Transforming an Information Vessel - Modifying Characteristics and Perceptions

Final Report

Joshua Kitlas Transforming an Information Vessel

The presentation and delivery of information on a product says as much about the product and its uses as it does about the manufacturer. In this study, I have reconstructed product information, including packaging, to tell a new story about the product and manufacturer, giving it a fresh perception.

Transforming an Information Vessel

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

OVERVIEW ................................................................................................................. 2

Problem ............................................................................................................................ 2

Why ................................................................................................................................... 3

I’ll Tell You Why ................................................................................................................. 4

INTERVENTION ........................................................................................................... 5

The Transformation .......................................................................................................... 5

CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................. 7

APPENDIX .................................................................................................................. 8

Package Design ................................................................................................................. 9

Prototypes ...................................................................................................................... 10

Spatial Calculations ......................................................................................................... 11

Package Information Identification ................................................................................ 12

PRESENTATION .......................................................................................................... 13

Storyboard Scraps ........................................................................................................... 14

Slides ............................................................................................................................... 17

BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................................... 23

Final Report

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M O D I F Y I N G C H A R A C T E R I S T I C S A N D P E R C E P T I O N

OVERVIEW

Problem

I was flat-out shocked.

I had just purchased a product; Ayr Saline Nasal Gel with Aloe Vera

manufactured by BF Ascher (B.F. Ascher, 2011), had opened it, and was

looking into the package. Of the entire volume of the secondary packaging

(the actual tube of saline gel being defined as the primary packaging), there

was clearly more than 50% of it that was unused. What immediately affected

me was the extent to which this was so poorly designed and wasteful.

50% of anything is significant.

50% of a computer will not work on its own, 50% of electricity will not power

your house, 50% of eyeglasses will not help you see, and throwing out 50%

of dinner will leave you unsatisfied (and disturbed that you wasted so much).

After some calculations it turned out that there was closer to 60% (see Appendix: Spatial Calculations),

of the packaging vessel that was unused. Therefore, 60% of the packaging going unused is even more

significant. Theoretically, reducing the amount of unused space could amount to considerably less:

ink used in the printing process

paper used to print the packaging information on

glue to seal the packaging

boxes to ship the product in

space on the truck, train, or plane to transport the boxes of the product


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fuel used by the truck, train, or plane

and so on……

This was an information problem of the highest order. The information system (the box with all of the

printed information) failed to impress me (the user) in how it failed to successfully delivered product

and brand information. I perceived the company to be completely out of touch with their customer,

world events, and marketing methods. I swear I heard Lester and Kohler screaming in my ear about

perceptions of information. (Lester & Kohler, Jr., 2007, pp. 24-26)

Why

Surely, there had to be some kind of rationale behind this design. They would not just make this

package larger than it needed to be just to do it. This drove me nuts. There were so many factors to

consider.

Were there government regulations about this sort

of thing?

Were there any industry best practices?

What does BF Ascher require to be on the

packaging of the Ayr Saline Nasal Gel packaging?

What does the Federal government require there

to be on the packaging of the Ayr Saline Nasal Gel

packaging?

Are there any Federal regulatory bodies BF Ascher

has to report to on the packaging design of the

product?

Is there an organization that defines best practices for packaging design?

What defines the shape of the package?

Why is there a significant section of the packaging that is just ‘air’? To protect the product?

Did the distributors have requirements that need to be met?

Did the retailers have specifications for products and packaging relative to their distribution

centers or in-store shelving systems?

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I’ll Tell You Why

In setting out to answer these questions, I identified several parties to contact:

The manufacturer

Government agencies

Regulatory agencies, and

Trade associations

I started contacting the manufacturer on April 6 2011 and initially my conversations yielded results

(Casey, 2011). Unfortunately, these results were short lived. After multiple attempts at reestablishing

communication with the manufacturer, I ceased the effort. I have yet to receive any communication

from the manufacturer at this writing. I was hoping to have a strong dialogue with BF Ascher and

eventually get the opportunity to share my findings with them.

That did not happen.

My conversations with government, regulatory and trade

associations proved more fruitful. There really was not all

that much any of these organizations provided me that

ultimately influenced my design decisions, but their

comments certainly expanded my view of just how much

information goes into producing a safe consumer product.

The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM)

subcommittee for Consumer, Pharmaceutical, and Medical

Packaging provided me with valuable information regarding

specifics surrounding the secondary packaging. As it turns out, there are all kinds of regulations that

cover secondary packaging, none of which are very hard to comply with and are determined by “… the

size of the print, dosage, stuff like that” (De Jonge, 2011). However, these requirements are for

pharmaceuticals and not over-the-counter remedies.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission noted that they have no requirements for secondary

packaging. There is a Poison Prevention Packaging Act that requires certain products to be packaged in

child-resistant packaging, but in my case, this was not applicable. (U.S. Consumer Product Safety

Commission, 2011) They added that I might want to contact the Food Drug Administration, which I did

not do.

NO REGULATION HERE


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I also contacted ISO – the International Organization for Standardization – to see if there were any best

practices in packaging that manufacturers should abide by. As it turns out, ISO standards are voluntary.

ISO is a non-governmental organization and it has no power to enforce the implementation of the

standards it develops. A number of ISO standards - mainly those concerned with health, safety or the

environment - are adopted in some countries as part of their regulatory framework, or are referred to

in legislation for which they serve as the technical basis. However, such adoptions are sovereign

decisions by the regulatory authorities or governments of the countries concerned. ISO itself does not

regulate or legislate. Although voluntary, ISO standards may become a market requirement, as has

happened in the case of ISO 9000 quality management systems, or

ISO freight container dimensions. (Martinez, 2011)

My results were both helpful and frustrating. While I did not have

any specific federally mandated requirements on the secondary

packaging I was studying, I had no response from the manufacturer

and therefore no insight on their internal branding or packaging

requirements.

Intervention

The Transformation

Environmental motivators drove my requirements for the

intervention and transformation of the information vessel. I wanted

to take the bulky, hard to decipher, environmentally incorrect

vessel and make it an informative, ‘green’ and attractive object. I

wanted to make it very clear to consumers that BF Ascher was a

company that was committed to taking care of both their

customers and the environment. I was driven to design an updated

packaging model for their product that did not lose any of the

requirements necessary to effectively package, ship and promote

the product.

The biggest issue I had with the information system next to its

environmental shortfalls was that the box seemed to have

excessive amounts of information on it. So much so that it was hard to even find the directions on how

to use the product.

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In quantifying this assumption, I created

my own identification system of

information elements, as I had no

support from the manufacturer. After

some evaluation, I divided the data on

the carton into two sections:

branding/marketing and product

information.

As you might imagine, the

branding/marketing category contained

items like logos, web address, and

company address. The product

information category had items like

product facts, ingredients, lot number,

and expiration date.

After compiling this data, I elected to use

only one instance of each of the items in

the branding category. This reduced the

number of logos, product name

representations, and taglines. I kept

everything that I identified in the

product information category including UPC code, directions, and weight/size information.

The environmental aspect was an area where I thought the most improvement could be made in the

packaging. Using soy inks and recycled paperboard would really help to make BF Ascher stand out both

visually, and make a mark on the industry as a ‘green’ player. There is the physical information and the

perceived or unseen information. Using different materials would certainly help communicate the latter

in a positive way.

I came up with several models utilizing much of what Snyder wrote about in Chapter 4 of the ‘Paper

Prototyping’ book. (Snyder, 2003) I created cylinders, boxes, and pyramid-shaped packaging

prototypes. After several trials, I ultimately decided on using the pyramid. It had the least amount of

wasted space on the interior (see Appendix: Spatial Calculations), stood out among the standard box-


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shaped packages, could be shipped and stacked in a

manner similar to the original design so there would not

have to be any specialized display system.

I found that the inside of the vessel was information

barren and represented a great opportunity for the

manufacturer to add supplemental information. Whether

that information was about the company’s environmental

practices, medical tips and tricks or coupons, this area

would be great in getting corporate messages across.

The box was going to be smaller, so there may be some in-

store concerns with shoplifting. Utilizing RFID tags could

easily solve this. They are small and can be embedded in

the paper of the box. (Kageyama, 2007) I replaced the

UPC code with a QR code which can aid in high-speed

inventory scanning.

In pulling together all the pieces to make the final

product, Ware’s imagery (Ware, 2008, pp. 30-35) was especially helpful in considering design and

proportion from a consumer goods perspective. For a customer to walk into a store like Rite-Aid or CVS

and buy a product, they need to be visually influenced to make that purchase. There are so many

products, people, and distractions in pharmacy-type stores and shoppers are probably not in the store

for an extended time evaluating products. They go to the section they need to and purchase their

product.

Conclusion

Information happens on so many levels and this turned out to be a much richer study than I originally

anticipated. I am happy with my final product and that I was able to construct something that could be

produced en masse. Going through the process gave me the chance to peer into the psyche of the

manufacturer, regulators and customers and work to satisfy each of their information needs.

Final Report

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APPENDIX


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Package Design

Final Report

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Prototypes


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Spatial Calculations

Original Packaging

Front, sides and back

12 cm long

16 cm high

192 cm

Top and Bottom

2.5 cm long

5.5 cm high

13.75 cm

USEABLE surface area

205.75 cm

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Package Information Identification


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Presentation

Final Report

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Storyboard Scraps


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Final Report

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Slides

Final Report

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Final Report

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Bibliography

B.F. Ascher. (2011). Ayr – The #1 Brand of Saline Nasal Products. Retrieved March 21, 2011, from Ayr –

The #1 Brand of Saline Nasal Products: http://ayrrinsekit.com/

B.F. Ascher. (2011). Ayr Saline Nasal Gel. Retrieved March 20, 2011, from B.F. Ascher:

http://www.bfascher.com/ayr/ayrsalinenasalgel.html

Casey, R. (2011, April 06). RE: Comments from bfascher.com by Joshua Kitlas. Lenaxa, Kansas, USA.

De Jonge, S. (2011, April 11). Re: Student question about packaging. n/a, n/a, n/a.

Kageyama, Y. (2007, February 2). Hitachi shows off world's smallest RFID chip. Retrieved from

msnbc.com: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17284751/ns/technology_and_science-innovation/

Lester, J., & Kohler, Jr., W. C. (2007). The Impact of Information in Society. In J. Lester, & J. W. Kohler,

Fundamentals of Information Studies: Understanding Information and Its Environment (pp. 1-37). New

York: Neal Schuman Publishers.

Martinez, J. (2011, April 13). RE: Student question about packaging standards. Geneva, Switzerland.

Meadows, D. H. (n.d.). Chapter One The Basics. In D. H. Meadows, Thinking in Systems: A Primer (pp.

11-35). White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing.

Norman, D. A. (1988). The Psychopathology of Everyday Things. In D. A. Norman, The Design of

Everyday Things (pp. 1-33). New York: Doubleday.

Snyder, C. (2003). Paper Prototyping: The Fast and Easy Way to Design and Refine User Interfaces.

Morgan Kaufmann.

Tufte, E. R. (1997). Visual and Statistical Thinking: Displays of Evidence for Making Decisions. In E. R.

Tufte, Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative (pp. 27-53). Cheshire, CT:

Graphics Press.

U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. (2011, April 11). FW: Message from Email Form. n/a, n/a,

n/a.

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Vagelos, R. (2006, April 17). The Future of the Pharmaceutical Industry, According to Former Merck CEO

Roy Vagelos. (Knowledge@Wharton, Interviewer)

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1443.

Ware, C. (2008). What We Can Easily See, Chapter 2. In C. Ware, Visual Thinking: for Design (Morgan

Kaufmann Series in Interactive Technologies) (pp. 23-42). Burlington, MA: Morgan Kaufmann.

WebMD Medical Reference. (2011). Natural Allergy Relief: Saline Nasal Sprays. Retrieved March 20,

2011, from WebMD: http://www.webmd.com/allergies/saline-spray

Wikipedia. (n.d.). Packaging and labeling. Retrieved 21 2011, April, from Wikipedia:

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Packaging_and_labeling

Education

Transforming an Information Vessel - Modifying Characteristics and Perceptions