Editor's note: With this issue, we welcome Robert Croft, a design industry veteran with a gift for seeing "what could be," and the ability to translate those ideas into workable, visual packaging concepts. His What if... columns will publish periodically in Shelf Impact!'s e-newsletter and in printed inserts of Shelf Impact! in Packaging World magazine.
The bathroom products aisle is full of products competing primarily on the basis of color and graphic design. The notion of a closure and a flat base on either the bottom or on the cap is a given. From a structural design standpoint, the competitive set focuses on soft, tactile materials, various material transparencies, and polymer fillers combined with an easy-to-squeeze shape and a supportive form language. The most innovative structural feature
Our concept in this issue addresses the following thought. What if a bathroom product chose to break out of the typical structural paradigms?
An obvious way to break out is to opt for an inverted package with no flat base. Part of the problem with bathroom products is the lack of storage space in the shower area. The idea of clipping the bottle to the wall in between uses, or using the package as a dispenser, has definite advantages.
Admittedly, the merchandising of such a design would have to be done with a tray to support the package, but this as been done before in many other categories.
Our concept (as depicted in the illustration) uses a sleek sculptural form to provide a platform for a shower gel product for men. The sculptural shape is suspended on a cradle that can be adhered to the bathroom wall. The cradle features a "limpet clamp" designed to appeal to the gadget-orientated male. The idea is similar to the clamp used for satellite navigation systems in automobiles.
With this new level of functionality, the design is immediately transported to the role of dispenser/appliance, and the "dumbbell"-shaped ergonomics provides a nonslip-grip area and an ownable aesthetic feature. Indeed, the standardization of such a feature could lead to a utility patent, aka, beachfront property in the package design world!
The cradle provides the ability to move "goop-in-a-bottle" products up to a convenient height and eliminate messy rings and cluttered bath space. Additionally, the system encourages repeat purchases and consumer buy-in to a system of personal-care packages that share the same revolutionary underpinnings.
This idea shows how designers can challenge traditional paradigms to arrive at a breakthrough solution. By challenging the notion that "all bottles need a flat base," several new and valuable functional features have been realized. Additionally, the introduction of the floating sculptural form provides a new and exciting element that could be leveraged with packaging graphics and advertising.
By Robert Croft, Managing Partner Swerve Inc.—Design For Brands
