Water Jug

Water Jug

Reflective Design and the Water Jug

One hallmark of the consumer society has been the rise of disposability. Everything we purchase has been packaged and transported; a ketchup packet represents energy and material beyond what it seems to contain. The water jug represents a design that exaggerates the effects of disposability.

Reflective Designs on the Water Jug

The water jug looks just like one you would find at a corporate meeting or a doctors office. Differently this water jug has two options "water to go" or "water to stay". The serving sizes are tiny so that you need to take a large number of them (with lots of packaging) to get a 8 oz cup of water. This technology is basically an expansion of the current mini-Dixie cup format of water dispense. You get "water to go" in ketchup packets or tiny tin cans and "water to stay" in mini 1oz Dixie cups. This will be taken to a further extreme by giving users a mini Styrofoam envelope to keep the water packets cool. Furthermore, a very small garbage can will be provided as to encourage over flow. The water container can be connected directly to the tap raising the commodification of an almost free public service.

This technology addresses the over use of packaging and disposable nature of containers in American society. It in its most basic form is an irrationality of rationality as presented by George Ritzer. The water is clean, neatly packaged and easy to drink but it uses a large amount of electricity to package the water and dispenses it in disposable non-reusable packaging. Further, this technology deals with the issue of serving size and how we as Americans and consumers have come to understand what a serving is. The very small nature of our servings exaggerates and critiques the extra-large super-size trends in fast-food restaurants.

This technology can function on two levels one as an observation based experiment and a social commentary. It could be placed in an area that has a water jug and researchers could observe (via video) what people do when they encounter it and if they even notice the presence of increased packaging. It could also be part of the refreshments served at a display, a functional commentary.

Related Concepts

Commodification Thumbnail

Context

Irrationality Thumbnail

Predictability Thumbnail

Other Concepts

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Efficiency Thumbnail

Quantifiability Thumbnail

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