Conceptual Design Idea + Research
To create a new brand of energy drink for people over the age of 60 years, the first step I took was identifying what gaps in the market there was, the gap that I noticed was that there wasn’t many drinks that were easily accessible for people who had limited grip strength as well as lack of drinks designed to invoke nostalgia.
With this information I focused on creating a brand that is catered for people who want something that gives them a nostalgic feeling but also focused on people in care homes , specifically catering to those who have dementia and hand tremors. The reason for catering towards care homes is because activity co-ordinators/ activity leads will plan activities called ‘reminiscence’ where people can talk about things from their past and having drinks that replicate things someone drank when they were younger could insight conversations and is particularly helpful with those with dementia.
The Coca-Cola bottles throughout the years.
The Coca-Cola Company (2023).
What flavors do they seem to enjoy most?
Bottle Design Ideas
The design of the bottle is inspired by Coca-Cola, Fanta and Lucozade as a key nostalgic feature is glass bottles and majority of drinks are now served in plastic bottles. Grip strength needed was also considered when designing the product as after 60 years of age, there is a rapid decline in hand-grip strength, by as much as 20–25% (Physiopedia, n.d.)
An issue with how current bottles are designed is that they have a small surface area to hold onto to open, which can make it hard to open. To accommodate this issue , the lid will have a big surface area for people to grip/ push against. Alongside this, the bottle will be bottom heavy which will allow people with hand tremors to be able to hold their own drink, allowing them to feel more independent by being able to hold it themself.
People with tremor, however, have to aim higher…make the glass ‘bottom-heavy’, with the weight of the liquid pulling down from your hands.
Essential Tremor. (2020)
To ensure that the energy drink would be appropriate for people aged 60 and over in the care home, I asked someone who is a worker in a care home to fill in a survey. The results showed that they preferred blackcurrant over any flavour,
For the metamorphosis, I wanted to utilise the similarity in shape between blackcurrants and bubbles and came up with 2 ways to display the transition:
- Blackcurrant Falls, Then Floats as a Bubble:
The blackcurrant falls down the screen and then transforms into a bubble that rises back up inside the drink. - Bubble Pops, and a Blackcurrant Replaces It:
A bubble hovers in the drink and then pops, as it bursts, a blackcurrant appears in its place.
After looking at the software and my skill set, I decided that I would have the blackcurrant fall into the bottle and become a bubble as the metamorphosis, this option ensured that I could create a decent quality video within the set time frame – if there was a longer time frame to learn the software then I would add both transitions to the video however as it was not guaranteed that I would be able to learn how to create these effects in time I decided on the one metamorphosis.
References:
Physiopedia. (n.d.). Effects of Ageing on Hand Function. [online] Available at: https://www.physio-pedia.com/Effects_of_Ageing_on_Hand_Function. [Accessed 7th February 2025]
Essential Tremor. (2020). Living with Liquids – Essential Tremor. [online] Available at: https://essentialtremor.org/resource/living-with-liquids/ [Accessed 7 Feb. 2025].
Image References:
The Coca-Cola Company (2023). The History of the Coca-Cola Contour Bottle. [online] www.coca-colacompany.com. Available at: https://www.coca-colacompany.com/about-us/history/the-history-of-the-coca-cola-contour-bottle. [Accessed 7th February 2025]
Kileen, R. (2025). Fanta, A Wartime Soda. [online] Available at: https://seniorvoiceamerica.org/fanta-a-wartime-soda-p1109-212.htm. [Accessed 7th February 2025]
Rees, R. (2015). 1980s Childhood. [online] Pinterest. Available at: https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/294634000597787077/ [Accessed 16 Feb. 2025].