SP.778 Toy Product Design

Toys and PlayPlay and work are words used todescribe the same activity underdifferent circumstances.-mark twain

SP.778 Toy Product Design

Announcements!

• New Students?• Website Update• Hasbro Trip• No class Wednesday• Lab Thursday/Selection• Notebooks?• Quiz Results

SP.778 Toy Product Design

Play and Toy Design

• What is play?• Understanding Play• Play Classifications• Emotional Needs and

Successful Toys

• The Product Design Process

SP.778 Toy Product Design

First, The Sharpies.

• Contrast• Cleaning• Post

Processing

SP.778 Toy Product Design

What is Play?• play is notoriously difficult

to tightly define-Wikipedia

• play is a quality not anactivity-Sociologist David Reisman

• play and work are wordsused to describe the sameactivity under differentcircumstances-Mark Twain

SP.778 Toy Product Design

What is Play?• Describes an Activity• Amusing/Entertaining• Developmental

– Social– Cognitive– Creative– Emotional– Physical– Relaxation– Sensual

An amusing/entertaining activity thatinvolves an underlyingdevelopmental attribute

SP.778 Toy Product Design

What is Play?

Watching Television?

Sensory Experiences?

Reading Books?

SP.778 Toy Product Design

The Importance of Play

• Play for play sake• Cathartic experience• Express feeling• Gain Control -Frued

• Preparation for life/world• Understand oneself• Development• Fun

Convention on the Rights of the Child: Article 311. States Parties recognize the right of the child to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities

appropriate to the age of the child and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts.2. States Parties shall respect and promote the right of the child to participate fully in cultural and artistic life and

shall encourage the provision of appropriate and equal opportunities for cultural, artistic, recreational andleisure activities.

SP.778 Toy Product Design

Predicting Play

Ceci n’est pas une toaster

SP.778 Toy Product Design

Predicting Play• A toaster is not a toy.• What if Play is the

FunctionalRequirement?

• Can we test if it willfunction as expected inpre-production models?

• Need a playclassification

SP.778 Toy Product Design

Classification• Organization• Tool for communication• Comparison• Holes/Opportunities

SP.778 Toy Product Design

Play Classifications• Piaget

– Sensory-motor– Preoperational– Concrete operations– Formal operations

• By Development– Social– Physical– Sensory– Cognitive– Etc

SP.778 Toy Product Design

The Play “Pyramid”

SP.778 Toy Product Design

Scales of Play• Involvement• Social Involvement• Level of Restraint• Mental to Physical• Gender

SP.778 Toy Product Design

Play “Pyramid” Edges

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Play “Pyramid” Faces

SP.778 Toy Product Design

“Pyramid” Placement• Playing on the edge of

Challenge and Construction• Open the present, but keep it

in the box.• Analyze the toy using the

Play “Pyramid” and the PlayScales.

• How would you change theplay/toy to move itelsewhere in the Pyramidand/or Scales?

• In 5 minutes, repack androtate

SP.778 Toy Product Design

Popular* Toys

SP.778 Toy Product Design

Popular Play Types

SP.778 Toy Product Design

What makes a Toy Successful?• Play Value• Parental appeal• On trend• Regenerative “evercool”

• MArketing• Aesthetics• Novelty• Emotional Need

SP.778 Toy Product Design

Transforming the Child

• Master• Creator• Nurturer• Emulator• Friend• Collector• StoryLover• Experience Seeker

And connecting with deep emotional needs

SP.778 Toy Product Design

Creating a Master

• Control• Building self-esteem• Master for Keeps• Master of Throw and

Catch• Master of Endurance• Intelligence Master

SP.778 Toy Product Design

Creating a Creator• Blank Slate• Creating inventors• Ultimate creators

– Mr. Potato Head– The Sims

• From the adult world!– Lincoln Logs– Resnick

SP.778 Toy Product Design

Creating a Nurturer

• Yearn to nurture• Emulate parents• Molding toy persona• Babies, Bears, and

Puppies• Outside the box

– Ant farms– Tamagotchi

SP.778 Toy Product Design

Creating an Emulator

• Trying on careers andlifestyles

• Barbie and G.I. Joe• Role Playing

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Creating a Friend

• Sense of Belonging• Bear Friends• Friends that Teach

SP.778 Toy Product Design

Creating a Collector• Accumulation vs.

Collection• Becoming enthusiasts• 1+1=3• Competition• Katamari Damacy

SP.778 Toy Product Design

Creating a Story Lover• Walt Disney• Emulation extension• Rethinking Storytelling• Transmedia Properties• Toymakers are

storytellers

SP.778 Toy Product Design

Creating an Experience Seeker

• The 4th DimensionMore than a story!

• Entering the Game• Controlling the Game• Realism heightens the

fantasy• Interactive

Entertainment

SP.778 Toy Product Design

Emotional Needs in the Play “Pyramid”

SP.778 Toy Product Design

Successful Toy Qualities?• Play Value• Parental appeal• On trend• Regenerative “evercool”

• MArketing• Aesthetics• Novelty• Emotional Need

SP.778 Toy Product Design

Hasbro Tour• Wednesday Feb 14th• Meet behind Johnson• At 11am Sharp• Hasbro is 50 miles

south of here inPawtucket RI

• Return by 3 pm• Lunch is provided

SP.778 Toy Product Design

Product Design Process