On the first day of Toy Design, Assaf put us to work right away with instructions to create our own versions of the classic hobby horse. We had the liberty to make it realistic or abstract, however we so desired. Our materials consisted of a thick white cardstock paper, white draft paper, tape, and staples. We were also given a long wooden stick for which the hobby horse head would eventually be attached to/suspended upon (this turned out to be an important consideration in the design process, which for me, became overshadowed by the construction of the head itself). The class spent most of class time creating this first prototype and were given instructions to improve upon it as a homework assignment.
It was interesting to see the different approaches the class took in creating their hobby horses with creations ranging from battle horses and unicorns to abstract geometric horses. I took the classic approach of creating a unicorn hobby horse. It was designed to be a “little girl’s best friend” type of toy, friendly and approachable.
In-Class Prototype
Final Unicorn
