Industrial Design Case Study: Minimal’s Solution to Combat Single-Use Package Design – Core77

Startup Small Wonder seeks to shake up the packaging and delivery methods of haircare products, making them more sustainable. To realize their goals, they turned to Scott Wilson’s Chicago-based ID firm Minimal.

Small Wonder is a company on a mission to produce no-compromise, salon-grade, powdered beauty care products, all while reducing or eliminating the reliance on single-use plastic containers in the beauty industry. MINIMAL designers and engineers worked to design and develop a reusable, refillable package that makes dispensing powdered haircare products easy, consistent and mess-free.

Unlike dry shampoo, Small Wonder’s products are meant to be used in the shower. Traditional shampoo is 75%–85% water, with the remaining volume made up of active ingredients. Powder concentrates are the opposite: they are 100% active ingredients and no water. Consumers simply add water to Small Wonder’s powder in the shower, eliminating the need to ship the one thing everyone already has in their shower—water. Rubbing both wet hands together for about 10 seconds will activate the powder into a thick and luxurious lather.

Investing in Reusability

Purchasing shampoo or conditioner normally means buying a single-use plastic bottle that will end up in a landfill. To change this paradigm, Small Wonder created a system that pairs a reusable powder-coated aluminum bottle with small, 100% recyclable refill tubes. Consumers receive the reusable bottle with their initial purchase, and subsequent purchases include a paper tube containing enough powder concentrate for 3–6 months of daily use. With Small Wonder, less truly is more—less waste, more product.

Elevating the Experience of Powder Hair-Care

Powder hair care is more sustainable than traditional products, but Small Wonder will only fulfill its sustainability mission if people enjoy using it and replace their plastic shampoo bottles. Together Small Wonder and MINIMAL went the extra mile to ensure a user-friendly, mess-free, and delightful experience. We created over 50 prototypes to prove out the functionality and design of the bottle.

Our reusable bottle includes a patented cap design that is a novel way to dose and dispense powder hair-care products. An internal silicone diaphragm seals the bottle, protecting the powder from the steamy shower environment, while allowing easy and consistent dispensing every time. The hourglass bottle design is not only colorful, playful, and iconic, but also functional. The bottle opening faces down and the top surface is domed. These features discourage upside-down storage, which might lead to water pooling around the opening and leaking into the powder.

The bottom of the cap provides a stable base, but is also used to activate the dispensing mechanism by simply pressing the bottom of the bottle against your hand. And when it’s time to refill, the compostable paper refill tube is designed to perfectly fit into the bottle, ensuring the powder ends up in the bottle and not on the bathroom floor.

You can see more of Minimal’s work here.