I second the easy opening idea. After you practically cut your finger off one time on the lid, you will never look at that thing the same way. If it has to remain metal, I would look at way to easily crush it smaller. Whenever I do, it creates more sharp points to rip you open (if nothing else the plastic bag I have to use to recycle in, spilling the contents when lifting the bag).
I think Richard is onto something. Fill the soup can with beer.
Perhaps we could come up with a can lining that isn’t slowly poisoning every one of us?
Granted, at its core that’s more of an engineering/marketing/not being f*ing cheap problem than an ID one.
The brick that holds beer, sweet, now I can get drunk and throw a brick through a car windshield all with the same well branded object! I’m psyched…
Tell your buddy, the soup can is so easy that you aren’t even going to dignify his question with a response, and tell him to give you your money and bottle of (crappy) canadian wiskey. Really crown royal? Were you debating design whilst standing around a drum with trash fire burning, outside of a liquor store? I would have opted for Seagram’s myself 
the telling thing is heineken does not use that squareish solution, they use a “can”…wonder why.
seagrams is for hard core mixed drink slurpers, and ya your welcome to piss in the snow next to the firebarrel as long as you bring your own dram.
I wouldn’d mind an evening around the barrel with you zip, I was only kidding about the crown, the velvet bag enhances the user experience by appealing to the higher of maslows needs for self-actualization and belonging…
No Canadian club love?
R
It’s no Wild Turkey…
fwould be fun for a bunch of us “full realization” type to meet up and literally stand around a fire and get shitfaced lol (place car keys in lock box of course) might lead to some cool products.
I think you stuck your foot in your mouth zippy:)
There are things that ID can’t really improve, or at least not without an unreasonable amount of capital being spent.
Having said that, I would answer him that the can isn’t the product, the contents are. Ask for another one.
Of course, canned ingredients vs. canned food/meals can be two very different scenarios/demographics. Campbell’s seems to have acknowledged this.
I had always though that the simplest and most effective change one can do to improve the can design is to add a pull tab to the bottom so that both ends can be removed. This would allow quick and easy content removal as well as being able to crush the can to take up less room in the recycle bin. Add a square design and make it able to open the can without having to shear the metal using a press fit.
Oh, and it should still be made of steel. I’m not sure why people don’t view steel as a biodegradable material whereas plastic is an oil byproduct that has its own set of problems.