Image taken with 2.0 mega pixel camera phone and enhanced with Flickr
This water bottle from Voss is an example of good design. The moment I saw it in the case at the mini-mart I knew I was going to purchase this brand of water. Why? The look. More precisely what the look said to me.
I love the minimalist design of the sleek transparent tower. In the lighting of the case, the water just looked refreshing. I also like how they do not cover up what they are selling with a lot of packaging or adornment. The product name is the same gray color as the lid, which is just enough contrast to be read but also easily becomes transparent to the eye keeping the focus on the water inside. And the vertical text adds to the feeling of height they want to convey. The circumference is nice as well fitting nicely into my average size hand. There is also a nice sens of balance to the bottle as you hold it.
I was curious enough about the product to check out their website. It turns out they put a lot of thought into the design. The bottle was designed with the assistance of Neil Kraft, former creative director of Calvin Klein and his team. They wanted to create a bottle that conveyed a new way to think about water "...from refreshing to beautiful." The essence of good design.
Did the water taste better than other bottled water? Not necessarily. But that's not really what they are selling. They are selling a lifestyle. Rather effectively, I might add.
I recommend checking out their site and reading more about the design: http://www.vosswater.com/.
This water bottle from Voss is an example of good design. The moment I saw it in the case at the mini-mart I knew I was going to purchase this brand of water. Why? The look. More precisely what the look said to me.
I love the minimalist design of the sleek transparent tower. In the lighting of the case, the water just looked refreshing. I also like how they do not cover up what they are selling with a lot of packaging or adornment. The product name is the same gray color as the lid, which is just enough contrast to be read but also easily becomes transparent to the eye keeping the focus on the water inside. And the vertical text adds to the feeling of height they want to convey. The circumference is nice as well fitting nicely into my average size hand. There is also a nice sens of balance to the bottle as you hold it.
I was curious enough about the product to check out their website. It turns out they put a lot of thought into the design. The bottle was designed with the assistance of Neil Kraft, former creative director of Calvin Klein and his team. They wanted to create a bottle that conveyed a new way to think about water "...from refreshing to beautiful." The essence of good design.
Did the water taste better than other bottled water? Not necessarily. But that's not really what they are selling. They are selling a lifestyle. Rather effectively, I might add.
I recommend checking out their site and reading more about the design: http://www.vosswater.com/.
I love this design, and while I don't care about bottle design too much (I am a product quality person more over packaging), it's great work. I know of Kraft's work, and it has his signature.
Design like this has psychological aspects to it that fascinate me to no end. For example, Target is a discount store, just like Wal-Mart. But Target's image is stylish and sleek, hip and young (I love how they get designers to create affordable lines of products). Wal-Mart targets itself to more of a "blue-collar down-home" audience. Is the can of Planter's peanuts different at Target? Not really, but I notice a lot of people explaining (read: apologizing for) a trip to Wal-Mart, notsomuch with Target.
Same goes with IKEA. Their customer service is infamously bad, a quick Google search finds the evidence of this. Their products sometimes are cheaply made and are of no better quality than say Wal-Mart. But, they built a brand and image via their design - not just the furniture, but how they position themselves. From a marketer's perspective, it's amazing.
This also reminds me of how I look at stuff like this with a marketing eye. A blessing/curse because if there is something I personally don't like about an ad/product design, I don't automatically trash. I think for a second "is this just bad work, OR is it something not aimed at my target audience?" I chuckle sometimes when I hear someone refer to an ad as stupid - often the ad is not aimed at them, aimed at another demographic, so it apparently was good work.
Of course, many would say people are being had by this. I don't know the price of your water, but I imagine it may be more expensive than other brands, like say Poland Spring? However, I would disagree - your motivation to purchase goes beyond water - you like the design. You are willing to pay for it. It's really about what the individual wants, and is willing to purchase. The folks at Voss have hit a homerun for you and other stylish folks like you.