Above: bottle design by Anna Prezyneien

Drop: Project by Anna Prezybeien

The concern of plastic bottle waste has long been in issue that directly influences the environment. Nine out of ten plastic water bottles end up as garbage, and that is equivalent to thirty million a day. Considering it takes up to one thousand years to biodegrade, this figure is alarming.

The aim of this campaign is to target the growing population of consumers that buy plastic water bottles and change their attitude towards this product. Some countries are in need of bottled water because they don't have the same standards that regulate their tap water, but in places around the world where tap water is safe to drink, the rise of bottled water continues to grow. It is seen as a trend, with new and luring water bottle designs.

The production and delivery of one litre of bottled water emits one hundred times more green house gases as the same amount of tap water and nearly half a million barrels of oil to produce the plastic bottles.

This is the reason for why for my campaign deals with glass bottles instead of plastic in order to combat this problem. Not only that, but the bottles carry a message to encourage consumers to reuse the bottles and reduce waste or recycle if necessary.

The design is slim and modern to appeal to the general market while also luring in customers to buy the product and learn more on the issues we are faced with. The logo was carefully designed to be simple but bold, and features on the sandblasted bottle.

The information on the label can be read from the front, through the clear strip on the bottle. This was intended to create more interest for the consumer.

An encyclopaedia of water was designed in a way that corresponds to the water bottles, using the same technique of sandblasting material, which encases the book. This book deals with the plastic water bottle issue in further detail but also contains facts and other stories and issues related to water.

The overall goal of this campaign is to create awareness in the community of the devastating effects of plastic water bottle waste and as a result of this, essentially reduce the waste that is generated.

Contact

About Message in a bottle

Third year Communication Design Students at Monash University were encouraged to participate in the Aspen Design Challenge 'Designing Water's Future' by responding to the environmental issue of buying drinking water in plastic bottles. The Message in a Bottle required students to develop a campaign to discourage the use of bottled water through the sale of bottled water. The ironical message would imply that this is the last bottle of water you will buy.

Students were asked to design and brand water bottles for desalinated water and for reclaimed water (recycled sewage) so as to highlight the urgency of the issue. The water bottle was also designed to promote the sale of the ultimate resource book on water. This "Aquapedia" would be the definitive book on water and could be purchased on line.

Project leader

Russell Kennedy, Senior Lecturer, Visual Communication,
Monash University, Faculty of Art & Design

Links

Water Project website
INDEX: | AIGA Aspen Design Challenge website