What does it take to make something fun?

This week our post comes from Toy Designer, Justin Discoe.  Thanks, Justin!

What does it take to make something fun? Creativity.

Contrary to popular belief, designing toys isn’t like Tom Hanks in the movie Big – except for the part where the main character is a 10-year old trapped in an adult’s body. Finding a way to tap into your inner child helps a ton and I find having kids makes me a better toy designer. Apart from school, most kids aren’t afraid to make mistakes – a mistake to us, isn’t necessarily to them, it’s part of the journey.

Scott Adams, the creator of the cartoon strip Dilbert has a great quote: “Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” We like to experiment here at Sprig, from making inexpensive foam-core models to quickly flesh-out an idea to trying new things like our eco-friendly Sprigwood™ material. We allow ourselves to make mistakes and experiment a bit when creating new toys designs. Creating toys might be the best job in the world – for me, I need to make things at my core. Keeping an open mind, making happy accidents (thanks Bob Ross) are the keys to creating toys for your little ones and unlocking their imagination.

Our Adventure Guides are a good example of listening to our kids – having faceless little people was done on purpose, an experiment of a sort by a new company trying to make our way. Watching our kids play awakened us to the fact that a child’s imagination is boundless. A family to a child can be a building block, a stuffed animal, a rock and a Playmobil. A teacup upside down could be a turtle. I have seen this craziness in my own home – craziness because it goes against the grain of what I have been taught to accept. In reality, this is unhampered creativity.

What would the toy shelves look like if listened to our kids a bit more? Would we see them drowning in licensed character toys? What if you were to make a toy for your child, what would it be?

Have a question for one of our designers?  Just ask! Leave a comment below or tweet us: @SprigToys