The archive · Product Ideas · Product decision · 2024–2026
Epson's EcoTank home-office printers win Red Dot Best of the Best 2026
As home offices grew, Epson redesigned EcoTank printers to harmonize with interiors — winning Red Dot Best of the Best 2026.
Seiko Epson Corporation
What it had to solve
After remote work normalized, millions of homes held a printer that clashed with the decor and ate cartridges. Epson's brief was high-capacity ink-tank printers for small offices and home use that balance usability with an exterior harmonizing with home interiors.
How it works
When remote work turned millions of spare rooms into offices, the humble inkjet printer became a permanent part of domestic life — but it still looked and behaved like office equipment. Epson's answer was a design rethink: high-capacity EcoTank printers (ET-4950, ET-3950, ET-2950, EW-M678FT, EW-638T and L6360) for small offices and home use, with exteriors that harmonize with home interiors instead of clashing with them.
The redesign went beyond looks. Cartridge-based printing was replaced by refillable EcoTank ink bottles, cutting waste and running cost; the machines were built for a longer product lifespan; and simple controls plus clean, gently rounded forms made them fit naturally into living spaces. Epson's Sho-Sho-Sei philosophy — efficient, compact, precise — guided every detail.
The bet paid off at the world's largest design awards. The line won Red Dot: Best of the Best 2026, Epson's seventh such honor, and the jury went further, naming Epson Red Dot: Design Team of the Year 2026 — only the second Japanese company to receive the title since it began in 2000.
Why it lands
- Remote work made the home office a real market, so the printer's context shifted from cubicle to living room.
- Refillable ink and a longer lifespan answered sustainability concerns, not just aesthetics.
- A coherent design language across the whole portfolio let the team, not one product, win the top honor.
- The award turned industrial design into proof of business value rather than a cost center.
What it did
The line won Red Dot: Best of the Best 2026 — Epson's seventh such award — and the jury later named Epson Red Dot: Design Team of the Year 2026, only the second Japanese company honored since the title began in 2000.
What you can take
Design for the room the product now lives in: by styling the utilitarian printer as home furniture, Epson's design language won top awards — aesthetics became a product decision, not decoration.
Since then
Epson received the honorary Red Dot: Design Team of the Year 2026 title at the Red Dot Gala in Essen in July 2026, after its EcoTank line took Best of the Best. The company framed both awards as validation of design embedded in corporate strategy rather than product decoration; EcoTank remained the world's best-selling SuperTank printer line, a position built on cumulative sales since 2010.
Sources
- Epson Inkjet Printers Win Best of the Best Award in the Product Design Category at the 2026 Red Dot Design Awards
- Epson Wins the World's Preeminent Design Award, "Red Dot: Design Team of the Year 2026"
- Epson Inkjet Printers Win Best of the Best Award in the Product Design Category at the 2026 Red Dot Design Awards
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