Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Upside Down Visuals

Circuitously, I ended up shopping for shampoo recently. Actually, I was shopping for a shampoo bottle, not shampoo. My wife had found a deal on shampoo but it came in a big batch, a huge bottle. I wanted to find a smaller bottle to put in the shower.



As I wandered down the aisle, a fully clueless male clearly out of my element, I noticed some bottles were right side up, others upside down.



I decided I’d like one of the upside down bottles…it would keep the shampoo closer to the opening…less “waste of waiting” you know. I reached for one bottle…oops, the label said “conditioner” not shampoo.


I kept looking…and then it hit me. Sometime in the last decade, multiple manufacturers decided all shampoo would be in right side up bottles, while all conditioners would be in upside down bottles. BRILLIANT! A wonderful visual tool for a place when many people have impaired vision…no glasses, no contacts, not awake yet…the reasons are many.

Which got me thinking…what a great way for simple A-B differentiation of tools, supplies and other needed items. Upside down, right side up. Add color to the mix and it is even more useful. I’m looking for opportunities.

Keep on learning.

3 comments:

Mark Graban said...

That would be a neat visual, if it were followed consistently. Maybe everyone hasn't gotten the memo. My shampoo and conditioner bottles are both in "upside down" bottles.

Anonymous said...

Great post! Prior to my Lean training, I bought opposite bottles once for shampoo & conditioner. It was super helpful when you have water and soap in your eye!

Thanks for pointing this out and providing the pictures to make it visual!

Anonymous said...

The reason they do this is that conditioners have a much higher viscosity than shampoo. Hence conditioner bottles are upside down so that the conditioner sits near the nozzle. :)