REI CO-OP Bear Canister

Overview 🔎

DISCLAIMER: This project is in no way directly affiliated with the REI CO-OP. All opinions and statements are based on my own research and interpretation.

REI Co-op has created countless products for its own brand to give its customers a less expensive, and just as high-quality product alternative to the other name brand products that are sold in their stores. At the moment there are a few bear resistant food canisters that REI sells, but all of them fall short in maximizing the shelf life of the food stored in them for backpacking and camping trips.

As a visual brand language and new category product development exercise, I challenged myself to create a conceptual bear canister fit for REI that would help adventurers enjoy their food longer and at their own leisure. The final solution was a bear-resistant food container with evaporative cooling.

Problem & Solution 🤝

The backpacking and camping community has one constant struggle: the preservation of food. Food is fuel. Animals and time continue to steal and rot away perishable food items that would otherwise be a delight to have on short camping trips.

My solution was to create a bear canister that would utilize evaporative cooling to keep food safer for longer.

Process 🛣

Results 🎁

Roles 🎩

Industrial Designer, 3D Rendering/Visualization, 3D Modelling, Graphic Designer, and Design Researcher.