Melon Calpico Bottle Design

Back in August 2021, the popular Japanese beverage company Calpico hosted a package design contest to introduce their new melon flavored drink. The grand prize winners got to have their illustrations printed on the bottles as limited edition designs. Although Calpico is not as well-known in the United States, you can find it in every vending machine and fountain drink dispenser in Japan. I was super excited about this contest because the taste of Calpico brings back many sweet and nostalgic memories of summers I spent in Japan. Nowadays, I only drink water and the occasional cup of hot herbal tea. However, my favorite drink as a kid was always Calpico. My parents raised me to believe that sugary drinks are meant to be enjoyed as a special treat and not part of our everyday diet. Therefore, I associated Calpico with carefree vacations, holidays, and fun outings.

The first time I came across the melon Calpico flavor was at a Japanese conbini (convenience store) in 2019. I love honeydew, and my eyes sparkled at the sight of a melon Calpico. It was not available yet in the United States. That night, I was staying at my friend’s vacation home in Atami. As my friends were getting drunk from beer and fancy wine, I was there enjoying life with my big bottle of melon Calpico. The drink is not only delicious and refreshing, but it will always remind me of that fun weekend with my wonderful friends.

When I discovered the package design contest, I was already working on several fruit-themed illustrations as part of a personal project. I had a lot of fresh, juicy ideas in my mind. The prompt was to create something “fun, lively, young, contemporary, positive, and upbeat.” The entries were also evaluated based on originality, creativity, and expression of ideas. When I saw the word “fun,” I instantly imagined an amusement park on a melon planet. Every object I saw from that day forward began to look like a melon to me. As it turns out, circles and crescent shapes are everywhere around us, which made melons a versatile “material.” It was easy to transform them into almost anything!

There were a lot of amazing entries by other talented artists, and I became obsessed with looking at new submissions each day. I don’t enter art contests often because it’s time consuming, and the chance of winning is low. Usually, I would rather spend my time and energy making original art instead of free advertisements for big corporations. However, having my illustration featured on a Calpico bottle sounded like an amazing dream to me, and I would have regretted it if I did not at least try to enter the contest. Art is subjective and therefore difficult to evaluate. Like most artists, I work hard on my drawings and they are personal to me. Putting a piece of our soul out there to be judged is nerve-wracking. It was unpredictable which pieces the judges were going to select because ultimately it depended on their individual tastes and perspectives.

I was absolutely over the melon-shaped moon when I found out that my illustration won the grand prize! It was surreal to see my art on supermarket shelves. Sometimes, I still pass by the refrigerated drinks section just to admire my own work. There was once a woman waiting in the checkout line right in front of me who was holding a bottle with my design, and I wanted to announce to everyone, “I made that!” Even now, my heart swells with happiness, pride, and giddiness when I see my melon illustration out in the wild. 

March 30, 2023