01
Overview
Presented with my team, The Gloss Bosses (Rutgers University), at the Beauty N Brain Packaging Challenge, where it won first place. We kept the frosted lavender look of the Kosas Cloud Set and redesigned how the compact works.
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No. 02 · Packaging redesign · Club competition
Kosas Cloud Set
Cloud set, built for the backpack
A drop-proof, one-press, refillable redesign of the Kosas Cloud Set compact, made for college students. Same look, rebuilt to survive a backpack.
1st place · Beauty N Brain Packaging Challenge
Student concept for a club competition. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Kosas.
- Packaging
- Product design
- 3D modeling
- Prototyping
- Sustainability
02
The product
Setting powder lives in a backpack or tote, so the packaging has to survive daily life. A pressed pan cracks on a drop and the small plastic hinge is the first thing to fail. The frosted lavender shell is the brand, so we redesigned how it works, not how it looks.
03
The problem
Complaints about the original kept coming back to four problems:
- Hinge breaks: a tiny all-plastic hinge takes the load every time the lid opens.
- Hard to open: a thumbnail pry in a lecture hall, with a lid that fights back.
- No mirror: you need a phone camera or a bathroom mirror to use it.
- Powder cracks: backpack knocks and dorm-floor drops crack the pan and spill crumbs.
04
Target user
Built for a college student on the move. Our illustrative persona is Maya, 20, a Rutgers junior who commutes by bus with a laptop and water bottle in her backpack. She needs a compact that survives a bag, opens one-handed, has a mirror built in, and is refillable rather than disposable.
05
Design process
- Listen: collected complaints and found the four repeat problems.
- Ideate: six ideas: seal rim, refill pan, honeycomb cradle, push button, pin hinge and mirror.
- Mock up: a concept board in the original Kosas look.
- Model: a 3D model and parametric CAD, with the button and hinge mechanics worked out.
- Prototype: FDM prints in PLA plus a cardboard mock-up to check the fit.
◇ Concept board
◇ Sketches
06
What changed along the way
- Honeycomb and bumpers became one part: fewer pieces, one flexible TPU piece.
- The mirror moved into the lid hollow, above the domed powder, adding no height.
- The button sits recessed below raised lips so a bag or a drop can't press it open.
07
Our solution: seven upgrades
72 mm across, 79 mm front to back, 15 mm thick when closed. The printed prototype is about 40 g in PLA: 8 files, 11 pieces and 3 plates, roughly 9 to 12 hours on a Prusa i3 MK3S+.
- Recessed push button below raised TPU lips.
- Built-in mirror in the lid hollow, just above the powder.
- Silicone seal rim that presses on the pan's flat edge so crumbs stay inside.
- Honeycomb TPU cradle that buckles on impact to absorb drops.
- Steel-pin spring hinge with wider knuckles and a torsion spring that pops the lid open.
- Edge bumper band that takes side and corner hits.
- Magnetic refill pan: lift it out, click in a refill, keep the case.
◇ Exploded view
◇ Prototype photo
08
Every complaint has a fix
- Hinge breaks: steel-pin hinge with wider knuckles.
- Hard to open: recessed push button plus spring.
- No mirror: mirror built into the lid.
- Powder cracks: TPU honeycomb cradle plus bumpers.
- Crumbs: silicone seal rim.
- Runs out: magnetic refill pan, keep the case.
09
Materials & sustainability
The printed prototype is all PLA; these are the materials we'd propose for the real product: a recycled-content clear frosted shell, a TPU honeycomb and bumpers that absorb impact, a silicone seal rim, a stainless pin and spring, and a recyclable metal refill pan with a magnet. Only the powder pan is replaced, so far less plastic, metal and mirror goes in the bin. The honest trade-off: TPU and silicone are harder to recycle, so the cradle and seal are separate parts that pull out and can be sorted.
010
Pricing & refills
The case costs a bit more up front (steel hinge, mirror, TPU cradle), but a refill pan skips the case, hinge and mirror, so it costs less than a new compact and pays off by the second purchase. We used an illustrative index (original = 100, redesign compact = 115, each refill = 70), not real Kosas pricing.