You’ve got a friend in me.

For some odd reason this song has been playing round and round in my head. Not only for the fact of engagement in my internship and capstone, but to find a way to be diverse and innovative in an industry that is saturated of ideation is to say, sometimes the simplicity of thing is what sells and sells a brand. All in all that is overwhelmingly true. You try to be different and over the top but you get down to the very simplistic approach and it is what sells. Especially during concept development.

I wanted to take a different approach to my concept development and find a way to give in to the stylization of products that we came across as kids, teens and parents today. You look at all the toys in each aisle, and or a toy in general and the obvious approach it has to each specific audience. That is a consideration that many take into account for the overall persons in positions for many years making decisions for the company product area. One thing I look at when I engage in toys is that they are all basically the same, and when something new comes out everyone else has a different version of it, almost like let’s hop on the band wagon. It seems short that the way to invest in an idea that might flop or change the way a company develops products is a far fetched promise or dream. We all take the approach in which we would rather see other fail in it, and then redevelop or we wait to see how something might do on the market before we jump in.

I have learned and notice that is not all the same in many areas, some are striving for new ideas, while others are striving for re-imagining the brand of their companies. After much compiled thought and research of my own viewing of many different toys on the market directed at different audiences, I decided to go for an approach that I wish I saw more of as a kid, rather than develop more towards a brand nature.

Will it sell, is one of the number one things I have learned to keep mind during the ideation and concept development stage. Another thing is that is it long lasting? The toy association pusses this as a good thing to keep in mind during concept development. They also speak of companies would rather buy lasting concepts/products rather than taking the chance to see the product succeed.

There is always something new to learn and new resources to explore, especially for a subject area such as toys, and developing creative toys. I could spend my entire capstone researching and understanding all the approaches and iterations todays toys have grown and shaped the world today, throughout young minds.

After sketching through and researching other toys that might play into these ideas such as creative artistic approaches, creating puzzles, to figurines and role play, I ended at a wide range of concepts.

I am unsure of which book I would like to use for the paladins quest, but I came to the realization that there a different approach to my concept on discover, imagine, create, and play. I took into consideration of other popular toys out there today that create the spark of imagination and play, especially video games. The reason for video games is that it has changed the way toys and imagination are used for young minds.

when I was a kid I had a few things that the product came with and I had to create and play. That shaped the way I imagine everything today. I also remember that I wish there was more stylization and cooler looking toys designed to help spark that Imagination. As stated earlier that a wide range of toys have not seemed to change in much of appearance than the usual. Yes the updates have applied as technologies have grown, but you do not see a wide ranged of extremely stylized toys on the market, I mean this as much of appeal and artistic approach more than the toy itself.

Next week will be fun, I am going to choose which concepts and move forward on the actual development. I need to make some engineering changes as far as latches, keys and locks, etc. a wide range of mechanical components for the play set that will need to be implemented into the designs.

stay tuned!!!!