Learning by design
A peek into a renowned toy design department illustrates how a toy goes from concept to completion.
Gail Ma -- Playthings, 5/1/2003
Paul Calabro, an adjunct instructor at New York's Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), walked through the classroom, carefully picked up a sketch of a new toy and examined the artwork. The design was of an animal with a head that was almost twice as big as the body; a very long neck attached them together. He asked the student what kind of material he was planning to use for the neck. The student was considering beads. Immediately, Calabro thought of the wire hair accessories that women use and conveyed this thought to the student.
And that was just the beginning of the toy design process.
During the 2003 International Toy Fair, PLAYTHINGS had the opportunity to participate in "Celebrating the Design Process," an event hosted by the toy design department at FIT. As part of this program, Calabro gave PLAYTHINGS a tour of the department, which included a presentation of the toy design process.
Anyone can come up with ideas for new toys, so why should they go to school for two years to learn toy design? As Calabro explained, many factors need to be considered during the process: social issues, such as whether the toy promotes child development; safety issues, to ensure that the toy will not cause any physical harm to the child; and business issues, like marketability and cost-effectiveness.
But this process does not stop at the drawing board: Toy design students at FIT must also manufacture their own designs upon graduation. For hard toys, this entails engineering, creating the mold and assembling all the pieces together to construct the final product. The manufacturing process for soft toys is certainly different: creating a workable pattern and painstakingly stitching all the pieces together. Soft toy design students also write and illustrate a corresponding storybook which, in turn, breathes life into the characters they have created.
Indeed, toy making requires creativity, strategic thinking and determination. What motivates these students to stay so committed to learn toy design? For these future designers, it is the sense of fulfillment that comes from being able to make the kinds of playthings they could only dream of when they were kids. Timing and luck also play significant roles in the success of new designs. As a result, most of the student toys in the office will never even make it to store shelves. But for the ones that do, they may become the foundation of the imaginative worlds of the next generation.
