SPIN TAB
SPINTAB is a simple but effective solution to identify one’s drink when multiple people are enjoying a beverage with the same packaging. Each beverage can has a color ring painted on its top. Once the drink is opened, user spins the tab to the favorite color to differentiate the drink from others. In addition, the color ring solution can be extended to many other illustration sets, such as mood icons, rival team logos, sports, nations, etc.
JURY COMMENTS
SPIN TAB
1. The Nutshell: In plain language, tell us what your project is, what it does, and what it’s comprised of.SPINTAB is a simple but effective solution to identify one’s own drink when people are having the beverage with same packaging. Each beverage can has a color ring painted on its top. Once open the drink, user spins the tab to the favorite color to differentiate the drink from others. The selected color can be seen through the hole of the tab. In addition, the color ring solution can be extended to many other illustration sets, such as mood icons, rival team logos, sports, nations and etc.2. The Brief: Summarize the problem you set out to solve. What was the context for the project, and what was the challenge posed to you?It is a common issue that when a group of people are having same or similar drinks in bars, parties or games, each person tend to confuse their own drink with others due to the same packaging. While having the drink that doesn't belong to you could be embarrassing, people could also take potential health risk when exchanging beverages by mistake.3. The Intent: What point of view did you bring to the project, and were there additional criteria that you added to the brief?Instead of reinventing the whole packaging, we decided to make a small improvement based on the current common aluminum can. By doing this, our solution could easily adapt itself into the existing commercial environment, and we also hope it will bring more fun to drinking experience.4. The Process: Describe the rigor that informed your project. (Research, ethnography, subject matter experts, materials exploration, technology, iteration, testing, etc., as applicable.) What stakeholder interests did you consider? (Audience, business, organization, labor, manufacturing, distribution, etc., as applicable)Under the principle of "simple improvement(s) based on current packaging", we observed various things people did to their beverages besides drinking. Some would make a dent on the cans with teeth or hand, and some tear the the paper cup a little bit. We found a lot of interesting behaviors, but the most important finding comes during a flight from Seattle to Chicago. Eric (Zhongren Zhang, our lead designer) noticed that the gentleman sits next to him turns the tab to one side every time when he opens a beer can. He immediately realized that it's the solution that we have been looking for. We then designed various patterns painted on the top of the beverage can which people can see through the tab hole. This is the story of SPIN TAB: keen observation and a little luck.5. The Value: How does your project earn its keep in the world? What is its value? What is its impact? (Social, educational, economic, paradigm-shifting, sustainable, environmental, cultural, gladdening, etc.)First, SPIN TAB solved a very common issue: mis-recognizing one's own drink, which exists in almost all cultures. Based on our tests, users(even kids) instantly realize its function by turning the tab toward their favorite color, sport, team or mood when they see the painted illustration on the top of the can. While "customization" has become a most popular topic in all consumer industries, a simple beverage now could also be "customized" in such an intuitive way. In addition, it reduces the health threat by mistakenly exchanging drinks. With all benefits mentioned above, this packaging could also stimulate beverage sales if the illustrations appropriately fit the product's commercial background.
Innovative, intelligent