Did the Coca-Cola bottle have the most ridiculous design brief ever?

The Coca-Cola bottle is recognised all over the world. At various times described as the 'hobbleskirt' or 'Mae West' bottle for its curved contours, it's seen a few tweaks over the years. But, incredibly, despite the addition of new forms of packaging, the general shape of the original glass bottle remains in use more than a century after it was designed.

But spare a thought for the designers who got the original brief. While creatives today sometimes struggle with a lack of specifics and clients who expect them to be telepathic, the request put out by Coca-Cola in 1915 was as stunningly succinct as it was ambitious. The result was a design that's appeared in some of the best billboard advertising.

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Joe Foley

Joe is a regular freelance journalist and editor at Creative Bloq. He writes news, features and buying guides and keeps track of the best equipment and software for creatives, from video editing programs to monitors and accessories. A veteran news writer and photographer, he now works as a project manager at the London and Buenos Aires-based design, production and branding agency Hermana Creatives. There he manages a team of designers, photographers and video editors who specialise in producing visual content and design assets for the hospitality sector. He also dances Argentine tango.

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