Inventive Idea - Just Not Quite There Yet

Photos courtesy: Yanko Design

We've all done it. Most of us will do it again. We forget, or are too lazy, to pack a lunch so we grab something on the go. By now, we feel guilty (***gasp***)about the cost of buying lunch out (again!); so, we try to go for nutrition to assuage our guilt. Salad and a yogurt - yep, sounds healthy (and relatively guilt-free).

While most places are savvy enough to pack a fork with that take-out salad, not so for the yogurt. Trying to eat your yogurt with your fork is similar to trying to carry water in a bucket with a hole in it. By no means satisfactory; but, then neither is trying to drink your yogurt from the container (which seems to be the only other option).

This where Yanko Design comes in. One of their designers, Cho Hye-seung, has come up with what he calls the Yogurt Spoon Package Design. When you take the lid off the container, you are able to fold it into a spoon. The instructions are on the side of the container. Clever design, inventive way to make packaging more useful and/or minimize the amount of plastic used during fast-grab lunches and/or reduce the necessity for a plastic spoon when enjoying yogurt on the go.


There is; however, one flaw in the design. I like a clean lid on anything I am going to eat or drink due to possible (if improbable) contamination during the lid-removal process. If I was going to use the lid as a spoon, I would want that lid spotless and sanitary - hence, the flaw.


The solution Yanko Design came up with was wrapping the entire container in yet another layer of plastic. Overkill in my opinion. All that is required is that the lid itself be protected. However, the designer is to be applauded for thinking "green" and trying to develop a product that adds less waste to the environment.

Let's hope this type of thinking goes viral!