Light L16 – All New Concept Camera

Manufacturer: Fudy Solutions
Design Agency: Character
Location: Taiwan
Project Type: Produced
Client: Light
Product Launch Location: United States
Packaging Contents: Camera
Packaging Substrate / Materials: Solar White Eggshell, Silver foil, Chipboard, Rigid box
Printing Process: Foil stamping

The camera incorporates 16 lenses to allow multi-angle shots that compose three-dimensional looking photographs. Each lens is made up of imaging modules with a resolution of 52 million pixels so that users can capture images in motion in low light sources as clear as if they were taken in broad daylight.

The Light L16 is a rectangular camera measuring 17×8.5 cm. Box with an outer sleeve that, at a glance, presents the illusion of nothing more than a white rectangular box . The brand name Light is foil printed in silver on the surface, and upon close inspection, 16 apertures can be seen on the sleeve to represent the 16 lenses. As the sleeve is being removed, more elaborate silver foil prints are revealed through these 16 apertures, each showing glimpses of different designs.

Once the handmade box has been exposed, a large rectangular piece of silver foil is revealed, with 16 circles and the word Light in white. Such a simple design, yet one the will leave the owner wanting to examine at length. The silver foil, tilted at different angles, gives off a myriad rays of light, much like the Light L16 provides the photographer with new views and perspectives. Making it easy to take good photos from every angle—isn’t that what a good camera should be like?

To fully embrace the designer’s ideals, the box only comes in three colors: white, gray and silver. Yet, this seemingly simple design was not simple at all to make. The biggest challenge was to find a way to make the sleeve go hand in hand with the handmade box and then realize the designer’s concept of a field of technicolor in a sea of silver.

Based on the designer’s initial concepts, we selected five different kinds of white paper and made samples for the designer to choose from. Eventually, Solar White Eggshell paper was selected as the material used for the handmade box. With simplicity being the main theme, everything from the outer sleeve to the linings and user’s manual was made using paper with the same texture: “light” from the inside out. Coated paper was rejected as a possibility, and thus foil printing was used. Out of hundreds of silver foils, we chose 20 different foils and in the end selected silver foils from five different brands to go with the eggshell paper the designer chose to manufacture the final product used to package the Light L16.

The ingenious design of the hollow outer sleeve allows the opening up of the packaging to imitate the viewing of different scenes through a camera lens. Thus, the challenge was to find a way for the outer sleeve to work seamlessly with the handmade box to make the consumer spend time, but not too much, on unpacking the product. The pasting procedure went through vigorous quality control to ensure the friction between the outer sleeve and the handmade box itself met our precise calculations to ensure the person opening the package receive a surprising experience so that opening the Light L16 packaging would be like opening Pandora’s Box, not knowing what wonders await.