Kodak's Fun Saver
The last film camera standing.....
The last film camera standing.....
This is the first project I did when I arrived at Kodak in 2001. As the Industrial Design Project leader, I led our internal team of designers, human factors experts, graphic designers, and mechanical designers though the development of the outside shell of the single use camera. The design intent was to make a fun and friendly looking disposable camera.
The challenge with designing a single use camera is that everything must be recycled when the camera film is processed. Keep in mind that during the height of production in 2004, Kodak sold roughly 100 million single use cameras per year and that Kodak's single use cameras were designed to be recycled up to 10 times. For a single use cameras to be compatible with such a massive recycling stream, the camera must be of a reusable plastic can be ground up to be used again. That is why all covers and all labels must be made of a material like polystyrene.
In addition, the covers must be able to accommodate several generations of flash boards and internal components. In addition, the cameras must be able to work with existing film loading, labeling and processing equipment. To say the design was limited was an understatement. The challenge as far as I was concerned, was making it look fun and friendly without looking hard edge and straight.
Even today, this camera is still found in super markets all over the world. It is used by millions, and sold in the hundreds of millions. It has become an icon that will be known as the last film camera left standing.....
The challenge with designing a single use camera is that everything must be recycled when the camera film is processed. Keep in mind that during the height of production in 2004, Kodak sold roughly 100 million single use cameras per year and that Kodak's single use cameras were designed to be recycled up to 10 times. For a single use cameras to be compatible with such a massive recycling stream, the camera must be of a reusable plastic can be ground up to be used again. That is why all covers and all labels must be made of a material like polystyrene.
In addition, the covers must be able to accommodate several generations of flash boards and internal components. In addition, the cameras must be able to work with existing film loading, labeling and processing equipment. To say the design was limited was an understatement. The challenge as far as I was concerned, was making it look fun and friendly without looking hard edge and straight.
Even today, this camera is still found in super markets all over the world. It is used by millions, and sold in the hundreds of millions. It has become an icon that will be known as the last film camera left standing.....
