Nintendo of America has an interesting new job opening on their website.
The company is looking for a new senior graphic designer, and yes, this is for their main office in Redmond, Washington. The job description includes these in their description of duties:
- Designs creative solutions for internal requests using strong technical skills.
- Includes but not limited to large scale/high visibility design projects as assigned by design manager.
- Designs and discusses hardware SE bundles and packaging working closely with NCL.
- High level of design skill with out of the box thinking.
- Helps create brand guidelines and style guides.
We won’t share the full description here, but it all points to a need for a new person to create new packaging for future Nintendo products. Of course, the first thing we will all have in mind would be Nintendo’s next console, the one that insiders, and apparently, Nintendo and their partners themselves, have been calling the Switch 2.
Does this mean that Nintendo doesn’t know what the product packaging for the Switch 2 will look like yet? Not necessarily. The person they hire for this may be put to work to create that launch packaging as soon as they start in the company, but they may also be working on Nintendo’s other upcoming products.
Other games, of course, will each need to have their own packages, and especially unique products like future versions of Ring Fit Adventure or Nintendo Labo, will need special design work to make them appealing to consumers.
So, as a brief review, Nintendo originally packaged their consoles with styrofoam in the boxes, and started using cardboard only packaging with the Nintendo Gamecube. While we may take it for granted as consumers, all tech companies started to take the topic of product packaging more seriously, after Apple normalized the idea of a satisfying unboxing experience for their devices.
For Nintendo, they also have to plan their packaging so that children can easily and safely open their boxes on their own, and other considerations like having every item in its own place.
The company made huge changes generations later with the packaging for the Nintendo Switch consoles. The Switch Lite and Switch OLED boasted of significantly smaller packaging than the original Switch, and also used recycled paper and plastic.
We don’t know if this future Nintendo package designer will come up with a radical look for Nintendo’s next console, but Nintendo itself may be looking for fresh ideas, to ensure the company is not only relevant, but prominent, beyond tech and gaming, and onto the pop culture consciousness. The Super Mario Bros movie and Super Nintendo Land are the company’s first steps towards becoming relevant beyond gamers, and their gaming products also have to change at the same time.
