The new HP Smart Tank series refillable ink-tank thermal inkjet printers are highly optimized from their predecessors with a lesser draft angle for the enclosure design; reducing the product footprint and creating a modern design that matches perfectly with today’s home & office environment. The new design was created to align with the premium look of HP’s high-end products design language.
Replenishing ink is clean and easy with the innovative HP refill system which provides a simple and spill-free refill experience. The ink tank has also been carefully engineered and designed to assure secure sealing during replenishment to prevent any ink spillage.
The target group is any consumer or small business user looking for high-volume, low-cost printing seeking the benefits of a refillable ink tank printer that the user can replenish on their own from easy-to-use ink bottles.
The task for the design team was to reduce the product footprint and create a more modern design that better integrates into today’s home & office environments and aligns with the premium look of HP’s high-end product lines. Previous models were molded at 5-degrees draft as a tooling limitation but with more advanced tooling design the new form factor reduced the mold draft angel to 1-degree which has also reduced packaging sizes resulting in improved shipping logistics.
The design aesthetic specific to the Smart Tank series incorporates thoughtful details such as KCMY letters above the ink tanks for better readability and provides support for color- blind users. Obvious visual and physical cues on the front door makes opening easy, and glossy buttons differentiate texture from the surrounding area are aesthetically pleasing and serve to improve the tactile experience.
The new design debuts an Innovative sense-by-scan module that detects media presence and sizes more accurately. This innovation has been implemented to replace the more costly IR sensors used on predecessor models that were limited in sizing media. The new scan module works seamlessly when the user adjusts the media size tab, a value change is then read by the scan module. These printers also incorporate automatic low ink and low paper sensors.
In addition, the smart-guided buttons of the control panel illuminate to guide users through everyday print, scan, and copy tasks. The new HP Smart Tank printers have a contextual user interface, so each action by user illuminates the relevant button or information which then seamlessly walks the user through the operation.
Category:ElectronicsYear:2023Designers:Enterprise Global Experience Design Group, HP Inc., SingaporeManufacturer:HP Inc., Palo Alto, California, USA
