THE CONTEXT
Next-gen consoles roll around in 7 year cycles. Xbox 360 launched end of 2005, so when I started at Microsoft full-time in 2012 and was placed on the Xbox business, I knew it was go-time.
Xbox 360 was not going to sunset upon the Xbox One launch and this was a key metric used to track the success of our packaging. Accessories and games would not be reverse compatible, making it critical that the look and feel was differentiated from the 360. The packaging design language included closed box packs uniform across the entire ecosystem, nodding to the modern, premium and magical brand personality.
THE CHALLENGE
Some of the challenges the team faced were highlighted in the excerpt from our article from The Dieline.
"From an engineering perspective, we faced many challenges. The new console is heavier than the 360 console and so requires more protection from the pack. We needed to maintain the current pallet count to control distribution cost which limited the pack dimensions and the amount of cushioning we could accommodate. At the same time, as marketing plans were refined, we needed to include additional items in the box and still provide a premium out of box experience and delight for our customers. We involved real gamers to get feedback on the pack as we made those design choices and refinements."
THE WORK + MY ROLE
Designing and engineering the Xbox One console packaging was the blood, sweat and tears of a dedicated team of engineers and designers, both at headquarters in Redmond, WA and overseas in China. The senior engineer on the program and I partnered on everything along the way, but as a more junior hire, I was able to break-off 1 main component of the retail packaging development to own: the user experience research. I have detailed this work and my approach in a separate project in my Behance portfolio.
THE OUTCOME
The excerpt from The Dieline article summarizes the final launch design concisely.
"The final design is two tier with the new Kinect camera as hero on opening the box. The top tier is a tray containing the controller, headset, power pack and cables as well as quick start guide and marketing materials under a lift-up cover. When the contents are removed, the tray can be lifted out to reveal the console itself below. For Day 1, a special limited edition pack has been produced. The design is black: half gloss, half matte and the internal parts are also black. This is sure to become a collector’s item.
