HELP NEEDED FOR BOTTLE DESIGN

I’m a newbie to freelance design and I need your help. I recently landed a gig with a guy who wants to develop a drink hes been working on. He wants me to do the bottle design and labeling.
I had a few questions I was hoping you guys could answer:

What should I know before I design a plastic or glass bottle?

After the design is finalized, what type of file do I send to a manufacturer?

How do I find the volume inside the bottle in solidworks?

Do you know of any good website or books about bottle design?

Anything else I should know?

Thank You to everyone who helps a fellow designer out. :smiley:

whats his investment going to be? Are you going to tool up for a new bottle? I suspect its a very high investment cost…what are his volume expectations.

I think you need to speak to a bottling plant to find out some further info.

In general, you would work with the bottle vendor’s engineering team (who know bottle design inside and out). The engineering isn’t your problem. Message is.

For the 1st time out for both you and your client, I’d suggest using
a stock bottle and spend your time on the label, positioning, and message. Those are most important right now. A new bottle shape can come later.

Good luck.

jimr has it right on. There are a lot of stock bottles and bottle tops out there to choose from. The exercise of choosing a stock bottle and designing the graphics will be enough of an exercise with a first time project. You’ll learn a lot about the design limitations of the bottle design and the labels when working with the manufacturer. You will also have speed to market and a better understanding of cost and handling when dealing with a stock bottle.

What should I know before I design a plastic or glass bottle? glass tastes better…plastic travels better

After the design is finalized, what type of file do I send to a manufacturer? you ask the manufacturer that question…they should let you know what they prefer

How do I find the volume inside the bottle in solidworks? fill the bottle up with a water part…editing the material should give you a weight and density in the properties…

Do you know of any good website or books about bottle design? no I don’t.

Anything else I should know? Watch out for squirrels with rabies

Your Welcome

This is very good advice…listen to him please.

You know this brings me to an intersting question. What or how would you cost out a bottle design project for a major consumables company? P&G etc…

Say if they were to redesign a major brand.

Do you price it out by the size of their market and the percentage of their sales it would impact?

Or is it really just as simple as predicting time/cost/profit?

You know Ad agencies prices would be through the roof if they tackled it.

Love to hear everyones thoughts.

There are a lot of Macros now for cad programs that will calculate material and cost … and I’m sure companies can use that to find their profit and loss according to their market share…does that make sense?

Thanks for the insight.

What I am looking for is more upstream in the design process. The actual creative that revolves around redesigning the brands packaging.

That shape is the brand- how do you put the value on it from a conceptual/marketing standpoint that is fair for everyone?

Anybody know of any contract bottle manufacturers? Or a company with a large selection? I am looking for an largemouth design similar to the old Mickey Big mouth bottle.