industrial designer creating growth
industrial designer creating growth
My role on this project was to develop all product in a full four feet of shelf space at Walmart in the private label toy category under the internal Spark brand. My effort began with crafting a Design Strategy for how best to tackle this massive challenge including financial payback, milestones, and scheduling. My role in design positioned me between a large retailer and my manufacturing partner in Asia, the perfect intersection for comprehensive design thinking. We went from first meeting through to product on the shelf in a mere 18 months and found ways to increase business yield in this section by over 30%. This project required vision, research, dedication, teamwork, and a lot of long weeks – all accomplished remotely as Covid fell all around us. I either personally completed or design directed every single aspect of this system. This is the rare example of a design strategy that was embraced, executed, and created significant financial and brand upside for all stakeholders in this project.
The products were considered part of a larger narrative creating opportunities for cross selling within the brand. This included functionality, form language, and color/materials strategy.
The total product narrative used verbs (listed along the bottom) as a way to create consistency in both the child’s and parents’ experience with the product line. Arrows show connection and provides the consumer with benefits to keep within the system when expanding their toy collection.
Early sketch exploring how to tell a broader narrative to tie the concepts together for better play experiences.
While not traditionally associated with design activities, I spent a lot of time making sure we optimized the price points, volume, and margins of my clients. We are designers in service of business and it was critical that we nailed the economics while creating a compelling product narrative.
Typical research for each product category. A great way to kick start the innovation process.
After initial sketching, physical models are a critical step when creating toys. Low resolution prototypes are created quickly but gives team members a very tangible sense of scale, feature, and play pattern while creating great underlays for sketching details and refinement before going to CAD.
The Check Out Station changed the metaphor from “cash register” to the more contemporary “self check out.” This product has been the best grossing product in the Spark line for the last three years because it creates a great learning experience for kids in role play.
Crafting a great user experience happened through careful exploration of the U/X including input keys, displays, technology, and sound.
End of life considerations made sure that we gave clear instructions to the consumer regarding their options when they were done using the product.