Care Pong
TEAM
TIMELINE
SKILLS
Me and 2 other students
4 weeks
Ethnography, Personas, Sketching, Prototyping,
Value Proposition, Presentations
2023 / PRODUCT DESIGN
With the COVID-19 pandemic, the popularity of drinking games and house parties has been on the rise due to entry restrictions on bars and clubs. Typical beer pong cups are made from thin polystyrene, which is not recyclable within New Zealand and cracks easily preventing reuse. This makes beer pong cups notably unsustainable, contributing to the high volumes of plastic entering landfills. With the streets of Dunedin littered with empty cans and boxes, it is no secret that students wreak havoc on the environment when participating in drinking activities, evidencing the need for social change and education among young people.
Care Pong is a circular design solution for all your partying needs. Made from recycled polypropylene (PP), this cup is thicker and stronger than typical beer pong cups, making it highly durable and reusable. Should a cup break, it can be disposed of in the kerbside recycling bin, or returned to Care Pong where it will be replaced for free and recycled into a new cup.
Exploring the Problem
To initiate the discovery phase we utilised the brainstorming technique, exploring the contributing factors of the problem to outline areas for further research.
The three key facets found were accessibility, durability, and recyclability. Typical beer pong cups are a cheap option for students that break easily preventing reuse, and are made from a material with ambiguous recyclability.
DISCOVER
User Research
Ethnographic research was an integral part of this design process, providing a deeper understanding of the use environment, user interaction with the product, and insights into how and why the cups are breaking and ending up as plastic waste. This involved both passive and active observation of the user group during a party and a series of beer pong games. The key insights were:
DISCOVER
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People were often quite competitive, arguing calls and rules. Some participants became increasingly agitated and physical as the games progressed, breaking cups out of frustration.
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Users were also playing Stack-Cup, another drinking game that subjects the cups to more high-impact situations compared to beer pong, including slamming and crushing.
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The slamming and crushing caused the thin-walled cups to crack, primarily at the base, leading to drinks leaking out onto the table.
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The table would get sticky very quickly from spillage, and some cups would float/move/slide/ghost when the table got wet.
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When cleaning up after the party, pieces of the cups would often end up in the red bin, either because they were dirty or due to unclear recycling instructions.
The other user research methods included user interviews, surveys, and focus groups. Notable insights gathered included:
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There was a general misunderstanding around recycling practices among our user group. Users from small towns where kerbside recycling services aren't available were particularly unaware of the dos and don'ts when disposing of waste responsibly.
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Convenience is a high priority for our users. Disposable beer pong cups are highly accessible and available at liquor stores for a one-stop shopping experience. This makes buying a new set of cups rather than washing and reusing old ones a better option for some users.
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Beer pong requires 12-20 cups depending on whether the game is 6 or 10 a side. As cups are often sold in packs of 10, users must buy two packs for a full set. If one cup breaks, a whole new set must be purchased. This posed a frustration for our budget-conscious users.
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Liquor brands offer merchandise and freebies to customers to incentivise purchase, which has proven successful among budget-conscious students. Our users reported that free offerings increased the value proposition of a product.
Market Research
DISCOVER
Market research revealed that existing beer pong cups are primarily made from polystyrene (PS), a material that is cheap and efficient to produce but not recyclable curbside in New Zealand. Polypropylene (PP) cups are available and although recyclable, are still marketed as "disposable", adding to consumer confusion and ambiguity over the material's recyclability.
Redefining the Brief
DEFINE
We synthesised our findings into actionable insights, redefining our problem statement:
How might we provide students with a sustainable cup option while motivating them to use responsible recycling practices when playing beer pong, and in daily life?
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Persona
DEFINE
Based on our research findings and the redefined brief, we developed a user persona to visualise our target users, including their personality and motivations. This helped us maintain a user-centric focus throughout the ideation and design process, ensuring the final solution met their needs effectively.
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Ideation
DEVELOP
We explored alternative materials and manufacturing methods to enhance durability and recyclability. PP emerged as a suitable material due to its recyclability and robustness compared to PS. Recycled PP is food-safe and reusable unlike other types of plastics recyclable in New Zealand (HDPE and PET). Additionally, PP is lightweight, reducing distribution and product costs.
Thermoforming is the typical production method for beer pong cups, but it creates thin-walled cups prone to cracking and limited to uniform thickness. Injection moulding, identified as a cost-effective alternative, allows for thicker, variable walls, reinforcing the cup's bottom, the area most prone to breakage.
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The hexagonal shape of this cup ensures consistent and precise arrangement across games and teams, minimising gaps between cups and maintaining perfect alignment. This design promotes efficient, fair, and consistent play, while also reducing drunken frustration and preventing cups from being broken during rule disputes.
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This design explores the elimination of traditional beer pong cups by making the drink cans themselves adaptable as playing vessels. This approach would significantly reduce waste since aluminium is inherently easier to recycle than plastic.
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The final concept focused not on redesigning the cup, but on improving the recycling system. We proposed placing accessible collection points in high-traffic areas like liquor stores and universities, making it more convenient to dispose of and recycle PS plastic.
Prototyping and Testing
DEVELOP
A CAD model and 3D-printed prototype of the hexagonal cup with a reinforced bottom were created and tested both physically and with a focus group. Key observations and feedback included:
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The cup felt extremely durable, but there was an overuse of material making it heavier than necessary and more costly to produce.
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The thicker bottom and irregular shape hindered stacking; once multiple cups were stacked, the tower became too tall for play. This issue would also pose storage challenges.
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The hexagonal shape for consistent racking was highly valued by users.
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The flat bottom caused the cup to slide or "ghost" along the table.
Based on this feedback, a second iteration was developed featuring a round cup with less variance in wall thickness to address these issues.
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Final Design
DELIVER
Our final solution is a durable, recyclable beer pong cup designed for students. Made from impact-resistant PP (polypropylene), the cup features a reinforced thicker bottom for added durability during games like stack cup. PP is dishwasher safe for easy clean up after a party. Since PP is recyclable through New Zealand's curb side bins, broken cups can be easily disposed of in the yellow bin. Inside each cup, a playful message—"Be a G and recycle me!"—appeals to our target group while reminding them of the cup’s recyclability.
Alternatively, broken cups can be returned to our nonprofit organization, where they will be replaced for free to keep your set complete. These returned cups will be recycled into new ones, creating a fully circular design solution. Revenue generated will also be used to produce replacement cups. Collection points will be conveniently located in liquor stores and universities.
Other design features include notches at the top of the cup, which align to create a perfect and consistent rack, resolving any potential rule or game disputes. A clear fill line indicates the appropriate level for play, while a small indent in the bottom of the cup prevents sliding and ghosting across the table.
This product, combined with our social marketing efforts, aims to raise awareness about sustainability among students, educate them on proper recycling practices, and provide incentives to act responsibly.
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Value Proposition Canvas
DELIVER
The final design was evaluated using the Value Proposition Canvas to ensure it met user needs and aligned with the brief and their perceived value. The analysis concluded that Care Pong is a viable solution with multiple features and offerings that effectively address the brief and solve the problem in a user-centric way.
Product Pitch
DELIVER
The deliverables for this project included a poster outlining our design process and a verbal presentation to a panel of judges to pitch our product. Care Pong was awarded “Best Project Poster” in this competition, commended particularly for the great utilisation of the Double Diamond design process to deliver a promising solution.
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