Want Change? Soda They: 2 Cool Coke Container Concepts

Beverage cans and bottles seem to have found their sweet design spot: no major changes have taken place to can design since the early 1960s, and bottles are pretty straightforward. Even though their cylindrical design is a bit of a pain, and even though they roll around when on their sides and take up an odd area in the fridge, we don’t think much about them. Luckily for us, some designers are working to improve the soda can and bottle designs to rid the world of the annoying quirks of the current standards.

This harlequin-like design comes from Dmitry Samal and addresses at least one of the most annoying problems with traditional cans: the multiple flat surfaces prevent the cans from rolling around. But the diamond design and simple colors also add some visual interest to an item that most of us overlook every day. Samal says that the cans would be produced using the process of impact extrusion, where an aluminum slug is slammed forcefully into a mold to create the unusual shape. For such stylish cans, though, would we end up paying more for our daily Diet Vanilla Coke?

If you prefer your drinks encased in plastic bottles, you might be familiar with the guilty feeling that sometimes accompanies buying the Earth-unfriendly beverage vessels. Designer Andrew Seunghyun Kim has come up with a soda bottle that is markedly more environmentally friendly than the plastic bottles we currently use. Its square shape is the most noticeable attribute, and that will help bottles stack more efficiently in shipping vehicles, stores and home fridges. The bottles themselves are made of 100% sugar cane byproducts, while the caps are 25% slimmer than the current plastic caps. The whole production process causes less waste, and when you’re done with the bottle it collapses to a size 66% smaller than its original size. The designer hopes its collapsibility – and resulting ease of transport – will encourage consumers to recycle the bottles.

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See more in Industrial Design or under Technology. March, 2010.