HP Innovation Journal Issue 05: Winter 2016 | Page 17

HP Print is redesigning print
for the modern age
by K
 en Musgrave, Head of Global Customer
Experience and Global Experience Design,
HP; Sue Richards, General Manager
of Home and Consumer Solutions for
Print, HP; Mark Vaughn, Research and
Development Project Manager, HP
O
nce one of the hallmarks of Hewlett-
Packard, printers as the world knew them
had faded into the background. But, in
an always-connected world—where making
connections drives us—there
remained a chance to re-craft
HP’s products in the eyes of a
new generation.
recalled visions of VCRs and other outdated,
defunct technology.
Modern consumers clearly valued design
and convenience above all else. For anyone
who needed proof, they could visit Pinterest
and witness how people built cabinets to hide
printers or dressed up printers to blend in with
minimalist interior designs. No longer viewed
as a necessity, printers are treated more like
a nuisance—something to hide in a closet to
collect dust.
So the challenge quickly became, ‘How can
the printer mesh with today’s imperatives?’
To answer that, HP needed to institute a
Don’t call it an
appliance
Consumers continue to view
the printer as a product of ne-
cessity, rather than desire. To
change that mindset, HP had
to change the product that
propagated it.
In a world where aware-
ness of design continues to
grow among consumers, however, the printer
feels very, very out of place. It feels like it’s an
attached peripheral in an age of cloud-connect-
ed, handheld devices.
HP knew it couldn’t ride on the coattails of
their past successes—especially when it came to
printers. With that in mind, the company charged
forward with one goal in mind: Transform print-
er design by rebuilding it from the ground up.
Luckily—or perhaps fortuitously—designers
at HP were already creating innovative products
and apps. These flowing fountains of design
thinking could (and would) inspire and reinvent
the printer.
Ushering in a new age
The first step on the path to innovation required
a keen understanding of the ideal customer.
As it turned out, most looked at printers and
change. What type of printer would appeal to
a digitally native customer living in a complete-
ly connected world? How could a fresh design
reinvigorate consumer interest and convince
people it’s fun to print?
Reinventing the design
When HP set out to rebuild the printer, they
designed sleek form factors with fun colors .
More importantly, they created a product that
allows people to interact with printers where,
when, and how they wanted. Printing became
just as easy as transferring a file from a phone
to the physical world.
The HP All-in-One Remote is another prime
example of designing with the experience in
mind—HP’s driving focus as it looks toward
the future.
The impetus for the creation of the HP All-
in-One was to facilitate a relationship between
you and your printer. With it, you can connect to
other HP printers on your network—at home
and at the office, for example. Beyond that, you
can create high-quality documents from the
camera-enabled HP PageLift feature. You can
perform maintenance tasks and change printer
settings. You can even use it to order original
HP printing supplies, register your printer, and
get HP support.
A brighter future
By meeting the challenges facing printers and
printing accessories with design-oriented solu-
tions, HP successfully brought
the printer to the modern age.
That was just the tip of
the iceberg, though. When it
comes to the potential of de-
sign thinking and innovation
at the company, HP is only just
getting started. Innovation is
underway at every single lev-
el, with designers at HP cre-
ating new products and apps
to help hurtle printers—and
every other product offering—
into the age of mobility, cloud
computing, and seamless user
experiences.
For HP, the future—and the future of print-
ing—has never looked brighter. 

Pocket printing with
Sprocket—printing gets
a whole new narrative
M
any younger customers grew up in a
world where photographs and docu-
ments live on devices, rather than on
paper. For many, the act of “printing” is an en-
tirely foreign (and dated) concept.
The future of printing will depend on what
these digitally native users choose to bring into
the physical world—and how. New print solu-
tions need to recognize the way these users
do things and meet their expectations, not the
other way around.
Issue 5 · Winter 2016 · Innovation Journal 17