GE Lightbulb (Student Work)

Designed by Andrew Johnson, he is currently a student at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California.

From my Spring 2009 Package Design 1 course at Art Center College of Design. The brief was simple: redesign a compact florescent lightbulb package. Here's the description of my concept, taken from my final presentation:

The compact florescent light bulb (CFL) is a recent innovation that combines radically reduced electricity usage with a significantly longer bulb life span. While the bulbs themselves are appealing to the environmentally conscious, the packaging for the bulbs has been less than environmentally friendly. Until now.

Made from 100% recycled White-Line newsback and printed with soy inks, this packaging compliments the eco-friendly contents. The box includes information on proper disposal for CFLs and a postage-paid mail return sticker, enabling the consumer re-use the original packaging when returning the bulb to GE for proper disposal.

Finally, extensive research has shown that if a customer can be persuaded to take a GE product off the shelf, there is a 70% chance they will purchase it. This innovative and refreshing package design will ensure that the GE CFLs will stand out, making this a good choice for the environment, as well as GE’s bottom line.

The informative insert also serves as a self-addressed adhesive sticker which can be affixed to the package, converting it into a mailable package, allowing the user to send their old bulb back to GE for proper disposal.

The informative insert, communicating the means of proper disposal of old CFLs, which contain hazardous chemicals (ie. mercury). Also, you may notice that I've designed the package in a way that presents the screw-end of the bulb to the user. I've always hated having to touch the bulb in order to remove it from the packaging (being forced to handle something so delicate seems counter-intuitive), and I thought this would be a good occasion to remedy that.