Construction Toy- The Pick n' Mix Girls

Initial ideas

Here are the initial sketches that I drew for our groups construction toy. I came up with the idea for a doll that you can change the outfits of yourself, so young girls can create the doll that they desire, rather than the 'perfect' barbie doll that comes already complete from the shops.

Description of the construction toy

We have chosen to create an item called ‘’Pick ’N’ Mix Girls’’, we are going to have two dolls, one will be white/british and the other will be ethnic. The aim of this product is to make children creative and use their imagination to change the clothing and body parts of each doll. The dolls come with a birth certificate each so the name and age of the dolls can be chosen by the owner. The clothes we will provide will be very versatile, for example we are including a football shirt as well as a dress so the children will be able to understand the sort of clothing they like and their taste. The clothes will all be plastic so they will be able to clip together however the coat will be material so it can slip over the plastic clothing. We will not be making the dolls skinny like barbie, they will be a realistic size. If this product sells well on the market, we thought it would be a good idea to add a male version of the toy so it will be acceptable for both genders to enjoy.

Outfits

- A spotty dress that attaches to the doll at the neck with two holes at the bottom for legs and two on the side for the arms.

- A pair of jeans that have a nodule at the top that will be used to attach to a t-shirt. The jeans also have holes are the bottom to insert legs.

- A black skirt with a nodule at the top to attach a t-shirt and holes at the bottom for legs.

- A white vest with purple sweet, it has a hole at the top for the neck, holes in the arms and holes at the bottom to attach the trousers.

- A sports top, it has holes in the sleeve to attach the arms, hole in the neck for the neck and a nodule in the bottom to attach trousers.

- A black material coat, the coat fits over the plastic clothing, it has not nodules.

Reflection

I thought of a construction toy that was aimed at females as because I'm a female myself, I know what toys I enjoyed playing with when I was younger and what kind of toy I wish there were more of.

I liked this construction toy task as I worked in a small group and the project was collaborative. This meant that everyone in the group had their own input meaning the final design included everyones views and ideas. I learnt that collaborative projects are often more successful because each person can give their idea preferences meaning that a wider target audience will be reached.

If I was to do another project like this I would probably try and target the product at males or both genders so that I can show my thoughts are more diverse and it would also be more of a challenge designing something a male would like as I don't have personal experience of what boys are really interested in.