Just Plain Fun
Ice Cream: The Rise of the “Squround”

Ice Cream has come in many flavors and shapes over the years, but for the past twenty years the shape of the quintessential late night snack and birthday treat is known in the trade as squround. The name is a portmanteau for “square round”, referring to a compromise between a square and a round carton. Some watches or swimming pools can also be considered squround.
The squround design offers several advantages. Like a cylindrical container, it is easy to scoop from, allows better air circulation to keep the ice cream cool, and ensures a tighter seal. The squarish shape makes it more efficient for storage, whether at the store or in your fridge, and provides more legible surface area for labeling. This combination of features makes the squround a best-of-both-worlds scenario for ice cream packaging.
Beyond ice cream, companies also produce squround containers for items such as large instant coffee tins and water bottles. The design’s practicality extends beyond just food items, addressing issues of storage and transportation efficiency.
For example, John Zelek, in an article in Fast Company, highlights the advantages of the squround shape. “Two circles are going to have one pressure point. If you hit one side of the box, all of the bottles are going to smash into each other,” Zelek explains. “A lot of the time, we’d ship to consumers, and the bottle would show up dinged. It just didn’t set up the best look possible.” The squround shape mitigates these issues, providing a more durable and aesthetically pleasing solution for packaging.
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