Genius! Wisconsin Students Come Up With Award-Winning Solution To Pesky Pringles Problems
Three students at the University of Wisconsin-Stout in Menomonie developed an award-winning solution to an annoying problem that plagues a popular snack food.
If you've ever had Pringles, you've likely had a couple of complaints like the ones I have.
The Pringles problem
First, once you get to a certain point, you can't grab Pringles out of the can anymore because the average adult human hand is too big to stick in the tube the chips come in. My normal solution (albeit imprecise) is to pour some out. Not ideal.
The other issue is that once you get toward the bottom of the can, you realize just how many busted-up chips are in each can. Despite the packaging being a hard-sided container, as chips get jostled around inside, many end up broken. Also not ideal.
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Enter these three UW-Stout students, who participated in a competition to rethink the packaging the iconic chips come in.
Wisconsin college students to the rescue!
WQOW TV reports that these three students, Lukas David, Ethan Myers, and Zach Hoffmire, entered a competition sponsored by Kellanova, formerly known as the Kellogg Company - maker of Pringles.
The goal behind the contest was to come up with a fresh design for Pringles packaging that would "improve the snacking experience".
The team of three students from Wisconsin won a prize of nearly $1,900 and some bragging rights for their design and know-how being recognized by Kellogg's. While the Pringles makers have not told the students whether or not they might use the design, the acknowledgment of the solutions provided by the design could mean some of their design features might find their way to store shelves.
Here's a look at their winning design!
The winning design from these UW-Stout students
In a vide about the innovative design, the students explained that they wanted to make accessibility of the chips easier as well as prevent damage to the chips inside the container. They wanted to incorporate design elements to achieve those goals while also preserving the iconic look of the Pringles packaging.
The first element was the tube design itself, which they redesigned into what they call a "racetrack shape" to keep the chips better secured to prevent damage.
The second element is a slot along the side of the package to allow people to grab the amount of chips they want with their finger and thumb. For people that might have accessibility challenges or issues using their thumb, they also redesigned the cap into something they call "the tool", which has a hook to grab a selected amount of chips and slide them up to grab out.
The final element is a "peel and reseal" component to cover up that slot introduced into their design. It connects to the bottom and lid, keeping the chips fresh and sealed up when you reapply this cover.
The team put a lot of effort and research into coming up with this design, which does solve a lot of Pringles problems! We'll have to wait and see if any part of their design gets put to use, but they did a pretty fantastic job with their design!
You can listen to the students talk about the design and the process of developing it in a video the students put together.
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Gallery Credit: Tony Hart