Reflective Statement

Words count: 528

I was having a tough time for writing the academic research. I was overwhelmed but learn a lot throughout the progress. My research method was looking into the UH online library, Google scholar, artist’s blog and toys education website. As I move along confirming my keywords, I discovered a book “Dot Dot Dash!: Designer Toys, Action Figures and Characters”. That’s it! “Designer Toy” will be my keywords. As I’m a toy collector myself, I was thinking why not deliver meaningful message through toys? It’s a same idea like those meaningful message posters that can be decorate and can be play it.

I was interested in children psychology in the beginning, hoping I will be a better father to understand their thinking. It leads me to psychology of children play that I found very resourceful from a website “British Toy and Hobby Association”, found a lot of useful articles especially “Active Play and Health Development”. It was helping me to understand the important of active play and methods we can use.

One of the artists among my research was greatly inspired me, Amanda Visell. I really enjoy looking at her toys with simplicity geometry shapes and the well design colour scheme. Everything was so simple but yet the character personality was so noticeable. She did implement a lot from the iconic fairy tales, well known characters figure, educational element for her characters design. Some artists touch on the grey zone of political issues or hidden message to talk about the sensitive issues and mocking some politicians. Many great artists are versatile in many aspects to expose their artworks such as producing not just  children storybook in digital multimedia format, toys, poster, decorations…etc.

In my progress development, I was trying to create more characters to let more children to play along or even the whole family can get involve with. Choosing the stationary was my final thought as they are closely related to. So I design a bunch of characters that reflect our social issue. The main group is the family of three, a rubber flag dad (fans of Manchester United team), a rubber strawberry daughter and a 2B pencil mum. The story was to show both parent need to work very hard to support their family, raising a child and investing a home are heavy burdens in Malaysia. He owned a “multifunction” pencil box that can transform to a car. I was trying to implement some “tech” gadget factor for the children who like high-tech gigs. I remember we used to store small toys in pencil box like “Goli”, the marble ball. The hyperactive child, which move with high speed and hardly stand still. Then the villain, “Kilo” a Kilometrico ball pen. His bike “Metre” is a classic cassette tape. Together to become “Kilometre”, distance measurement use in Malaysia.

I discover the story idea wasn’t unique to attract people. The rendering stylize expect to be more like children’s drawings. I might need to pay visit to children art center to study how children draw, the behavior and their thinking. The shape designs can be more genuine, I need to work it out to have my own style of design.

Bibliography

Klanten, Robert, 2006, Dot Dot Dash!: Designer Toys, Action Figures and Characters, Die Gestalten Verlag

Web link – http://www.btha.co.uk/btha/our-library/

My Idea and Progress Development III

Having a tough time to fine tune the shapes and design for all the characters. Choosing 80’s stationary where I was trying to show the retro design. The simplicity design was challenging. Only few of the characters are close to my expectation, such as Dad the rubber flag. I think I quite like the pastel feeling for the colours combination. Beside I like the design of the Mum, the placement of the hair and the facial proportion to show she is a good looking working lady but I fail to show the 2B pencil iconic colours (yellow and black). The Kilo, I was trying to use the Kilometrico pen cap as a “robbery” look-alike mask for more villain look. He is meant and aggressive, speeding on his Metre bike (cassette tape) on the road without thinking the safety of others drivers.The three aunties that like to gossip, Annie, Rosie and Connie.The Auntie’s look with various patterns still need to work on it, these three shapes need to be look in a same group, so the design should be cooperate to each other’s. I might need to add in some props to enhance their personality. Overall designs are need to fine tune in order to be more simplicity stylize and looks retro. I need to further research and study the good colour combination where I quite weak on this field.

Inspired by Amanda Visell

I was greatly inspired by the artworks of Amanda Visell, it has the aesthetic lines art and geometry forms that I looking for. Many of the iconic figures or characters have been turn into her style of art figures. The shape of the anatomy proportion looks raw but it all has the aesthetic of a children line art drawing where carefully form the shapes, especially the Gonzo Wood Idol. The simplicity is form by mostly geometry shapes like squares on the body, legs, shoes, pockets. Everything was just so “boxy”. I really love the wood packaging with children-like oil pastel drawing. Same like the Mr.T wood idol’s wood packaging, it all has the retro feeling not just about the figures design also the colour scheme she used.Gonzo Wood Idol front and rear view

Mr. T Wood Idol

I also found her works has amazing ideas to serve the education purpose, such as posters for boys. “I use my powers for good” It educates the children to do the right things for animals by mean no harm for them, “I am proud to be nerd” encourage children to read to gain more knowledge, “I am nice to nature” to explore the nature and take good care of our environment habitat, “I will make things better” to be a better person, stay positive and influence to people around you.

Poster for boys

About the posters for girls, it serves the same purpose of education, such as “I am my own captain” is to educate the children that they can have their own thinking and decision, to take the initiative to complete a task, “I can save myself” to be self-defensive for learning martial art, “I am wild” is to not be afraid of dirty as well as to be an explorer, “I am maverick” to remind children they can be brave and capable to take risk. Feel like the girls nowadays look more “manly” than boys if you compare boys and girls poster. “Ouch!!!”

Poster for girls

Others educational products are the Chop Chop print to bring the awareness of our environment. It shows the lumber is sad, probably in pain mainly because of people widely illegal logging, especially in my country of East Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak that purportedly resulted in losses amounting to at least RM100 million a year. The report came from media statement by Chan Foong Hin in Tawau on 24 Oct 2014.

Chop Chop print

However, “The Basic of Beer” is interesting to show the general knowledge of a product making progress and steps, suit for children with high curiosity. The “Red Riding Hood” shows a storyline with an interesting layout framing sequence, server as a comic page as well as a well design poster.

Basics of Beer poster

Little Red Riding Hood poster

Web link – http://www.amandavisell.com/

Web link – http://www.myswitcheroo.com/

Web link – http://dapmalaysia.org/en/statements/2014/10/24/19331/

[accessed 3 Jan 2015]

The Retro Toys

Although New Year sensation already pass, but the Christmas feeling still overwhelm to the atmosphere, still going on from TV commercial, press ads, radio music. Then Christmas toys come into my mind, found a site that full of classical collectable toys. Beside Star Wars toys, mostly others fill with vivid colours, red, yellow, blue, green, white. The proportions are usually not in correct scaling where the head often show bigger. I believe it is because of the facial can be recognized by the children. Furthermore it is much easy to paint on it. This so called “out of proportion” was making the silhouette into more interesting graphical shape, make me thinking about cartoons. There is a time in around 80’s, the cartoons are trying to show as complex as possible but now it has been simplified for most of the cartoons. Take the “Adventure Time” as a good example, I really like the well-designed retro colours bringing the character alive. It’s make me think about retro cars, the simple and slick bulgy shapes and the iconic colours. To be honest, I really like the colours combination and shapes design with patterns. Although I’m not the fan of this cartoon, but I guess I started to be one of the fans now.

 Adventure Time

vs

Retro Cars

Wed link – http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-29691754

Web link – http://wowcool.com/engine/meet-the-artists-of-adventure-time

[accessed 2 Jan 2015]

We All Need To Play :)

Usually adults believe that there is an age when a person should stop playing, it’s time to leave childhood behind and get serious about life. But there is nothing intrinsically childish about play. Our world is changing with speed, for every two years new “generation” of technology content immerges. Play can helps us to adapt and cope on these changes. The skills of adaptation will involve language communication, strategy planning, abstract thinking, creative problem solving, emotion handling and cooperation. Biologist study said that play not only learn new things but also has the ability to discover thinking, also to create new creation. Among the functions of play is promoting the establishment and maintenance of social bonds. Sharing a board game or a sports field helps to make and keep friends, among adults as well as children. This trend was popular nowadays, they are groups of board game activities held in many place such as in McDonald restaurants, Starbucks Coffee Bean cafes, and even we have Meeples Board Game Café here in Malaysia.

‘A culture with a flourishing tradition of play is more likely to possess “what it takes” to survive than one which does not encourage playful activities’, according to play researchers Apter and Kerr (1991).

Historian James Combs writes, ‘Social groups give meaning to play – sports are a metaphor for life, recreation makes people better workers and citizens, leisure is a legitimate reward for work… Do we in fact learn the “lessons” of play that society wants us to? Do we, for instance, learn sportsmanship and fair play from sports, or do we learn from either playing or watching play to cheat and lie and break the rules and switch teams for more money or throw childish fits or do outrageous things with the expectation of getting away with it? There are clearly both social and antisocial messages from play, approved and unapproved lessons, and often, individual interpretations of what play means’ (2000, p. 8).

‘When we play, we sense no limitations’, says child psychiatrist Lenore Terr. ‘In fact, when we are playing, we are usually unaware of ourselves. Self-observation goes out the window. We forget all those past lessons of life, forget our potential foolishness, and forget ourselves. We immerse ourselves in the act of play. And we become free’ (1999. pp 21, 33).

According to research of psychiatrist Stuart Brown, found many violent criminals did not play as when they are in childhood. They could do so to have a better future in their life.

Article “Active Play And Healthy Development” from web link – http://www.btha.co.uk/btha/our-library/

[accessed 27 Dec 2014]

It’s Playtime!

‘Playful children are more physically active, creative, humorous, imaginative, emotionally expressive, curious and communicative’. — Jerome Singer. 1994. Imaginative play and adaptive development.

Toys can be served multiple purposes for both human and animal. A good toy can provide entertainment while fulfilling educational role. It can enhance cognitive behavior and stimulate creativity. They aid in the development of physical and mental skills which are important in the coming years. Study said that playful children are more popular and happy. They were found to be less shy for those who participate in team activities or sports. Active play has the immediate not just improves brain but also benefits to cardiovascular fitness, including a healthier lifestyle, better physical, intellectual and social skill. Physical active play can improves muscle control and co-ordination, with better strength and endurance. Furthermore it can reduce fat and regulate body temperature. Parents play an important role to encourage their children to play, have to try to bring out some free time. Make time to play as the website said by Dr. Linda Papadopoulos. There are many modern educations using playtime as an effective teaching strategy. Unfortunately, this strategy is still new to us in Malaysia.

Wed link – http://www.maketime2play.co.uk/blogs.php

Web link – http://everydaytoys.com/collectible-toys/history-of-toys/

Article “Getting KIds Active”  from web link – http://www.btha.co.uk/btha/our-library/

[accessed 27 Dec 2014]

Understand The Toys History and Types

Looking back by to understand more about toy history, studying how it evolves through the economic and marketing trends. Seeing the process of evolution from the toys was made from natural raw material to digital era. Toys changed through the centuries from 4000 BC board game, wooden or clay dolls in ancient Roman, ball games with inflated pig’s bladders, marbles, and knuckle bones in ancient Greece to present days of digital toys. The high-end industrial revolution allowed toys to be mass produced and gradually became cheaper. One of the great “accident” innovation material was plastic, it was become widely use in the 50’s. “Lego” is one of the successful plastic toy companies that are still very popular among for the children and even for adult as collectible toys.

There are types of toys:

1. Construction sets
2. Dolls and miniatures
3. Vehicles
4. Puzzles
5. Digital Toys
6. Collectibles

My group of toys will be definitely categorized in “Dolls and Miniatures”. A doll is usually a model of a human (might be in baby form), a humanoid (something that has the appearance to resemble to become a human being), and an animal. Modern dolls are usually made of cloth and plastic. Before the plastic revolutionized, there are made by others materials such as cornhusk, bone, stone, wood, porcelain, bisque, celluloid, wax and apple. Dolls are often marketed as girl’s toy as early as in 1804, then Barbie swarmed over the market in 1959. Only the year from 1965, the GI Joe proves that boys will indeed play with dolls.

I need to design the characters that able paly for boys and girls. Some character I assumed to be more feminine such as the Strawberry, Annie, Rosie and Connie. It should be adorable and friendly and to be able to accept by children. I was hoping with these quantities of toys that I had, it could be invited multiple of children to play along, studies said this activities can benefit and strengthen on their social skill, communication skill and team building.

Web link – http://www.localhistories.org/toys.html

Web link – http://www.toyinfo.org/ToyInfo/TOYS___TRENDS/TOY_TRENDS/ToyInfo/Toys___Trends/Trends/Toy_Trends.aspx

Web link – http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/0,28757,2049243,00.html

Web link – http://www3.hants.gov.uk/childhood-collections/toys/history-toys/dolls-soft-toys.htm

Web link – http://www.everydayfamily.com/blog/the-history-of-toys/

[accessed 26 Dec 2014]

My Idea and Progress Development II

I was trying to study some great designer toys, trying to capture the accent of the aesthetic stylize. Although they are for adult category but I really love the silhouette, colours combination, character personality. I really like the Pink elephant created by Amanda Visell, Dumb Luck created by Gary Baseman, Van Orlax created by Pete Fowler and Popcup created by Yoshitomo Nara. It has all the aesthetic silhouette and retro elements I wanted to achieve.

Pink elephant created by Amanda Visell

Dumb Luck created by Gary Baseman

Van Orlax created by Pete Fowler

Popcup created by Yoshitomo Nara

Later, I was doing some doodling, produce some idea sketches and finalize it into these few that I feel much liked it. One of the problem I was struggling that is should I show the character in three dimension or two dimensions. Take the car for example, I think it is great to show the vehicle in two dimensions, I kind of like the way for showing the iconic shape of the car. The lines on the windshield and doors were drawn on it by pencil. The down side would be I can’t really show that car was based on a pencil box. The drawings definitely need to be further refines and touches up to strengthen their personality. Still need to working on it.

Web link – http://www.complex.com/style/2011/11/the-50-greatest-designer-toys/6

[accessed 24 Dec 2014]

Everyone Is A Problem Solver

The article described that human being always has the ability to create to fulfill daily needs. We are engineer and problem solver in anyway how. Solving mathematics calculation in daily basis, deciding what will have for lunch and dinner, the best route to get back home on heavy traffic. Our daily routine is always filled with the need to solve problems – the solutions we find could be brand new or may be from previous experiences that encountered before.

I was usually weak on this matter and need more time to solving problems. Getting started for design a toy is a brand new challenge, I was a little overwhelmed by the criteria that need for as a modern toy designer. It is not just about stylist, however it needs some amount of knowledge of technology, manufacturing processes, aesthetics, play theory, human factors, marketing, finance, and so on. The article emphasize about five phrases: the brief/ story, background research, prototyping, costs, time-lines, production volume, company brand fit and target marketing.

The idea/story already has in a rough idea, will working on it for more details to tell the character’s personality and the culture that happening in my country. I might need to be more sensitive enough for the local headline news or internationally. Just like many comic artists has done it for wider exposure and hope for the readers will like the idea or story.

Regarding the technology and manufacturing, I had done some research on the 3D printing that is quite popular in the market. Need to further research on the 3D software I can use for the machine. Although I might just need to produce just one quantity of each character, might be thinking to done buy wood block, clay sculpting or using the actual material since the stationary is common to get and yet with low cost. I need to think very carefully in order not to lose the aesthetics of the character.

Thinking about my target audience, it would be from 5 to 12 years old. I need think about the safety too, the structure and the material used. Regarding on the marketing strategy, I might need to focus on the poster to let people know about my idea/story. Using symbols and signs that related to traffic road, visual appearance of the characters to tell their personality, identify who is the bad guy among the characters. I need to remind for myself, everything needs to be colourful, and spot it right to each character for their personality.

Article of Toys and The Design Process from – http://www.btha.co.uk/btha/our-library/

Web link – http://www.sciencetoymaker.org/

Web link – http://www.3dprinter.com.my/index.php?route=common/home

[accessed 23 Dec 2014]