Toy Design Workshop Spring 2009
Class 1 Jan 28:
- Introduction , and discussion, here are a few ideas for thought and discussion:
- What is the difference between toys and games.
- Are all toys interactive ?
- Should toys be designed gender-specific?
- Is it enough for a toy to just be fun ?
- Toys used to be adaptations/simplifications of real objects to help kids pretend they are grownups (small kitchen and pots, model cars and power tools) but now many toys indulge into the kids fantasy world (transformers combining robots and dinosaurs etc.) Is this the way of the future, is it OK?
- Do smart and enticing toys reduce the motivation of children to socialize (and their skills ) as computer games are said to do.
- Is there a specific aesthetic for children, is there a different design language for boys and girls ?
- Any really good or bad toys you wish to discuss ?
- Any initial ideas for toys ?
- Also does anyone in class have access to:
- Children – to view, interview and later test the designs .
- Teachers, psychologists to interview and review our designs
- Toy makers / designers. To interview and review our designs
- Describing subject of short term design, assigning groups for short term design assignment.
- Short term design assignment - design a toy based on the concept of image creation. Anything that has to do with images will go. Toys tat paint, toys that pixelate, toys that project, toys tat create mosaics. One week is not a lot of time, but it's enough to brainsorm and come up with a few concepts , do a quick design cycle, and make a rough prototype and or presentation to demonstrate what it is. See links to a few toys in the class Wiki for student work
- Describing and example of toy critique, and signup for toy critiques along the semester
Class 2 Feb 4:
- presentations of short term design group assignments. Assigning research topics to groups.
Groups for second week research assignment:
Group 1
What’s out there – A survey of toys available for the age group 5 –10 . The goal is to try and categorize the toys by the official parameters such as, age and gender, but more importantly try to come up with new categories such as educational, motor skills, fantasy, aspiration, open-ended-ness, smart-toys, construction, group / individual etc.
- "Aiwen Wang-Huddleston" <awh234@nyu.edu>,
- "Arunram Kalaiselvan" <ak3037@nyu.edu>, "Arunram Kalaiselvan" <arun057@gmail.com>,
- "Caroline Brown" <cab513@nyu.edu>,
- Mindy Tchieu mtchieu@gmail.com
Group 2
What grownups think – Talk to teachers, parents and scholars (school of education, child psychologists ) what they think the roll of toys is in a child’s development. What educational / developmental / emotional goals should toys address. What toys are good and bad in their perspective. Books / articles/ web sites about toy design and child psychology.
- "Chris Alden" <cja255@nyu.edu>, "Chris Alden" <chralden@gmail.com>,
- "Chris Andrew Anthony" <caa344@nyu.edu>,
- "Hsin-Yi Chien" <hyc266@nyu.edu>, "Hsin-Yi Chien" <amy@avoidobvious.com>,
- Miriam Simun msimun@gmail.com
Group 3
How they play – Observe children at play, with and without toys. Try to isolate groups of behavior, are there similarities and differences between genders, ages, groups vs individual . Do children play differently in a supervised environment ? Do they use the toys as intended ? what props to they use when toys are not available. Ask them which toys they love most and why. Try to observe as many children as possible in as many situations. Check the literature for observations on children play and development.
- "Luis Violante" <lv507@nyu.edu>,
- "Madeline Jannotta" <mj840@nyu.edu>,
- "Minwoo Bae" <mb3678@nyu.edu>,
- "Nien Lam" <nl644@nyu.edu>, "Nien Lam" <nien.lam@nyu.edu>,
Group 4
How they play – Observe children at play, with and without toys. Try to isolate groups of behavior, are there similarities and differences between genders, ages, groups vs individual . Do children play differently in a supervised environment ? Do they use the toys as intended ? what props to they use when toys are not available. Ask them which toys they love most and why. Try to observe as many children as possible in as many situations. Check the literature for observations on children play and development.
- "Noah Waxman" <ncw221@nyu.edu>, "Noah Waxman" <nwaxman@gmail.com>,
- "Patricia Adler" <pa703@nyu.edu>,
- "Saul Kessler" <pk893@nyu.edu>, "Saul Kessler" <sbk@nyc.com>,
- "Scott Wayne Indiana" <swb253@nyu.edu>, "Scott Wayne Indiana" <symplvision@gmail.com>
Class 3 Feb 11:
- Presentation of group research
Class 4 Feb 18:
- Group research cont. / proposals of initial toy ideas (group or individual)
Class 5 Feb 25:
- Proposals of initial toy ideas (group or individual) cont.
Class 6 March 4:
- Demonstration of working with CAD to create drawings for prototypes
Class 7 March 11:
- Presentations of sketches / interaction scenarios
Class 8 March 25:
- Guest - Laura Allen - Vision Education
- Presentations of sketches cont.
Class 9 April 1:
- Design/Prototyping workshop.
Class 10 April 8:
- Guest-Michael Joaquin Grey
Artist and inventor of ZOOB www.citroid.com
- Final design class feedback
Class 11 Apr 15:
Director of Interactive Design ESI Design, Inc.
Class 12 Apr 22:
- Presentation of prototypes
Kid Testing - Friday April 23rd
- Tentative date - class of 7 year old kids will come to ITP to test toys
Class 13 Apr 29:
