Tonka Packaging
Structural Packaging Lead, Tonka (Hasbro)
At Hasbro, I led the structural packaging development for the Tonka brand. Tonka was one of my absolute favorite toys growing up, and I loved being able to channel that childhood excitement directly into my work. In my designs, I focused on creating immersive environments for the vehicles and finding clever ways to imply motion right on the shelf.
Work done while at Hasbro, in collaboration with the Tonka Team.
I really loved working on the mini Chuck & Friends sets. The goal was to build little, immersive scenes right inside the box. We were always working with very tight packaging budgets on this line, which forced us to get creative. Instead of relying on expensive materials, I focused on clever ways to fold and structure the carton to make the packaging pop and immediately capture a toddler’s attention.
Beyond the visuals, a major goal for our department was improving the unboxing experience by phasing out plastic and wire ties. If you’ve ever opened a toy for an impatient kid, you know exactly why this matters. By switching from traditional wire ties to paper rattan, we made the process significantly easier for parents. On one toy in particular, I engineered a solution that removed 74 inches of wire tie per box. Over the course of a year, that single update eliminated nearly 5 million inches of wire tie from production.
