Internship report

Sustainable Design Research
Product Design, Experience Design, Packaging
Design, Product & Marketing strategy
by
Apoorv Gupta
2015508
Supervisor:
Dr. Shekhar Chatterjee
Design Discipline
PDPM Indian Institute of Information Technology,
Design & Manufacturing
Jabalpur
170 days

Contents:
1. Introduction
1.1. Company
1.2. Literature Survey
1.3. Internship plan
2. Packaging
1.1. Existing packaging
1.2. Iterations
1.3. Methodology
3. Zero Plastic pen
1.1. The Concept
1.2. Concept Development
1.3. Material Exploration
1.4. Market around the product
4. Bamboo Pen
1.1. The Concept
5. Mini kit/ Plant-its
1.1. The Concept
6. Collateral

7. Zero Ink Pen
1.1. The Concept
1.5. Technical requirements
8. Plantable Calendar
1.1. The Concept
9. Plantable Rakhi Kit
1.1. The Concept
1.3. Material Exploration & Packaging
1.5. A Do-It-Yourself
10. Carbon Negative (Mark/logo)
1.1. The Concept
11. Gift Expo
1.1. The event
1.2. Preparations
1.3. Event management
1.4. User/stakeholder interaction
1.5. Feedbacks
1.6. Innovation After-effects

1.1. The Concept
1.4. Market aroun
13. Results and Discussions
14. Summary and Conclusions

1. Introduction
1.1. Company
BioQ, as a social enterprise, aims to develop and exploit a rejuvenated
model of sustainable products, that delivers to all the stakeholders
involved. And since our products are either Carbon neutral or Carbon
negative, the user and their daily lives are adapters of the charge that
needs to flow amongst the mass for the humanity to be able to write a
sustainable future. Affordance and Utility are other drivers.
Every 4 seconds, someone makes a choice to use a plantable pencil or pen by
BioGROW with the idea of planting it after use, instead of throwing it away.
1.2. Literature Survey
The world is filled with companies and people working in companies.
Everywhere.
Comes a point in these companies, when they start putting their own
logo on the products used in a large number inside their companies.
Prime, and most relatable example being a pen. This is one such
situation where companies go to manufacturers of the products, ask
them for customised products, ask for those in bulk, and
manufacturers are happy to give their products in a cheaper price point
per product. Why? Because it cuts down the process of reaching to the
end user to a large extent.

Marketing is another important aspect that makes companies,
especially the big ones, to invest in corporate gifting. Then comes the
lately developed and popularised practice of CSR.
1.3. Internship plan
1.3.1. First half
Beginning with the study of existing products, an analysis of the packaging
was performed and issues pertaining to the understanding of the product
for the user were identified.
[In this case, the primary user being the retailers and distributors in the
corporate gifting market, which, as found in the user research, would care
about a product if they can talk on it and sell it.]
It was important to, side by side, catch up with the development of products
in the company, including the most exciting, Zero-plastic pen.

The month began with a motivating event (on 5th June, on the occasion of
World Environment Day) in collaboration with <an Organisation in
Jabalpur> where I was one on the table, among scientists from the
organisation in a session to help us catch up with the issues around climate
change. The presentation and the fact talk wasn’t even half as moving as the
anecdotes that came up in the later moments of the event once I had freed up
the conversation. This was an opportunity for feedback as I had, during my
talk, talked about several stationery products from BioQ. Feedback in the
form of the conversation on the table around the products. The big
observation - it is difficult for the elderly to accept lifestyle changes when
there generation has grown in the age of technological and material-product
changes.
Afterwards, the scientists, students, and staff from the event participated in
cleaning the bank of the river Narmada picking up plastic poly-bags and
packets along the bank.
1.3.2 Second half
By this time, a need for products different from the nature of existing
stationery products was felt. So as to project the nature of innovation at the
Gift World Expo scheduled in Pragati Maidan, New Delhi for the 10th - 12th
of August. Brainstorming for product ideas around the key term ‘Stationery’
had brought up an exciting arena to exercise in. With that on a chart, we
could think of which direction to expand our material inventory in. By this
time, an opportunity felt like passing by, that is, a gift pack for the occasion
of Raksha Bandhan. This month was more focused on product
development. But as time passed, several products had to dropped off of
launch, or of completion to production stage. Because eventually the focus
had to be not on development alone, but the packaging, presentation and
outreach as well.
The second half of the month explicitly required dedicated time for the
preparation of the gift expo, with a whole range of products for the
catalogue, posters for those, and banners, etc for the exposition itself.

2. Packaging
1.1. Packaging Design

3. Zero Plastic Pen
The Concept
A pen with the intentions to revolutionise the pen market by providing an
alternative to the user that is 100% plastic free and frugal enough to be sold at
the rates that are competitive to the cheap plastic pens.
Concept Development
The ideas around zero plastic pen are exciting, but require a practical
assessment of not only the materials involved, but the various human
stakeholders, users and the state of sustainable products in the national and
communal senses. An attempt to integrate Algae ink is exciting for
BioGROW as a product.
Material Exploration
Inside the BioQ research lab, experiments have been made with paper,
cardboard, cork, and with bioplastics too in order to store the ink. Several of
which have turned out to work to our expectations. Prototypes of these have
undergone testing. Algae has been experimented with, for ink and some other
random ideas, which has been fun, but less functional than we expected.
Several other learnings have popped up in the scene though. With the right
season and time to dedicate in hand, Algae farming shall begin at BioQ.
Market around the product
The gap between what current pens in the market have to offer and what the
BioQ zero plastic pen could offer is far more serious than it is advantageous.
Several exciting ideas have come up during the brainstorming for marketing
campaigns around this product. ‘Bottles in the sea’
Bamboo Pen

The Concept
A pen made out of bamboo with no plastic in the body exclusively tailored to the hands of executives and
creatives [A parallel range of calligraphy pens in development too].
Concept Development
Since the product is already in place. Rather several forms of bamboo pens, and batches of those are at the BioQ
research lab. The need is to design a packaging targeted to a certain audience - the corporate. Interesting bit being
that the same pen can be packaged and marketed towards several varied audiences. Much like the trademark of
BioQ packaging ethics, utility has been kept in or around the conceptualisation of packaging ideas.
For the packaging, materials experimented with are jute, paper, cardboard, kraft, khus, and bamboo itself.
Bamboo pens are, safe to say, everything at once. Elegant, classic, timeless; eco-friendly, ; and thus cool
& upbeat.
Mini-Kit/Plant-its
The Concept
A set of leaves of plantable paper that can used as note-cards, tied with fancy jute.
Or A set of plantable notecards, a plantable mini-pencil and a plantable mini-pen boxed in style easy to be
kept in pocket. Quite obviously targeted to event organizers.
Concept Development
Several existing ideas for the box in the market were identified. And several random fancy ideas were brainstormed
for. Eventually, the simple-most cuboidal box turned out to be the most charming and appealing for the audience and
occasion we were designing the mini-kit for.
There was not much to exploit for the packaging, because of factors such as limited volume and weight
capacity of a pant or shirt pocket and cheap packaging so as to ease purchase of large quantities for event
organisers with the existing mainline products - pens, pencils and notepads.

An event is a perfect place to craft an experience and sell an idea along with a gift. If you got free VR
glasses the day you sat for a talk on VR, wouldn’t be very different from getting free cool plantable
stationery from a conference related to environment or lifestyle or sustainable business practices.
Packaging
Beside the work at the lab, several SKUs (Packaging units of pencils, pencils and their combination) were
revisioned. Customisation for corporate clients includes tweaking with the packaging every now and then
(frequency of orders, basically). Although most of the elements from the BioGROW packaging retains in
customised packagings too with same font for text. The only challenge is to maintain a balance and
overall aesthetics in a customization task.
Collateral
Clients often have requirement of media material like flyers, presentations, etc for several purposes. This
could require photography of customised products at times.
Alongside the mentioned work in June, went the tools of user research mentioned previously. (Not to
forget, the user here is the retailer who’ll pitch your product to the companies coming to him for
customised exciting products.)
A need for products different from the nature of existing stationery products was felt. So as to project the
nature of innovation at the Gift World Expo scheduled in Pragati Maidan, New Delhi for the 10th - 12th
of August. Brainstorming for product ideas around the key term ‘Stationery’ had brought up an exciting arena to
exercise in. With that on a chart, we could think of which direction to expand our material inventory in. By this time,
an opportunity felt like passing by, that is, a gift pack for the occasion of Raksha Bandhan. This month was more
focused on product development. But as time passed, several products had to dropped off of launch, or of
completion to production stage. Because eventually the focus had to be not on development alone, but the
packaging, presentation and outreach as well.
The second half of the month explicitly required dedicated time for the preparation of the gift expo, with a whole
range of products for the catalogue, posters for those, and banners, etc for the exposition itself.
Zero Ink Pen Experiments with thermal paper
The Concept
An exciting idea that attempts to redefine how we write altogether.
BioQ is working on developing product(s) that take away the dependency of carrying pen & paper on the

go, meanwhile improving the experience of generating written text on a piece of paper. We are doing so
by exploiting the properties of thermal paper, commonly used for ATM receipts.
Concept Development
The ideas around zero plastic pen are exciting, but require a practical assessment of not only the materials involved,
but the various human stakeholders, users and the state of sustainable products in the national and communal senses.
An attempt to integrate Algae ink is exciting for BioGROW as a product.
Thermal paper is a special paper type that is manufactured with specialty coating that aids in inkless
printing. On application of heat to the coating, a clear image is formed on the paper with no requirement
for ribbons or inks. Thermal paper is the key component of thermal paper printing, which is considered
one of the most economical printing technologies owing to its low energy consumption and low
maintenance cost.
Technological requirements
While it is easy to outsource the thermal paper, material requirements really take up a whole new level
when working upon the pen. Concepts from neanderthal age to the e-cigarette age were tried and tested
for performance. And this required everything from candles and needles to e-cigs. Assessment of the
various concepts made things rather more confusing as marketing concerns mixed up inside the office.
Quite possibly, the assessment was not a complete one in itself.
We have grown up using pen and paper for communication, note-taking, sketching, or just plain doodling.
People today, though, are more educated about the environmental threat that the continuous, and rather
growing use of this media poses. People are also more open to adapting to smart and responsible
lifestyles, be it with inter-connected products, or with experiential and reliable services.
Plantable Calendar
The Concept
There are several ways in which we use paper around us. Sometimes it hangs on the wall to show us what
day it is. Sometimes, you write on it, to tell someone what day it is. We, at BioQ, have developed a
calendar that gives you a reference for months, as well as a plant for each month.
Concept Development
After conceiving the basic idea of a paper scroll with months of the year, we started conceptualising the
mechanism of changing the months and hanging on the wall. After blending the feeling of owing/gifting a
beautiful eco-friendly product and the utility of these products in our daily lives, we packaged them

strategically and aesthetically, so as to keep the cost as low as possible for a design that goes easy with
eyes.
Kraft rolls turned out to be the favourite in prototyping with its aesthetic appeal, while the use of
cardboard made the product look nothing more than a prototype. Paper was used for experimentation but
not beyond that. We also had to re-access our seed paper and consider possibilities of other thicknesses
with other seeds.
Targeted towards the exclusive gifting of corporates, the calendar achieves to be a gift of value. Where
the real value lies is certainly in the gardening. A calendar, itself, makes for a fantastic gift since it’s there
with your logo on it for most of the part of the year, rather the whole year if done well. It makes for a
great souvenir for companies to gift to their clients, marketers, etc.
Plantable-Rakhi kit
The Concept
For the auspicious occasion of Raksha Bandhan, we developed a kit with the essentials for the ceremony
(Rakhi, roli-chawal, utility box/tray) so that the message is new-age. Protection from harmful climate
change! The rakhi, made with seed paper and seed-bomb ensures a blooming of tulsi and sunflower
plants.
Concept Development
This was the one it’s first kind package to be designed, and since we wanted least distraction from the
central idea of planting, we went with choices aligned to that.
A parallel DIY rakhi kit was also conceptualised for kids, but dropped for a later project.
Lessons learnt here turned out to be helpful for product development that followed.
Material Exploration & Packaging
Kraft was yet again the most beautiful option with a cylindrical (round face) box giving us decent space
on the front and back to put the product info with patterns for the sides.
In terms of material for the rakhi, the paper thread was a pleasant material to have been used exposing
people to the wide range of alternatives in daily lives. Making smaller round boxes for roli and chawal
turned out to be a useful input for future.

While this product was designed primarily keeping the end user’s experience in mind, in our experience,
it got received by the corporates pretty well too. The company wanted to develop an online market for
itself with this product. The product when put up on Amazon did get several retail orders, but the number
was very small compared to what a well run campaign could produce. The surprising bit was finding
similar kits in the market, which were a clear copy of the concept done rather poorly.
A Do-It-Yourself
Parallel to the Plantable rakhi kit, in development was the DIY Rakhi kit. The idea of engaging kids in an
activity that rewards them with a fun Rakhi, using that reward to instill the feeling of growing a plant at a
young age in the modern world. This kit did not turn to be feasible for the production chain and thus for
the product strategy. This was to later become a product in the market in the form of a DIY diwali kit.
Carbon-Negative (mark)
The Concept
The concept of Carbon negative product speaks for itself. The idea is to deliver products with seeds
embedded so as to enable more plants in our surroundings to accelerate the race to Carbon neutrality.
With our assessment and feedbacks, we’re covering for our carbon positive activities.
Concept Development
The logo or the mark needed to fit the mental model of authentic labels. A positive (feel good) graphic in
the center to
Kraft rolls turned out to be the favourite in prototyping with its aesthetic appeal, while the use of
cardboard made the product look nothing more than a prototype. Paper was used for experimentation but
not beyond that. We also had to re-access our seed paper and consider possibilities of other thicknesses
with other seeds.
Targeted towards the exclusive gifting of corporates, the calendar achieves to be a gift of value. Where
the real value lies is certainly in the gardening. A calendar, itself, makes for a fantastic gift since it’s there
with your logo on it for most of the part of the year, rather the whole year if done well. It makes for a
great souvenir for companies to gift to their clients, marketers, etc.
Gift Expo’18

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