Editors’ Choice Award Winner: Personal Care
Jewel Therapy Jar
by DermaNew
When microdermabrasion brand DermaNew launched its Jewel Therapy antiaging acne cream last fall, customers may not have been immediately aware of a unique feature hidden within the jar. Between the jar’s double walls is a label that customers can pull out and push back in, similar to the way a tape measure works. This innovative design could possibly spark a new trend for how packages are labeled.
The jar’s design was invented by Dean Rhoades, who, along with his wife, Amby Longhofer, founded the DermaNew brand in 1999. The invention has led Rhoades to start a separate company specifically for his labeling invention, which he calls the Scroll Container. The patentpending Scroll Container line now includes bottles, compacts, and jars—all of which carry the retractable label.
Rhoades describes how he came up with the invention. “As I was jogging back from the gym one morning, I was thinking about how we were going to put product information in German, French, Spanish, and English on 2-oz low-profile DermaNew jars we were shipping to Europe. Then a light bulb went off, and I started thinking not about what we could put on the outside of the container, but what we could put into the constructions of cosmetic containers, most of which are double walled. At that point, I jogged back to my workshop (the garage) and pulled out a hacksaw. I cut a groove into the side of my 2-oz low-profile container, cut out a Mylar label strip, and slipped it between the double walls of the container. By doing that, I increased the labeling area from 8 in. to more than 30 in. At that point, I called my patent attorney at Blakely, Sokoloff, Taylor, and Zafman. I had them run a patent search and filed the patent once the search was cleared.” Rhoades hired Beverly Hills–based designer Robert Radi to refine his design.
Distributor TricorBraun has a nonexclusive contract to distribute the containers. Rhoades is currently working on devising other applications for the Scroll Container. “For the seeing-impaired, you could put a piece of plastic on the container that would magnify the text on the label as the label is unwound,” he says. “Or you could even print the label in Braille for the blind to read.”
Potentially, the Scroll Container could solve one of the most frustrating problems package designers face—figuring out how to fit the copious amounts of information that agencies such as FDA require on a small-sized package, while still maintaining a package’s aesthetics. “Scroll Container has liberated the container designer,” says Rhoades. “Right now, most container walls have to be pretty flat so that they can accommodate a label or be printed on. Now, you can have containers with walls that aren’t flat because all the pertinent information is tucked neatly inside the container.”
Awards panelist Maiken Erstad, design director for Dragon Rouge, acknowledged the possibilities Scroll Container affords. “Being in the design industry, I’ve struggled so many times with someone saying, ‘You need to fit this information in six languages on one inch of a container.’ I think in terms of solving that problem, this is very clever. I would be interested to see where it goes from here.”
Panelist Jerrod Blandino, founder and creative director of Too Faced Cosmetics, adds, “This is revolutionary. I can see it being used in the color cosmetics arena as well. Its possibilities are limitless.”
Henry Renella, vice president of package development for The Estée Lauder Companies, agrees. “I think this concept is in its infancy, and I think this opens up a world of different possibilities,” he says. “I think it is a great start.”