When people make changes in their lives, whether it is flossing their teeth or quitting smoking, they will have setbacks. And when they do, it is easy to let that setback turn into a pattern of failure. While going a day without flossing isn’t a catastrophe, there is still an opportunity to help someone get back on track. Weight Watchers has flex points that can be used on one massive chocolate binge. In the case of smoking cessation, we can help the desperate need for one cigarette remain just that: one cigarette. We can design for that setback so it doesn’t turn into an entire pack of cigarettes. Design for resilience is being realistic that setbacks will happen, and creating safe ways to fail and bounce back.
We explored this idea as the basis of a concept project. The result is 1Z, the single serving cigarette.
• Brand: We developed a backstory of the fictional manufacturer (Bright-Leaf), and their reason for entering the market, and it helped us to create a product brand identity for 1Z that worked with the form and the way the brand logo wraps around the box.
• Name: 1Z is a reference to “loosies,” the street slang for a single store-bought cigarette, and gently reinforces the quitting theme.
• Form: The triangle form was chosen because it conveys that the product is something radically different from a standard pack of cigarettes.
• Quitting: Through exploration, we found that a light touch with messaging around quitting was most effective; no one wants to be lectured. Instead, we had several subtle messages to support behavior change. The FDA offers several options for messaging on cigarette packaging and we chose the one related to quitting. The lid has a message, “In case of emergency, lift here.” And, the cigarette itself is branded, “Just one.” Finally, we included a stick of gum as a quiet way to clear the taste from the mouth; to reset and get back to neutral.
• Contents: We kept the contents to the minimum: 1 cigarette, two strike-anywhere matches, and a piece of gum. As discussed above, the gum was included to provide an end point to the event. The gum provides resolution to that setback and offers a starting point to help the smoker continue quitting.
• Constraints: We considered manufacturing and production costs. We estimate this package will cost less than 10 cents to make, realistic for a $1-2 predicted price point. And the triangle shape is an efficient form for shipping.
Throughout the design process, we also got feedback on iterations from a group of smokers trying to quit. We wanted to include many different perspectives and opinions and this feedback helped steer the design in form, tone, and branding. The result is just a concept, but one which all of our smokers said would help them quit. One of our test subjects said, “I wish this was on the market today!”
