All Wet : Sometimes, “Design” makes it worse.

Although I like using re-usable water bottles as much as possible, there are times when I reach for the landfill-clogging plastic water bottles like everyone else.  Convenience is my middle name…

Anywhoo…

I point out one of the worst-designed packaging applications I have come across in many years: The Arrowhead 700 mL Sport Bottle.  I have been drinking this particular brand of bottled water for years.  It is sold at Costco.  Maybe a year or so ago, the company re-designed the cap for the flip-top spout.  And failed.

[click on photo to see larger image]

When you have to supply opening directions for a water bottle, that should tell you something about the industrial design of the package.  The newer design, maybe in an attempt to reduce the cost of a detachable, plastic pop-top cap that used to be part of the old design, now requires the user to pull a tiny (at least for my fingers) tab that breaks  a seal which allows the cap to tear away from the spout and hang, attached, out of the way.

The problem is, this is a random event.  Sometimes the pull tab works and other times, it simply shears off mid pull, creating a situation where the flip-top device can NOT be opened without the aid of either pliers, or both thumbs pushing incredibly hard at a lateral angle of force.  This usually results in an instantaneous bursting open of the seam, ejecting water in every direction.

Directions for us idiots... Don't let the kid eat the bottle. Say goodbye to your fingernails. Enjoy.

Bottom line: Whenever I take a bottle of this particular brand of water and begin the process of opening it, there is always that small moment of dread and concern that it may or may not be a successful operation.  And that, to me, is a design failure.

What would be a more effective packaging strategy?  Maybe a cap, like before, that would pop off with minimal force but still be connected to the ring of the spout so as to eliminate the extra “litter device” of a separate cap?  Or, a larger pull tab with a greater cross-section of material that would maintain its structural integrity?

Probably the best bet? Give up on the plastic bottles entirely.  However, that leads to another post on bad design; have you seen the selection of re-usable water bottles available on the market lately? Aside from the overly cheesy design graphics, most of them have a terrible ergonomic feel as well as their own cap/sealing failures.  A lot of the expensive, aluminum bottles with small-diameter openings at the top have leaky lids…

I digress.  The world is full of crappy design.  I could post lots and lots of examples.  Maybe I should…