Box Vox

packaging as content

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November 13, 2009

Electroluminescent Packaging Patent

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While having an impact on the packaging of pricier commodities (like liquor), electroluminescent film was originally envisioned of as a way of gaining attention for lower cost products. (like Cheetos snack foods)

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From Anthony Robert Knoerzer & Garrett William Kohl’s 2003 patent for “Electroluminescent Flexible Film for Product Packaging”:

The present invention relates to electroluminescent flexible films incorporated into food or other product packaging…

… illuminated containers are more likely to grab the viewer’s attention than non-illuminated containers. Illuminating decorative designs helps emphasize illuminated parts, much like underlining helps emphasize marked text…

Because the film includes multiple light-transmitting layers that can be programmed to turned on and off in sequence, animated effects are possible. One startling application envisioned by the inventors: the possibility of creating a larger display spanning an array of packages.

(More illustrations and some display features of the patent claim, after the fold…)


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“Fig. 5a depicts an illuminated collage effect that is possible across a display of snack product bags [30] incorporating flexible features [60]. No single bag displays the complete image, but the complete image appears over many bags collectively arranged…”

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“Fig 5b depicts a close up view of one of the chip bags within the collage with the out film layers cut away… an integrated circuit [91] can be sandwiched within the packaging sheet to control which layer is illuminated. If the collage display appears in a supermarket isle [sic], for example, a nearby radio control device can transmit radio signals to the radio receivers [92], which are incorporated into the film layers.”

While such display options are hugely appealing in a gee-whiz, Blade Runner sort of way, using integrated circuitry in disposable packets flies in the face of current environmental concerns and would likely make them much harder to recycle. (Although I would love to see what sort of home-brewed projects tech-savvy artist/hacker types might make out of this kind of disposable, hi-tech packaging.) Still, as offended as I was (back in the mid eighties?) when diabetic blood glucose testing suddenly involved test strips with disposable circuitry, that technology did prevail. So who knows what the future may hold for snack food bags?

Randy Ludacer
Beach Packaging Design

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