Toy Design Workshop Spring 2009
Class 1 Jan 20:
- 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 Jan 27:
- 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.
- "Si Cho" <shc341@nyu.edu>, "Si Cho" <firstsnow80@hotmail.com>,
- "Alejandro Kauffmann" <ak2589@nyu.edu>,
- "Sara Huong" <sara.huong@nyu.edu>
- "Cynthia Hilmoe" <cdh263@nyu.edu>,
- "Robert Carlsen" <rec312@nyu.edu>, "Robert Carlsen" <rcarlsen@nyu.edu>,
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.
- "Elias Zananiri" <ez377@nyu.edu>,
- "Asli Sevinc" <as4432@nyu.edu>,
- "Winslow Porter" <wtp217@nyu.edu>, "Winslow Porter" <Winslow.Porter@gmail.com>,
- "Eun Joo Lee" <ejl334@nyu.edu>,
- "Liangjie Xia" <lx243@nyu.edu>, "Liangjie Xia" <leejayxia@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.
- "Eun Jung Park" <ejp291@nyu.edu>, "Eun Jung Park" <ej.park84@gmail.com>,
- "Young Taek Oh" <yto200@nyu.edu>, "Young Taek Oh" <taeki.oh@gmail.com>
- "Paul Rothman" <par232@nyu.edu>, "Paul Rothman" <paulr@nyu.edu>,
- "Marco Castro Cosio" <mcc479@nyu.edu>,
- "Emeri Yarnoff" <ey386@nyu.edu>, "Emeri Yarnoff" <emeriaudra@gmail.com>,
Class 3 Feb 3:
- Presentation of group research
Class 4 Feb 10:
- Group research cont. / proposals of initial toy ideas (group or individual)
Class 5 Feb 17:
- Proposals of initial toy ideas (group or individual) cont.
Class 6 Feb 24:
- Demonstration of working with CAD to create drawings for prototypes
Class 7 March 3:
- Presentations of sketches / interaction scenarios
Class 8 March 10:
- Guest - Laura Allen - Vision Education
- Presentations of sketches cont.
Class 9 March 24:
- Design/Prototyping workshop.
Class 10 March 31:
- Guest-Michael Joaquin Grey
Artist and inventor of ZOOB www.citroid.com
- Final design class feedback
Class 11 Apr 7:
Director of Interactive Design ESI Design, Inc.
Class 12 Apr 14:
- Presentation of prototypes
Kid Testing - Friday April 17th
- Tentative date - class of 6 year old kids will come to ITP to test toys
Class 13 Apr 21:
- Presentations of kid testing videos
Class 14 April 28:
