The Ketchup Packet of the Future

I appreciate good design. For me, good design is both visually appealing and very practical. This is what I attempt to accomplish with anything I create for my youth ministry. I even see it reflected in my website. There was a time when the design of my site, even though it's template based, was a little overwhelming. Slowly but surely I have searched and found themes that reflect a clean simple design. Much easier to read and I think more visually appealing.

Today I ran into a new design that I think was well executed. I had a coupon for a free Spicy Chicken Biscuit at Chick-fil-a and since I feel guilty about not buying something, I ordered some of their hash browns to go with it. When I'm in the car, I normally don't get ketchup for the hash browns due to the inconvenience. Today though, I knew I was going to be parked in a moment and I thought I'd go for it. When I opened my bag, I discovered a complete redesign of the traditional ketchup packet. It was similar to a McDonald's dipping sauce container that you get with Chicken McNuggets. The ketchup packet wasn't quite as deep and is designed to be in the shape of a ketchup bottle.

I'm not arguing that a packet of ketchup was visually appealing, but the design was incredibly practical. First, it contains more ketchup than regular packets. Second, the "lid" is designed to tear off so you can squeeze the ketchup out. Finally, the other end is designed so you can peel off the cover completely. Again, think McDonald's nugget sauces.

I was trying to move all my hash browns to one side of the container so I would have some place to put the ketchup when I realized this third point. I removed the cover and had a stable container of ketchup to dip my hash browns in. I was thoroughly impressed with the design.

I have no idea if these have been on the market for awhile or not, but I applaud the team of designers that came up with it.

On a side note, isn't it strange to think that there is a group of people sitting around thinking about how to build a better ketchup packet?