As a design student, I think this is an excellent forum topic–it’s a great exercise in thinking about durability and consumer choice. I love thinking about how the design of a product codifies and influences consumer behavior.
I like Apollo’s “What’s in your trash?” post. Cruising around my neighborhood I’ve been seeing a lot of children’s toys put out by the side of the street for the trash collectors. If other people are looking for inspiration, I’ve been seeing a lot of that cheap particleboard furniture, takeout food boxes, and construction debris too, but I want to focus on trying to create a children’s toy that’s durable enough to be passed down not only from kid to kid, but from family to family.
The most notorious disposable toys are the kind of thing that was keyed into the marketing of a movie or TV show, but self-destructed before the memory of the fad even fully faded. By way of inspiration I’m thinking of wooden pull toys, blocks, or legos–toys that are durable and long lasting, and somehow timeless enough that they can be passed around.
I don’t have kids just yet, so I’m going to need a lot of help with thinking this one out–here’s a few questions for all you parents out there:
Are there products that you’re particularly frustrated with? What kinds of toys do you find your child going through? Have you ever bought a toy that you had to throw away and subsequently replace, either because your child wanted another one or their younger sibling needed one?
It would also be really helpful just to know what kinds of toys kids are jonesing after, which ones they treasure most of all, and why.
Though this might change, I think I might like to tackle redesigning the big wheel, if only because I remember from my own childhood being really excited about getting my first big wheel, and really disappointed when it broke not so long afterward.