Our lecturers tasked us with designing and 3D modelling a children's toy and marketing it through a poster. The 3D modelling experiment was one of three tasks. We were free to interpret the brief however we wanted within reason and set off to create the best fit. The end-result concept was entirely up to us. Rhino was the tool recommended for mocking up our concept - and our submission would be an A3 vertical poster showcasing our finished toy.
Pictured is my design sprint. It displays my entire process.
Toy Concept Exploration
These are all toys I had when I was young. I wanted to get them all down so I could analyse which concepts I could work on and which might be the easiest to model. Due to my limited knowledge of Rhino and the flexibility of the concept, I have decided to choose the purple and white bear.
Poster Concept Ideation
I wanted to work on commercial branding of my toy for parents. I looked at my poster precedents to inspire me while I worked. I decided to try a poster layout that included a large image of my toy as well as a picture of a child on the front.
Development Notes
While researching how to use Rhino, I came across a great tutorial that I heavily relied on during my modelling process. I extensively advertised this tutorial to my struggling design peers as well and sent it around. 'Create Deformable Shapes' is the name of the tutorial - featured on a help website. It goes through a step-by-step on creating a rubber duck in Rhino. I was comfortable with my learning abilities, so I used the tutorial to know the tools/skills needed to develop my bear and didn't bother to create the duck. The most helpful skill for me was learning how to create an orb and deform it. Create Deformable Shapes.
While teaching myself how to apply a texture to my 3D model I found a repeating pattern tutorial in Photoshop essentials that was useful. Repeating Pattern Tutorial
I created two patterns. The first pattern was too dense and looked more like a printed pattern. I wanted my pattern to resemble kid's drawings. The second pattern turned out to be a better fit.
3D Model
My final untextured model in Rhino. I originally modelled using only perspective view but found my job much easier once I utilized the other viewpoints.
The final textured model. I used these screenshots during creation of the poster.
Poster Development
Screenshots taken during the poster development. I used a royalty free image of a child I found online and photoshopped my toy into the image. Child Image
I also attempted to use a picture of markers that I had altered but decided it didn't work. Pen Image
The last image was supposed to be my final. However, when sent to my phone and viewed it looked painfully saturated. My dad, who I contacted for feedback, thought that the bright colours was great for babies. However, my target audience was parents so I lowered the saturation for my final prototype.
Feedback
I sent my poster to my dad for feedback. He remarked that the baby doesn't seem interested in my product and I noted this down for the end of my design sprint.
Final Prototype
Statement of Intent
I worked on rendering my favourite childhood toy as a 3D model for this exercise - Doodle Bear. Doodle bear is a fabric bear that comes with washable markers. Kids are encouraged to draw all over Doodle Bear, wash him, then doodle all over him again! I remember doodle bear like this. However, google pictures his design differently. I formatted my model into a promotional poster aimed at parents keen on a toy for their creative kid.