Designers Toying with Ideas

Amanda Hope of Benchmark Communications, organisers of Design North East talks to Barrie Evason of Jennyruth Workshops and Christine Mew of Formative Fun about the way in which the design of toys is putting more emphasis on education to increase children's development and learning potential.

Designers of toys need to empathise and actually think like a child, to design toys that will interest and entertain them. Even greater consideration needs to be given to toys which can be adapted for children with learning disabilities to enable them to develop the skills with which they have problems. Barrie Evason, Owner of Jennyruth Workshops designs toys which encourage a child's development and when he started out in 1989, his main objective was to actually find a craft for his own Downs-syndrome family to help them develop their own skills and achieve something worthwhile. Barrie's products, such as the moving clown range and hoop-la type games are based on the more traditional toys that he himself played with as a child and his toys still work on the old fashioned mechanisms of coils and springs. He finds that people are very fond of reliving their childhood and buy toys for their children or grandchildren that they recall owning themselves. Interestingly enough, businessmen and women also have a liking for his toys and many can even be found on the desks of top business executives, some as far away as the USA.

Once Barrie has come up with the designs and prototypes to ensure that the toy is workable, he concentrates on simplifying each of the production stages so that all of his Downs-syndrome workers can be involved.

"Beth, Matthew and Jonathan play a big part in the finished product with Beth and Matthew doing the majority of the painting with great skill and patience. Jonathan has advanced to the more delicate work of finishing off the toy and together with my wife, all of the family contribute to the threading, drilling, polishing, packing and labelling of the products made at the workshop,"

explains Barrie.

Many of the toys in Barrie's workshop are designed so that they can be adapted to children of many ages and develop skills at any age.

"For example, Somersaultin Sam rolls around on parallel bars with the use of a spindle. New born babies need encouragement to lift their heads and focus their eyes on certain objects, especially if they have early learning disabilities. Sam swinging around on his bars encourages babies to move their head and eyes to follow his motions. A little later on in the child's development, Sam can be used to encourage co-ordination and baby and parent co-operation, and later still, the child can learn pincer control of finger and thumb,"

Barrie explains.

"Games such as the table quoits, a hoop-la type game can be adapted to a number of different gaming methods and can encourage addition and subtraction at an early age, as well as memorising skills and development of speech."

There are opportunities in toy design to cater for niches in the market, but it appears to be an area where designers do not venture. Typically the market is dominated by large companies who use conveyor belts to manufacture huge quantities of products. However, they are not tackling current product issues that specifically designed and hand-made items can offer. A smaller company can anticipate the needs of this niche market and turn around a new design far quicker than a multi-national organisation, with numerous 'set in stone' procedures to adhere to, before the final decision making process. This does not mean to say that because toys in factories are mass-produced, they cannot be designed to be more educational and increase a child's creativity and learning.

Formative Fun in Newcastle city centre, specialise in supplying educational toys to strengthen a child's development and as well as brand new designs, adapt timeless classics, taking the designs one step further. The designers who supply the toys and games for the Franchise realise that children like to actually create and build something for themselves, not just to be given the toy ready made. Christine Mew, Manager of Formative Fun informs me that

"children like a challenge and a reward at the end of it is very important for a child, otherwise they get frustrated, bored and give up."

When designing toys that can be adapted to special needs children, there are many considerations that need to be incorporated into a particular design and can therefore assist a parent to choose a suitable toy specifically for their child. For example, tapes and picture books are created for dyslexic children who get frustrated with lots of words. Some toys are designed to encourage children to use both hands for those who favour one. Other toys make noises or vibrate and encourage children to do the work, or are eye-catching and help with hand and eye co-ordination.

"Parents should concentrate on developing their child at a very early age, although it is never too late to take an active interest in your child's learning. Designers are aware of the physical and mental need to encourage the child to strengthen all of their senses as soon as possible and incorporate this into their designs. Babies when first born and developing can only see black and white colours and geometric shapes. Toys now incorporate these factors and encourage the baby's eyesight by enhancing the focus of their eyes onto the toy, for example, a black and white play mat with large blocks and mirrors. Going one step further with design, we provide play mats which actually fit onto the back of the passenger seat when the baby is in a car seat, so that the baby can continue learning, even when on the move,"

says Christine.

Stretching a child's imagination and creativity is a main objective of design and one of the most popular ranges of products at Formative Fun are the art and craft sets. Children can let their imagination run wild with crafts such as clothes design, stained glass and pottery, but they can also have a go at creating their own building structures and making their own cars. In essence, toys such as these could provide children with the tools to become 'designers of the future'.

Toys of the Times

The Yo-Yo is one of the oldest toys around and it is likely that the yo-yo was created independently in several different areas. Yo-yos made of stone more than three thousand years old have been found in Greece and evidence indicates that yo-yos may also have been present in ancient Chinese culture. In the 1700s, the yo-yo or jou-jou, as it was called, provided the French royal courts with much entertainment.

In the 1800s, the toy became popular with children in Victorian England. It was soon taken over to the USA, where patents where issued and design changes were made to improve its playability. However, by the early 1900s the yo-yo had totally lost its allure.

Then in 1928, entrepreneur Donald Duncan, happened to see a young man named Pedro Flores demonstrating how to play with a yo-yo in Los Angeles. Enamoured with the toy, Duncan bought Flores's small yo-yo making company and hired hundreds of men to travel around the country demonstrating tricks like 'walking the dog' and 'around the world'. This drummed up sales of the toy and the yo-yo became a huge success.

Information sourced from www.historychannel.com

Quote:

'I believe that when a child begins their education it is like the start of a long journey in a vast and unknown foreign country. I want everyone to have a journey which takes them through an exhilarating learning landscape. Vivid, exciting, fun and fulfilling.'

John Sorrell, Chairman, Design Council, speaking at the launch of Design in Education Week '99, 11 March 1999.

Education

The University of Northumbria at Newcastle
BA (Hons) Design for Industry/Product Design
four years full-time.
For further information:
telephone:- (0191) 227 4913

Gosforth Community Education offers short courses in t
Toy and game design and production.
For further information,
telephone:-(0191) 285 1000

• Woodwork - beginners and improvers takes place on a Monday and Wednesday evening and you can start the course immediately.
  
  
• Classroom Assistants (day) - Stage 1 and 2 - Stage 2 first class started this morning and takes place once a week on a Friday morning. (For parents, this course is free with crèche facilities available at the school.) Stage 1 commences in September.
  
  
• Classroom Assistants (evening) - Stage 1 and 2 - Monday or Tuesday evening. Course starts in February.

Contacts:

Amanda Hope, Benchmark Communications Ltd:- Tel: (0191) 241 4523

Barrie Evason, Jennyruth Workshops:- Tel: 01423 323 877
Website:- www.jennyruth.co.uk

Christine Mew, Formative Fun:- Tel:( 0191) 261 2112
Website:- www.formative-fun.com

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This document is reproduced with he kind permission of The Journal and Benchmark Communications.