Gorilla Glue

Structural Design: Product Ventures
Location: United States
Project Type: Produced
Client: Gorilla Glue
Product Launch Location: Global
Packaging Contents: Gorilla Super Glue
Packaging Substrate / Materials: Plastic

Gorilla Glue engaged Product Ventures to design and develop a new entry into their portfolio of super glue products, the Gorilla Super Glue Micro Precise. Through category audits, consumer research, and iterative prototyping, Product Ventures’ industrial design team delivered an easy-to-use, precise, controlled dispensing tool that fits comfortably in the hand.

The Gorilla Super Glue Micro Precise contains a metal cyanoacrylate tube of glue inside a black plastic shroud and orange winged buttons. The package opens by twisting the cap and nozzle assembly down onto the threads of the cyanoacrylate tube breaking the seal. The nozzle is then captured by the ratchet mechanism allowing just the cap to open and close without unthreading the nozzle from the inner tube. With the cap on, the package can be stored in any orientation.

One technical concern Product Ventures wanted to address was to ensure the tube of glue inside the packaging was secure. When removing the cap, the internal tube of glue needed to stay secure in the pack without rotating, otherwise the glue would not be dispensed fully. A ratchet-toothed design within the neck of the outer shroud was engineered to allow the cap to screw down and puncture the tube. The ratchet teeth hold the nozzle in place when unscrewing the cap even if the cap has glued itself to the nozzle.

Designing for a cyanoacrylate glue tube also offers a unique challenge because once the material is crushed it will not bounce back like a typical flexible plastic glue tube. This challenged the designers to refine the orange buttons so they would not crush the tube at the top to the point where glue could not be dispensed. This attention to detail resulted in a packaging design that can dispense more glue than its competitors and fit comfortably in the consumer’s hand.

Product Ventures discovered during consumer studies that users tended to grip the glue dispenser from the top rather than from the bottom of the glue dispenser. This discovery inspired Product Ventures to broaden the grip at the top of the glue packaging and taper the shape at the base of the packaging. This new shape made the grip more comfortable for consumers. By broadening the grip and reducing the black shroud area at the top, Product Ventures was also able to increase the orange button depression area, allowing the consumer to dispense more glue. Indentations were also added on the buttons to guide the user on finger placement for actuation. In the final engineering stages Product Ventures designed the black shroud so the same shroud part could be used on either front or back of the package and would require only one mold. This modification helped save on molding costs and simplified the assembly process.

The design strived to convey the toughness of the Gorilla Glue brand and product by using a broad-shouldered silhouette. The tapered cut away exposing the orange buttons, and the angled rib details on the buttons also reflect the toughness of the Gorilla Glue brand.