MILK VS WATER

MILK VS WATER

Kathryn Henderson / Self-Initiated Project 1 / www.kathendesign.com

MILK VS WATERThis self- initiated project started when I began to consider the price of milk to the price of water in comparison to the process behind the production of the items. Water seems to be mass marketed and packaged into a luxury desired brande product. The project aim is to explore milk in the current society with influence of bottled water.

THE BRIEFThe overall packaging of milk is very simple, mostly moulded translucent plastic in an array of pint sizes from 1 pint to 6 pint. All conveniently shaped to slot into the door of the conventional fridge. The graphic information on the actual bottle is very limited and commonly just say what milk it is such as semi skimmed with green type and a matching coloured lid.

Water is mass produced, mass marketed and mass branded, throughout the different markets and niches. Evian is a prime example - with their roller skating babies in Central Park with the tag line: Evian, live young. A human necessity product that people can get out of their household tapes has been carefully thought about and packaged into a luxury desired branded product.

I collected a few milk bottle labels to analyse the different graphics between them and the simple information they are communicating.Some even have adverting on for other products such as fairy.

ANALYSIS

From the labels I collected I drew over some of the information and graphics present. The labels use really simple language and tone of voice which matched the milk as being a necessity item.

TONE OF VOICE

silage + feed grass

cow

powdered/ baby/fl avored milk

milkman

tetra-pack

pasterised/packed

6 pint

milk lorry raw milk

milked

glass bottle1 pint2 pint4 pint

front door

leave empty bottle outside

distribution

cafe/ resturants

supermarkets corner shop

milk crate shelf

consumer

weekly shop

pop in for necessities

carrier bag/ bag for life

take home

fridge

cereal tea coffee

empty bottle empty glass bottle

recycling land fi ll

consume

silage + feed grass

cow

powdered/ baby/fl avored milk

milkman

tetra-pack

pasterised/packed

6 pint

milk lorry raw milk

milked

glass bottle1 pint2 pint4 pint

front door

leave empty bottle outside

distribution

cafe/ resturants

supermarkets corner shop

milk crate shelf

consumer

weekly shop

pop in for necessities

carrier bag/ bag for life

take home

fridge

cereal tea coffee

empty bottle empty glass bottle

recycling land fi ll

consume

silage + feed grass

cow

powdered/ baby/fl avored milk

milkman

tetra-pack

pasterised/packed

6 pint

milk lorry raw milk

milked

glass bottle1 pint2 pint4 pint

front door

leave empty bottle outside

distribution

cafe/ resturants

supermarkets corner shop

milk crate shelf

consumer

weekly shop

pop in for necessities

carrier bag/ bag for life

take home

fridge

cereal tea coffee

empty bottle empty glass bottle

recycling land fi ll

consume

silage + feed grass

cow

powdered/ baby/fl avored milk

milkman

tetra-pack

pasterised/packed

6 pint

milk lorry raw milk

milked

glass bottle1 pint2 pint4 pint

front door

leave empty bottle outside

distribution

cafe/ resturants

supermarkets corner shop

milk crate shelf

consumer

weekly shop

pop in for necessities

carrier bag/ bag for life

take home

fridge

cereal tea coffee

empty bottle empty glass bottle

recycling land fi ll

consumeI created this cycle to communicate the life cycle of milk and how it is used and distributed. I decided to focus on a few main points of the cycle for research. I looked mainly at the process of milking cows, the consumer experience and packaging.

THE CYCLE

I went to a dairy to take some pictures of the milking process in order to understand the beginning of the cycle and how much labour goes into getting milk produced.

RESEARCH

From researching into the process of milking I came up with a few initial ideas that came from the initial research of possible directions the project could go in.

INITIAL IDEAS

I also researched into the consumer experience to see if there was any link in being able to make consumers more aware of milk or to support local farms. I came up with some initial ideas for this too.

RESEARCH

After thinking about the consumer experience I came up with an idea so that consumers could mix and match the different types of milk to make up a normal 4 pint size so that consumers could have more choice.Also below an initial idea to maximise distribution onto supermarkets more using more of a geometric box like shape.On the following page shows a variety of different forms of products sold at the supermarket that could inspire some ideas of packaging.

INITIAL IDEAS

SUPERMARKET PACKAGING

I deconstructed a normal milk bottle to try and form a different more modern shaoe out of the material that people are used to. I think it defernitly looks different from the average milk bottle but maybe more like a detergent bottle.

DECONSTRUCTING A MILK BOTTLE

family semi-skimmed supermarket

45% 73% 93%

What catergory does your living situation fit into?

What type of milk do you usually buy?

Where do you usually buy your milk?

I ran an online survey about milk and the way people consume it and I got 40 responses. Out of the questions I have shown the most popular answers and the percentage. It is quite interesting to see the ones above 50% as they are as I thought may be the top answers.

weekly 4 pint a better price for farmer and

consumer

45% 43% 55%

How often do you buy milk? What size milk do you normally get?

Do you think there are any aspects of milk that could be improved?

SURVEY ANSWERS

Looking at the consumer experience I looked at the way we consume milk through rituals like making tea this is a break down of the process of making a cup of tea. I did this to inspire an idea of how we consume milk.

TEA RITUAL

From looking into the process of making a cup of tea and looking at other forms of products found at a supermarket I had inspiration from these liquitabs to make a milk liquitab made from edible plastic that dissolves in your tea when you puc it in. Almost like a drop of milk.

I made my first prototype of the milk tab shown in the top left corner. This prototype merged with the ritual of tea I designed and made a tea bag and milk pouch.

THE MAKING PROCESS

This is my first prototype of the tea bag and milk pouch which you would keep in the fridge. These would be aimed at more conference type situations then home use. The pouch is reminisce of the luxury tea bag packaging you get from famous tea companies.

FIRST PROTOTYPE

After discussing the milkdrop idea of it dissolving in your tea with some people, some were put off. So I went back to the drawing board to come up with something different. After doing some research into milk bottle designs I decided not to do the generic sizes but to come up with a more luxurious compact sized packaging for fresh milk. I wanted to try and communicate the milk drop through the shape of the packaging instead.

IDEA DEVELOPMENT

IMAGE FROM HIDDEN HEROS WEBSITE

After many prototypes of trying to communicate the milk drop throuh the design. I came up with this packaging based on a tetra-pak net. The idea was that when you squeeze the edges together the carton pops out and reveals the spout of where the milk comes out of. I thought this was successful packaging and it did what I intended it to do. However the graphics and labels gave no clue how to open it and the labels confused how you were meant to open it too.

SECOND PROTOTYPE

This is the shape of the carton without any of the labels and it being open. I think its a really beautiful shape and very simple and modern. I am going to take this shape further as inspiration to develop it into a final outcome.

DEVELOPMENT

This is the final prototype, I have used the simple shape as inspiration for the logo of the packaging. I have also used circles on the edges to evoke how to open it by squeezing it. I have stuck with the traditional colours of red, blue and green for the generic types of milk.

FINAL PROTOTYPE

This shows how the final prototype pops into shape. It starts a symetric pouch then squezz the edges and it turns into a mini tetra-pak carton and then squash it down again to the simple modern geometric shape.

FINAL PROTOTYPE

FINAL PROTOTYPE IN CONTEXT

I went to a semi luxurious tea-shop where they use loose leaf tea. I went there to photograph my prototypes in the kind of environment I would expect to find them in. A modern yet simple, cosy environment.

This shows the prototype in use in the tea shop with the user popping the carton open. It relates the experience back to the ritual of tea and making the experience a bit more luxurious away from the generic moulded plastic bottles in the supermarket.

FINAL PROTOTYPE IN USE

MILK VS WATERSelf-Initiated Project 1Kathryn HendersonBA (Hons) Graphic Product Innovation2011-2012www.kathendesign.comkathendesign@gmail.com07837135350