Toy Project

Management of Design | 2nd Year | Design project | ​Role: Project Manager and Prototype Developer | Duration: 5 Months

Overview


​Design Brief: In a team of 5 (role playing as a start-up venture) design an educational toy targeting children ages 7-11 (Key Stage 2) promoting and encouraging them to continue with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) related subjects in later education. 

Required Outcomes:
  1. A working prototype
  2. A complete business plan
  3. An elevator pitch
Note: this includes creating all other necessary detail which would be associated with the company like a name and logo.

The set outcomes were achieved which included a working prototype puzzle board.
  • Prototype - 99%
  • Business Plan - 71.5%
  • Elevator Pitch - 66%
  • Contribution Mark - 94.7%
My role in the team was project manager so I organised and led the weekly meetings alongside distributing tasks. During the beginning stages we carried out market research to identify the needs of the target audience, I created the children’s questionnaire while another team member created the parent questionnaire and through my contact through volunteering we were able to distribute them in a local primary school. The remaining members were in charge of other forms of research like product analysis. I later created the template to record our results. Following the design phase, which was completed together, I split the team up with 3 people assigned to the business plan and 2 (including myself) to work on the prototype as we were available to work during the winter break.

Prototype: Once the designs were narrowed down and the key concept of the toy was agreed upon, I created the layout of the board game using "Techsoft 2D Design" drawing software while maintaining a consistent colour palette and then single-handedly created the physical board out of cardboard and the accommodating instructions. I also hand crafted the packaging as our board did not fit standard boxes and completed the back of the information cards with scientific information to accommodate the Key Stage 2 Curriculum (a fellow team member designed the actual playing cards).

Business Plan: I was pretty hands off with regard to the business plan as it was up to the assigned team to deliver. I wrote the product description and development sections as it was more appropriate to come from the prototype team. I then assisted with the financial cost model regarding our stock management, cost per unit, marketing and distribution.. This included making assumptions for our sales projections to determine our sale price, batch production periods throughout the year and do the resulting break even analysis to calculate how much stock would have to be sold before making profit.

Elevator Pitch: I wrote the elevator pitch script

Research Phase

The methods of research used to determine a specification from the given brief are:
  • Questionnaires - for the children to determine which areas of the curriculum peek interest and if there are specific themes we can use. A separate questionnaire was used for parent to identify concerns, recommended price point etc. as they were the people paying for the product 
  • Product Analysis  - analysing the current crop of product on the market and asking what sells? does it achieve its purpose? how is it marketed? etc. to better understand the competition and decide if our idea is viable.
  • Core Research - to deliver a useful learning tool we had to dissect the school syllabuses for maths, science, and IT used across the country.

Design Phase

Following the initial brainstorming and sketching, the final idea was chosen - a board game. As a result the following needed to be designed,
  • Finalised layout of the board (i.e. the playing space)
  • The game pieces - due to time constants simple counters were used
  • Instructions
  • Playing Cards
  • Information and supporting cards
  • The packaging
  • Logo
Note: Note all of the media can be made public to protect the product as it is not solely mine

Prototype

The prototype was was primarily constructed out of corrugated cardboard and brown paper masking take was used to conceal the rough edges exposed by the craft knife. The layout was printed and stuck onto the board and black paint was used to blend the edges of the board and layout itself. The layers were connected using a split pin to allow the layers to rotate (a feature of the game).