Anyone here design toys? 2

[mechengdude]

O.K. while struggling to assemble The Disney Dream Kitchen last night with all its plastic parts and screws, I started thinking. Who designs this stuff? I know most of it's made in China but I assume it's not designed there. So some questions for discussion:
1. Does anyone here design toys?
2. Is it fun? (seems that it would be maddening to me)

Any feedback welcome.

Thanks

 

[eromlignod]

I thought toys were obsolete. Don't kids just get the latest X-Box and a bag of powdered doughnuts these days?

Don
Kansas City

 

[TheTick]

Do Harley accessories count as toys? Some might thinks so.

 

[IRstuff]

Actually, they do. In the recent fiasco with Mattel Toys, they admitted that some of the things they blamed on the Chinese were, in fact, design flaws in the US design that they sent to manufacturing in China.

TTFN

FAQ731-376

 

[MouseTrap]

Question 1...anyone design toys - YUP...about 20 years ago

Question 2...madenning??....My position was 'Mechanical Designer'. Back then, by the time a mechanical designer was called into play, the basic geometry of the toy was pretty well defined, as it was pretty well developed before it actually got to me. Most maddening part of the task was the fact that the 'artsy' types that came up with the general look of the toys did not give realistic consideration as to how the toy would be assembled or snapped together, and left little if any room for necessary things like snaps and screw bosses.

Having a good understanding of molds, plastic part design, and mechanical aptitude helps a lot.

 

[TVP]

Injection Molding Magazine has covered a number of different companies that design toys. Take a look through their archives using the following link:

http://www.immnet.com/

 

[Heckler]

We hired a design consultant to give us some shape data on a new hand held device and the solid model had no draft features. During the back and forth it was made obvious the "artist" had no real world manufacturing experience.

Heckler
Sr. Mechanical Engineer
SWx 2007 SP 4.0 & Pro/E 2001
o
_`\(,_
(_)/ (_)

This post contains no political overtones or undertones for that matter and in no way represents the poster's political agenda.

 

[IRstuff]

As early as the mid-60's toy manufacturing was outsourced to Japan, then to Southeast Asia, and now to China.

TTFN

FAQ731-376

 

[pierdesign]

1. yes, occasionally
2. it's work, like any other design project.

Most toys' margin is ridiculously low as is there market life, hence most companies complete offshore manufacturing. Companies constant assault on costs and familiarity with their offshore partners have engendered some rather cavalier development processes, of which Mattel practices as well:

A sketch, literally, is sent to one of their offshore manufacturing companies with a few simple questions: cost, time. Sometimes the sketch will be sent with a price target. With minimal other specifications, the Chinese company operates as their assigned product manager sees fit in delivering the toy to their customer. Often, the end company only sees their toy in the stores, never in process or in their warehouse.

I'm being a bit cavalier in my description, for example colors and graphics are often carefully specified, especially if it's a character-based branded toy (movie, tv show), but for many companies and toys on the market this is their birth process.

 

[mshimko]

I heard an interesting talk a few years ago at an ASME society meeting. The speaker was from the company that designs the rides and stuff at Disney.

He provided an observation similar to the one from mousetrap above; that the "artists" develop a sketch of what they want, and it's the engineer's job to make reality match their sketch. His specififc example was the relatively new road-race ride, and how the artists came up with the visual stuff they wanted is anyone's guess, but the engineers found a way to make it happen.