toys and play - massachusetts institute of technology
TRANSCRIPT
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
SP.778 Toy Product Design
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
SP.778 Toy Product Design
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