Why Are So Many Bottles ‘Sqround’?

Originally posted on https://www.fastcodesign.com/

Fiji. Naked. Evolution Fresh. Odwalla. Starbucks Frappucino. And now, the meal replacement of the future, Soylent.

They’ve all embraced the same type of bottle for their products. It’s not exactly a square. And it’s not exactly round. The official term is ‘sqround,’? says John Zelek, lead creative at Soylent. The company’s new bottles are shipping now.

Soylent redesigned its own bottle a mere two years after the company launched its first pre-bottled drink. The food startup known for its mixable powder had made the leap to full-fledged, meal replacement beverage, but to do so quickly, Soylent also made a compromise: It used an off-the-shelf bottle its manufacturer had in stock rather than create its own bottle from scratch.

The cylindrical white bottle had a wide mouth and a rounded neck. It was almost?but not quite?as neutral as the Soylent brand itself. Because with an almost art deco flourish, it tapered toward the bottom and had feet at the bottom to add stability.

?It was the kind of thing we needed then, says Zelek. We used it as a blank canvas to put our brand on. But there were a couple of issues with it.

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