Bic catalogue

EXPLORING THE HIDDEN VALUES IN EVERYDAY OBJECTS An exploration into improving the value of the Bic Cristal pen

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CONTENTS 6

Overview

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The Bic Cristal

12-25

Feel pens

26-35

Material pens

38-43

Ownership pens

46-57

Famous pens

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The aim throughout this project has been to explore the hidden values in everyday objects.

To illustrate how this may be done, I have chosen the Bic Cristal pen as a demonstration. I have made a series of changes to the Bic Cristal with varying levels of scale.

All of these changes have been made with the intention of highlighting elements that are key to the success of the Bic Cristal. Also changes have been made to highlight the Bic itself and to create conscious owners who will use and take ownership of these pens.

These elements are often overlooked by users. I am not trying to change the disposable nature of the pen, however ensure that each pen is fully used and utilised

The challenge of the Bic Cristal is that it has become such a ubiquitous object that it is easily overlooked.

This catalogue is to show the range of changes I have made to Bic pens to help ensure its future success.

In this catalogue there are also case studies illustrating how Bics have been used in the past for important and iconic work.

Each set of changes has a suggested quantity with it.

This is to identify the scale of which I propose each pen is manufactured.

THE BIC CRISTAL The Bic has been selected as it is an iconic, quality product which performs exceptionally well and is the world’s number one selling pen, but is often under appreciated.

Over 100 Billion Bic Cristals have been sold The Bic Cristal has been in production for 65 years and has undergone continual upgrades using improved manufacturing techniques, but has always kept its iconic shape.

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Material Qualities

FEEL The pens in this section show alterations that have been made with the intention of improving the feel of the pen.

A major factor for perceived quality of a pen is weight and feel. Heavier pens feel much more premium and well built. By adding weight to the Bic and changing material feel, I aim to highlight the quality of the Bic Cristal.

I wanted to change the feel of the pen to varying degrees to play with the perceptions of quality and value.

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THE 1950’s ORIGINAL With a brass nib, this pen is how the original Bic Cristal would have looked when it was first released in 1950.

This pen is to remind people of the changes the Bic has undergone over its 65 year life. Also, the additional weight of the brass changes the feel of the pen. Due to the similar colour of the standard pen, it is likely the brass nib will only be noticed once picked up.

Suggested Quantity: 0 14

BRASS TIPS With an original brass nibs which the Bic was first issued with in 1950 and with the addition of a brass plug to add extra weight.

These pens are to promote the quality in each Bic Cristal. They have greater feel and are heavier than the standard pen, making normally unaware users notice and investigate the pen, raising awareness and creating conscious ownership.

Suggested Quantity: 0 16

ALUMINIUM TIPS Much like the brass tips, the aluminium tips were aimed to highlight the quality in each pen through feel. However the aluminium looks vastly different to the normal pen by being completely different in colour.

The aluminium tips actually highlight the pen through aesthetics rather than weight and feel, as the weight difference is little different from that of the standard pen.

Suggested Quantity: 0 18

THE THINKER This pen has a heavy plug made of brass.

Aimed at those who like to play with their pens.

With a very high centre of weight this pen is perfect for those who like to wiggle, spin or flip their pens and has been designed to demonstrate the use of an effective thinking tool and highlights the pen through its feel.

Suggested Quantity: 0 20

30/70 The 30/70 refers to the percentage of the pen which is original and that is modified.

This pen is a combination of the standard Bic Cristal and my modifications. These modifications have been done to create a heavy pen that has a low centre of gravity, making it easy to use. When using the pen it is hard to feel the difference between this and a standard pen, other than the feel of the brass. This plays on the ease of use and familiarity of the Bic. Suggested Quantity: 0 22

40/60 KNURLED To further develop the feel on the 30/70 pen, the addition of a knurl has been added and more weight at the front of the pen.

This changes the material feel drastically from the simple brass. This combined with the additional weight of the pen adds a much more engineered feeling, but still maintains the ease of writing of a standard Bic. Suggested Quantity: 0 24

MATERIALS The following pens in this section all use different materials to highlight the design and quality of the Bic Cristal.

The Bic is an exceptionally good piece of design and engineering. It uses Tungsten Carbide for the roller ball and is created to an exceptional level of precision. Each roller ball and ink is meticulously checked multiple times to ensure quality of every pen.

Every component of the Bic Cristal is extremely well made with precision and care. By changing the materials I aim to show this, by highlighting the overall quality of the pen which is often missed.

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FULL BRASS To demonstrate that the design of the Bic effortlessly suits even a much higher value pen, I wanted to create the Bic in more valuable materials. These pens have been created to make people notice and appreciate the design of the Bic. With the finish and weight of the brass, this pen has a quality appearance and feel to it. The materials will naturally make these pens have a much higher perceived value, but are aimed solely to highlight the quality of the pens design.

Suggested Quantity: 1000 a year 28

SILVER PLATED BRASS The silver plated Bic is the second of my show piece Bic Cristals. With the addition of silver plating, this is a much more valuable than the brass Bic and is also heavier.

This is aimed to also demonstrate that the design of the Bic suits even the top of the range pens and is a beautiful object.

Suggested Quantity: 0 30

FULL BRASS KNURLED To further develop the quality and feel of the brass Bic and after the improved feel given to the pen by knurling a brass section, I wanted to combine the two and do a full brass Bic with a knurled grip.

With the addition of the knurl to the full brass pen, this Bic maintains the quality feel and appearance of the full brass, but also the instrument like feel of the knurled brass, making it feel a lot more engineered and precise.

Suggested Quantity: 0 32

WOODEN BIC I wanted to see how a material with similar cost to plastic would change perceptions and feel of the pen. The Bic’s design originated from the pencil.

This made me think how the texture and weight of a wooden Bic would change people’s perceptions.

By changing the material to Cedar wood, this pen gains a natural quality with a much softer feel, while maintaining the familiar feel of the Bic Cristal. This material would be a viable alternative to the plastic body and I feel would create emotional attachments to the pen if Bic wanted to change the pen body material.

Suggested Quantity: 10 million a year 34

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Ownership

OWNERSHIP The pens in this section promote personal attachment to try and prolong the pen’s life. A large contribution towards perceived value can be made through personal attachment to an object. This value is emotional and is the value of a singular specific object.

To contribute to this I have tried to encourage users to realise how they have used and owned the pen.

These concepts are more viable as marketable solutions for Bic and could be released into the mass market and could improve market perceptions of Bic. 38

SCALE PEN The Scale pen helps users realise how far they have written and encourages them to think about how the pen has been used.

Each Bic Cristal can write up to 2 miles A Bic Cristal can write up to 2 miles and giving the scale lets the pen’s owner visibly see how far they have written with that individual pen. By having this connection with the pen, it helps users connect with the object and encourages them to use it for as long as possible and creates ownership.

Suggested Quantity: 10 million a year 40

PERSONAL PEN A lot of initial research showed that one of the main causes of unconscious ownership was due to an inability to identify an individual’s product.

Personalisation encourages ownership of products By adding a rougher section to the pen, this allows the user to almost permanently write on the pen. This could be a range of things that increase personal attachment to the pen, such as: name, start date, important events the pens been used for.

This allows a level of customisability to each pen, creating attachment.

Suggested Quantity: 10 million a year 42

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Famous pens

FAMOUS PENS The Bic Cristal has been on sale since 1950. In this time it has been used by a wide variety of people globally.

It will never truly be known exactly how many major historical events, discoveries, ideas have been captured or created with a Bic. The pens in this section are a small selection of famous Bic’s which have completed important iconic works.

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PHILIPPE STARCK Philippe Starck used Bic pens for a large period of his design career due to their convenience and reliability.

Starck’s Juicy Salif was first drawn on a napkin in a restaurant in 1990. This Napkin still remains in the Alessi Museum.

This Pen was used by Starck around this time and is likely to be the Bic used to sketch his initial concepts for the Juicy Salif.

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MARCELLO GANDINI The lead designer of the Lamborghini Countache and many other iconic cars, Marcello Gandini, used Bics for much of his initial sketching.

This Bic of his was used in 1973 around the time of his initial concept designs at Bertone for the Lamborghini Countache and may have designed some of the most iconic cars of all time.

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MAXIME FAGET Maxime Faget was a lead designer of space craft for the Mercury space missions. Starting in 1958 he drew the original preliminary designs for the Mecury space craft. These designs would be the blueprint for further crafts such as the Apollo.

Faget first saw Bics when they came to the American market in 1959 and was impressed with the Bics reliability and unlikelihood to leak, making it ideal for drawing initial detailed plans and designs.

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J.K. Rowling J.K. Rowling uses Bics to write drafts of her books, as they were easily used, functional and light. Work was often done on the move and the initial idea for Harry Potter was conceived on a delayed train.

This pen was used between 1990-1993, the time at which she first conceived the Harry Potter series.

It is likely that the planning and the very first drafts for Harry Potter were first written with this pen.

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THIS WHOLE PROJECT This entire project, including the research project proceeding it has been written with one Bic Cristal.

For 8 months (and still going) this pen has been with me and performed flawlessly everyday, it has written every aspect of this project and all the planning and organisation involved to make it happen.

This pen has to date written 1.3miles of text, to do lists, diagrams, sketches, notes, technical drawings, letters, time plans, books, order forms and completed my final ever university project, with 0 malfunctions.

Yet, how would you know?

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