This little gem comes from an old co-worker of mine (hi Chris!).  You know how you buy a bag of chips?  And then you open it up.  And start munching away.  And about halfway through the bag, you start working a little harder to get to the chips?  Maybe the top half of the bag starts to collapse as you reach in.  Your hand maneuvers through the greasy walls to get to the rest of the chips.  By the end, your hand might be littered with stray chip debris, like a wet cat spit out of a sewer drain.

Here’s an idea that puts this scenario on its end – literally.  Instead of opening the bag at the natural seam at the top, open it along the long side.  Admittedly, it takes a little bit of work at first to make a hole in the corner and then carefully open the bag along the side. After all, these bags weren’t designed to be opened there.  But once it is open, presto!  You’ve effectively created a little bowl for yourself: wide opening and shallow depth for easy access to chips.   

Any chip manufacturer could build their bags this way, by putting the natural seam on the long end.  One side could still be in portrait orientation to accommodate how chips are displayed on a shelf.  But the other side could be in landscape to encourage and educate chip-enthusiasts in this alternate way to open the bag.  Imagine a whole new marketing campaign for sharing (“don’t feel guilty about eating that whole bag yourself”) or for big-handed folks (“tired of a world sized for small hands?”).  Come on, chip makers.  Let’s see your stab at a new bag design!