For this project each graphic designer had a group of other students to work with throughout this semester-long project. I was the graphic designer and leader of my group and I had three education majors and three mechanical engineers. The idea of the project was each group was given a child age range and we had to make a toy and company based on the age and learning abilities the toy had to teach the kid. Our age group was 9 months and up. We made a company called gearheads and created a toy that was the first toy of a set called the playstation. We build the first toy to the set which started at about 9 months. after the kid learned that toy the parents could buy the next toy for the kid to learn new things. Our toy teaches kids shapes and colors. Each shape was a block and would make noise so even if the child did not want to play with the toy the blocks still were entertaining on their own. Our company is green and trying to help the environment. Our packaging is made with recycled materials along with our toys. As the designer and leader I came up with a lot of the ideas for the toy company from name, to tag line, to color pallet. The education majors read up on information so we could make sure that colors were good for kids eyes and the safety regulations for our toy were met. The mechanical engineers made the physical toy by the end of the semester and we had a working prototype to show off by the end of everything. It was a lot of work and a hard project working with other majors but, it was a good experience to have. To be able to work with people that know different things than I do.
Process:
The process was difficult at times. We first had to come up with a toy idea within the guidelines given to us and the requirements. Once that was done the name for the company and toy had to be thought of along with the tagline and colors for everything. Something that the teachers should have told the students from day one was that this project was treated differently in each class. For the designers it was all we did for the entire class and the whole project was our entire grade for the class. While the education students only really read articles and summarized it then they helped with some design choices. The mechanical engineers were learning how to build our toy during the semester. They did not do much but give some feedback on what I was doing until later in the semester when they could start building the toy. Us students did not know they each grade for each major would be different because it weighted differently per-class. So when people were not doing the work and others were because of grade, it was difficult. Then my group wanted to change the entire project 5 weeks before it was done and we had already put some much time into what we had. Once the others realized how big this project was for me they stopped being so nit picky with the details and we all were just trying to get the project done from each of our ends. In the end it came together and we did good but the way it was handled was not well by the teachers and what the students were told.