How do I open This Fucking Thing?: Design Mysteries Series

Swiss Army Knife Packaging | Opening the package? Where do I start? Opening instructions? [Photos Bruce Hannah]

Isn’t it ironic that the tool needed to open the package is inside the package that you want to open? Is this a “chicken and egg” thing? Which came first the scissors in the package or the scissors outside the package. If the scissors inside came first would we even have scissors? I know this is silly but if we see the ridiculous side of packaging maybe we might do something about making it easier to deal with.

Packaging seems to be designed for one purpose, to prevent who ever bought it from opening it. Most packaging requires scissors, knife or a crowbar to even start the unraveling process. And when you start cutting into the package you create dangerously sharp parts that make it even more difficult to open. And did you ever try reading what’s left of the instructions after you open the package? What ever happened to “designing for disassembly?’

The obnoxiousness of these profoundly inhuman design exercises must be exposed! Unpacking and exposing these crimes against humanity is necessary and must be done! But, really can we start designing packaging so it can be opened easily. Most of us aren’t criminals, we pay for what we need or want, and so what’s the problem?

There are some packages that are easily opened and the different materials, plastic blister and cardboard graphics usually, that make up the package actually separate easily for recycling. What a miracle of design. Why isn’t this the norm? The kind of “Design Thinking” that encourages disassembly might apply here.

More questions: who tightens the caps on bottles and jars? And, why so tight? Sometimes I think the people designing and manufacturing packaging neglect the people who BUY their products, because they are more concerned with the people who might STEAL their products.

#DesignMysteriesSeries [#12]
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Design Mysteries Series
Bruce Hannah. January 14, 2018©