This is the third part of the the GreenHouse Effect concept series, showing and explaining some of the thoughts behind the design concepts. The GreenHouse Effect is an exhibition by Orcadesign as part of the Singapore Design Festival, exploring what it means to tackle sustainability through design.
This is the Bottleneck Saver – it’s the little black ‘C’ shape thing on the neck of the nozzle. It’s a little simple device designed to attach onto the necks of common dispensers – be it shampoo, lotions or handwash – and it works by restricting the ‘travel’ of the nozzle (and thus the final amount dispensed each time). It may not be a product for everyone – some do need that much of whatever solution is in the bottle – but what Bottleneck Saver gives is a choice. Just think of the average crew-cut guy – typically he doesn’t need all that shampoo for one full press; by natural instinct, however, he would have dispensed a full amount. In addition, manufacturers always have an incentive to make users use more of their products – in some ways, this design attempts to counter that inherent bias in product design. It’s not only less of the soap/shampoo that you save – eventually you’d save more water too.
The product in this picture is actually in the top right corner – it is a set of stickers known as Sticker Identity. Often, we sub-consciously or conveniently reuse old products for new usages – we might make do with the back-of-a-notepad as a mousepad; we might use a CD jewel case as a coaster, etc. This is in fact a good practice – we don’t really need to always get a new item. The sticker set affirms these actions – iconic graphics on the sticker affirms the new-found identity of old products – in someways, you can think of it as a ‘re-birth certificate’.
[This post is a part of the series on the ‘GreenHouse Effect’ exhibition under the Singapore Design Festival].
