown. This is why Evian spent millions of dollars, more than a decade ago, to make its bottles collapsible with special score patterns on them.
- Shallow cap is an issue with pressurized packages, as there are safety issues. For non-pressure applications, leakage can be an issue, if there is an insufficient amount of threading on the cap. Shallow cap height is typically a huge package usability issue. They are difficult to open, especially as shown, without knurls.
Conclusion
We are sorry to rain on the young designer’s parade, but in order to design a good package, you first need to address fundamentals. This looks great as a first pass concept early in the second circle of the EthnoSync C●C™ Model that we use. At that phase, we normally do not worry about technical feasibility. Through reiterative improvements, many of the strong design elements can be used.
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