Bad Design #75 - to spill or not to spill

Yes, more packaging, it never lets me down. Though, the issue here is not just bad packaging, it’s more about

bad choice of packaging for the situation.

I won’t even get into the sustainability issues surrounding these single use, disposable, landfill filling, not enough water to satisfy a chihuahua, water packets. No, I won’t do that.

Let’s look at the “design” issues instead. 

Now remember, design is not just the end product, design encompasses the entire ecosystem in which a product lives and dies. That is, everything from what materials it is made from, how it is manufactured, where it will be used, how it will be used, and where it goes to die..roughly speaking. We call this the

Product Life Cycle

In today’s article where focusing on the “where it will be used” stage of the cycle. One would think that this ‘stage’ of the design process would be important. For example, skis are great… on the snow, but utterly useless for bush walking.

So when deciding what packaging to use, designers need to think about the situation in which it will be used. Unfortunately designers do not always have the luxury of knowing every situation in which their product will be used. Thus there will be many times when a product does not match a situation, to wit, peel-off lids for liquid containers on-board an aeroplane. 

We know exactly what has happened here. These products, and their packaging, were never designed to be used on an aeroplane, on a wobbly table, while flying through turbulence, while sitting crammed in a tiny seat with absolutely no elbow room…No, these products were simply already available, and super cheap, which fit the budget…just right.

It’s very funny, I mean interesting, how airlines can spend millions of dollars on the design of their forks, but then not give two hoots about the milk or the water.

I get it, you spent all your design budget on the Business Class forks, so now there is no money left for a milk dispensing container that won’t spill milk all over me when the lid suddenly rips off while trying to open it carefully because it was never designed to used in this situation…

Grrrr, little milk container make Hulk angry!! 

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CitizenRod

CitizenRod, multipotentialite, renaissance man.

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