Samsung Packaging Reflects new Design inspiration: Printer Toner ‘Egg Tray package’

Toner is definitely an essential component of any quality printer. However, as many of you might have experienced, ordering toner can be quite an ordeal. It is delivered in a large box, with plastic foam or air cushion inside, plus user manual and product warranty, which are usually discarded right after opening the package. Likewise, the toner packages are often heavy, quite burdensome, and add up to the burden for the environment as well.

Samsung has recently developed a new ‘Egg Tray package’ which resolves these problems with an exceptional design approach. How did the ‘egg tray’ inspire Samsung’s toner package and what’s so special about it? Let’s find out how it was born.

Unit-box: borrowing the science of the Egg Tray Structure

To make the packages more user- and environment- friendly, designers at Samsung started by trying to find a way of reducing the components. Since the primary function of toner packaging is protecting the toner and providing user information, they first decided to focus on these two main purposes and see how they could minimize the package components.

Firstly, in order to reduce the protective materials, the designers began researching the package structure. “The key was about how to create a structure that could protect the contents, without the help of additional materials such as plastic foam,” said the designers.

After careful consideration, they came up with the Egg Carton’s shape. Traditional egg cartons have a dimpled form in which each dimple accommodates an individual egg and isolates the egg from eggs in adjacent dimples; this familiar structure absorbs a lot of the shocks that occur during shipping, limiting breakage of the fragile cargo. Because of these advantages, this structure is also widely used for packaging and sound proofing as well, following a similar form.

In studying the egg carton’s shape, the designers at Samsung conducted dozens of experiments to apply the structure to the toner package. And finally, they succeeded in developing a new package design: the ‘unit-box.’ Without any additional materials, the ‘egg carton-shaped’ unit-box can keep the toner safe during its travel. By borrowing the scientific structure of the egg tray, they reduced the components, which enabled easier use of the product while also creating a unique design.

Info-cover: Simple, Easy to view, and Recyclable

As for the instruction manual and warranty information, Samsung also applied a new style of providing the information in a simplified way.

“If they are put in the package as in the existing packages, they are often crushed by the toner, and it makes consumers pay less attention to important product information,” said the designers. Therefore, they created the ‘Info-cover’, where all the pertinent information was put on the cover. After the toner is removed, it is possible to tear the two wings off of the cover to keep the information and warranty cards. And when you are finished, all documents are printed with soy ink to make it recyclable.

A Wing Structure: the Secret of Gluing with No Glue

Another major design challenge was connecting the lid of the package to the body. Egg cartons usually have a hinge connecting the two. However, since the size and weight of the Unit-box is just too heavy, it was not feasible to use a hinge design.

After numerous tests, they separated the top of the box from the lid, using a unique ‘wing structure’. The wing design also acts as a lock that keeps the package closed even when it is held upside down.

The Value of 100% Recyclable Material

While conventional toner packages are comprised of at least four different kinds of materials, the Egg tray package uses ‘paper’ only. By using paper, not only did the packages become simpler to use for the customers but the production cost has been reduced as well.

Furthermore, in terms of the production, the ‘pulp molding technique’ was applied. Pulp molding products are made of recycled cardboard, paper, and rice straw. As a 100% recyclable product, Egg Tray packaging also delivers eco-friendly values.

With simplified and scientific design, recycled materials and eco-friendly production techniques, Egg Tray package offers you increased usability, reflecting Samsung’s new design inspiration. For more information about Samsung’s design story, feel free to visit Design Samsung website.

*All functionality features, specifications and other product information provided in this document including, but not limited to, the benefits, design, pricing, components, performance, availability, and capabilities of the product are subject to change without notice or obligation.