Colloquia

Samenvatting

The proportion of elderly individuals in the world's population is approximately 10% by 2022, and projections indicate that this percentage is likely to increase by 16% by 2050 (“World Population Prospects 2022,” 2022). With an increase in the number of elderly people worldwide, there is an increasing trend towards elderly supplement products. Hence, the study is based on primary research question: “How should metal can packaging be designed for elderly people such that it is easy to open, hygienically re-sealable, easy to handle, and shows evidence of tampering?”.

The research initiates by examining the challenges that elderly (aged 65 and above) confront as they age and in relation to the opening and closing of packaging. An explorative study was conducted with elderly people on Trivium’s existing easy-opening solutions (both nutrition and non-nutrition-related cans) to investigate which kind of opening is easy for elderly people. This study was both quantitative and qualitative in nature.

Ideation is carried out to create different ideas for resealable options, methods to combine both easy opening and re-sealable options, etc., through ideation techniques. Concepts range from extreme novels to familiar concepts. Concepts were developed to adapt to actual metal cans. Different tests were conducted to measure concepts both qualitatively and quantitatively. A technical process for transforming the selected concept into alpha concept is described.

The secondary research question was formed, “How should metal can packaging visually be for elderly?”. This research question relates to graphics that will be printed on cans. Five artwork based on the elderly background and Dutch culture were created and printed on the cans. Two hypotheses were formulated. To validate these hypotheses, eye-tracking tests were conducted with elderly participants.

In conclusion, a detailed exploratory study was conducted with elderly people to create a metal package to answer the research questions.

References

World Population Prospects 2022. (2022). In Statistical papers - United Nations. Series A, Population and vital statistics report. https://doi.org/10.18356/9789210014380