4 ms·

Dear (Soylent) designers, please stop comparing yourselves with big names like Kubrick or Rams. You designed a plastic bottle - no more, no less.

by zichy 9y ago

atemerev 9y ago
You won't get much upvotes on HN with that... Comparing yourself to Kubrick, on the other hand, will create some reaction.
sametmax 9y ago
You are very condescending. These people are trying to do something, they share the process, they try to get some inspiration from people they like. What's the big deal ?
- joyofdata 9y ago
  Exactly - no big deal, at all - but Kubrick is responsible for several really big deals.
- zichy 9y ago
  If I go to the supermarket, almost every smoothie bottle looks somewhat like the new Soylent bottle. I can't tell if they actually took inspiration from Dieter Rams, but it's really easy to refer to him since he is like the father of modern industrial (consumer) design. Soylent is an enterprise and they want to make themselves to look as good as possible in order to generate more revenue. No reason not to criticize awkward marketing blog posts like this.
  - TeMPOraL 9y ago
    I envy you. Could we import that style to Europe sooner? The juice bottles from "The Martian" movie are the epitome of consumer product design for me: https://media1.giphy.com/media/11bglU5OG7SJAk/giphy-facebook_s.jpg?t=1 https://media1.giphy.com/media/11bglU5OG7SJAk/giphy-facebook... (I apologize for the crappy image; I'm nowhere near a copy of the movie to make a decent screenshot) No bullshit. Just the product name and necessary information about its content. No useless colors, no pictures of animals, smiling faces or other crap. There are days I dream of starting a food company just to make food in such packaging.
    - joshvm 9y ago
      This already exists in Europe. In the UK lots of companies us sqround bottles, like Innocent Smoothies: http://www.wowfreestuff.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Innocent-Smoothie-Free-300x300.png http://www.wowfreestuff.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Inn...
      - TeMPOraL 9y ago
        I didn't mean the shape but the label. But still, I didn't even realize "sqround" is a word. Thanks!
        joshvm 9y ago
        I think Vitamin Water is pretty good in terms of clean marketing, except they fail when you actually read the rubbish copy on the label. https://www.thewrendesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/vitamin-water-label1.jpg https://www.thewrendesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/vit... Tesco's old Value range was also pretty good for telling you immediately what's in it: http://www.s4rb.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Old_Tesco_Value_range.png http://www.s4rb.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Old_Tesco_Val...
- ckastner 9y ago
  I do believe they are trying to do something, but it has more to do with marketing and product placement than with design. Lastly, we did our best to follow the “less but better” teachings of 1960’s Braun designs. These enduring designs are known for their stripped down features and clean lines. No unnecessary buttons or extraneous curves, just what you need; everything in its place. It's a bottle. There's no need to evoke Braun or their “less but better” approach, it's always just been a vessel and some sort of cap.
  - staticassertion 9y ago
    This is silly. Your argument is still "It's a bottle therefor stop making a big deal about it" - it's someone's job to care about it. They explain the problem they set out to solve, how they solved it, a background to how these problems are solved (I don't know shit about design, so the "less but better" reference is actually interesting). If you want to say "It's marketing" no shit, anything any company publishes ends up going through marketing at some point. Every tech blog a company has is marketing. Who cares?
    - zichy 9y ago
      It's more about being pretentious. If you show me a nice program you coded, I'd say "that's cool". If you show me a nice program you coded and tell me that you've been inspired by John Backus, Richard Stallman and Linus Torvalds, I'd say "yeah well it's still a program".
      - ckastner 9y ago
        Thank you -- that's exactly how I feel about the Braun reference. The "program" here being one of the simplest imaginable, with literally thousands of years of prior art.
      - staticassertion 9y ago
        What if they actually were inspired by one of them? Why not give some background and context to a crowd that may not be familiar with various icons?
amelius 9y ago
> You designed a plastic bottle - no more, no less. To be fair, I often have the same reaction when I see CSS posts on HN. E.g., this one recently: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14588924 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14588924
Raphmedia 9y ago
Design is design. Be it bottles or something else. You use references and inspirations to come up with a strong design.

Dear (Soylent) designers, please stop comparing yourselves with big names like Kubrick or Rams. You designed a plastic bottle - no more, no less.

by zichy 9y ago

Dear (Soylent) designers, please stop comparing yourselves with big names like Kubrick or Rams. You designed a plastic bottle - no more, no less.

atemerev 9y ago

You won't get much upvotes on HN with that... Comparing yourself to Kubrick, on the other hand, will create some reaction.

sametmax 9y ago

You are very condescending. These people are trying to do something, they share the process, they try to get some inspiration from people they like. What's the big deal ?

joyofdata 9y ago
Exactly - no big deal, at all - but Kubrick is responsible for several really big deals.
zichy 9y ago
If I go to the supermarket, almost every smoothie bottle looks somewhat like the new Soylent bottle. I can't tell if they actually took inspiration from Dieter Rams, but it's really easy to refer to him since he is like the father of modern industrial (consumer) design. Soylent is an enterprise and they want to make themselves to look as good as possible in order to generate more revenue. No reason not to criticize awkward marketing blog posts like this.
- TeMPOraL 9y ago
  I envy you. Could we import that style to Europe sooner? The juice bottles from "The Martian" movie are the epitome of consumer product design for me: https://media1.giphy.com/media/11bglU5OG7SJAk/giphy-facebook_s.jpg?t=1 https://media1.giphy.com/media/11bglU5OG7SJAk/giphy-facebook... (I apologize for the crappy image; I'm nowhere near a copy of the movie to make a decent screenshot) No bullshit. Just the product name and necessary information about its content. No useless colors, no pictures of animals, smiling faces or other crap. There are days I dream of starting a food company just to make food in such packaging.
  - joshvm 9y ago
    This already exists in Europe. In the UK lots of companies us sqround bottles, like Innocent Smoothies: http://www.wowfreestuff.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Innocent-Smoothie-Free-300x300.png http://www.wowfreestuff.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Inn...
    - TeMPOraL 9y ago
      I didn't mean the shape but the label. But still, I didn't even realize "sqround" is a word. Thanks!
      - joshvm 9y ago
        I think Vitamin Water is pretty good in terms of clean marketing, except they fail when you actually read the rubbish copy on the label. https://www.thewrendesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/vitamin-water-label1.jpg https://www.thewrendesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/vit... Tesco's old Value range was also pretty good for telling you immediately what's in it: http://www.s4rb.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Old_Tesco_Value_range.png http://www.s4rb.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Old_Tesco_Val...
ckastner 9y ago
I do believe they are trying to do something, but it has more to do with marketing and product placement than with design. Lastly, we did our best to follow the “less but better” teachings of 1960’s Braun designs. These enduring designs are known for their stripped down features and clean lines. No unnecessary buttons or extraneous curves, just what you need; everything in its place. It's a bottle. There's no need to evoke Braun or their “less but better” approach, it's always just been a vessel and some sort of cap.
- staticassertion 9y ago
  This is silly. Your argument is still "It's a bottle therefor stop making a big deal about it" - it's someone's job to care about it. They explain the problem they set out to solve, how they solved it, a background to how these problems are solved (I don't know shit about design, so the "less but better" reference is actually interesting). If you want to say "It's marketing" no shit, anything any company publishes ends up going through marketing at some point. Every tech blog a company has is marketing. Who cares?
  - zichy 9y ago
    It's more about being pretentious. If you show me a nice program you coded, I'd say "that's cool". If you show me a nice program you coded and tell me that you've been inspired by John Backus, Richard Stallman and Linus Torvalds, I'd say "yeah well it's still a program".
    - ckastner 9y ago
      Thank you -- that's exactly how I feel about the Braun reference. The "program" here being one of the simplest imaginable, with literally thousands of years of prior art.
    - staticassertion 9y ago
      What if they actually were inspired by one of them? Why not give some background and context to a crowd that may not be familiar with various icons?

amelius 9y ago

> You designed a plastic bottle - no more, no less. To be fair, I often have the same reaction when I see CSS posts on HN. E.g., this one recently: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14588924 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14588924

Raphmedia 9y ago

Design is design. Be it bottles or something else. You use references and inspirations to come up with a strong design.