For Project 2, a fundamental component of our task is to understand the recipient of the soft toy. For this, I contemplated on the user as I wanted to challenge myself, but I didn’t know in what way. I had ideas of interviewing Professor Marcela, my very close high school friend, or a newly known friend that I wasn’t too close with. I felt that directly making a toy for Professor Marcela would be too difficult as I haven’t been accustomed to the tools in the fabrication lab that would be used for this project. Because of that, I shifted my focus to the friends. One was one that I knew very well already and another was one that I didn’t know that well. I ended up choosing the latter as I felt that it would be more challenging to create it for someone that I don’t know too well and that it was a good idea to get to know them better.
For the user, I chose Mia Xue, a NYUSH 24′ student, where I interviewed her through WeChat for days to receive valuable information for my ideation. As the language of communication was Chinese, I will provide a translated transcript of the conversation. It is as follows.
What’s your dream?
What kind of question is that… To be happy everyday.
What makes you happy?
I’m happy when my wishes come true.
What wishes do you have that you can make it come true with money?
I love shows and would love to go to broadway and eat my favorite food.
What’s your favorite show?
Hamilton.
What do you think about having a stuffed animal that represents your favorite character in Hamilton?
I think it’s alright as long as it’s not ugly.
If the world is only black and white, what do you think your experience of life will be like?
My first instinct is that clothes would be so easy to sort, life would be more boring as there will be less choices, and there will be more attention to people’s characteristics such as voice rather than visual focus.
What’s your thoughts on food based soft toys? Would they make you hungry or happy?
I think that rather than food soft toys, I’d prefer animal based soft toys as food soft toys would only be a soft toy, but animal soft toys can be human like, real, and cute.
What’s your favorite animal?
Cats!
What do you think about clowns?
They are creepy, but also quite cool. Please don’t make this.
Have you ever had creepy toys?
Nope. Nope. Nope. No.
What functions do you think that a soft toy should have?
Not much, as long as it’s cute and hopefully has a surprise.
What’s the difference between humans and soft toys?
Communication, independent thought, and unpredictability.
What’s your favorite color?
Ahhh. The hardest question ever… I’d say forest green or wine red.
Do you watch anime?
Not really.
What’s your favorite movie?
Marvels but I also like Dead Poets Society (an old movie).
How do you define cute?
Rather round without any sharp features. It looks protective.
If I made a mini you as a doll, would you want it?
YESS!
How would you describe yourself then?
Brown hair with bangs, single eyelid, round face, outgoing but only to familiar people, apathetic towards strangers, very good at expressing my own opinion rather than listening, likes lying down, eating, operas, dancing, and photography.
What’s your favorite food?
Hotpot, icecream, milk tea.
How would you describe yourself with a song?
Me and the Sky by Jenn Coleila, a song regarding independency and making one’s mark on the world.
Favorite ice cream flavor?
Chocolate.
How would you describe your perfect day?
Sleep until I want to wake up, go out with the person I like to places we’ve never been before.. eating the local food, taking pictures to recall our memories.
If you could be an animal, what would you be and why?
Dolphin because it’s the second smartest animal.
What do you think about proportions in soft toys? Do they have to be realistic or cute/small?
I think rather realistic.
How big do you prefer your soft toys to be?
Big enough to hug it.
How much feeling do you think it should have percentage wise?
80%
What do you think is your greatest strength?
Solving other’s issues.
What’s your clothing style?
Simple, cool. If I were to have a representative clothing style it would be boots, black cargo pants and a single color top.
If I make the soft toy to be like you, do you want glasses on it?
Yes.
What’s your favorite soft toy?
A stuffed dog I bought from IKEA because it’s super soft and huggable.
IDEA 1
From the interview, I understood that she likes cats because they are cute and soft. My idea is to create a white cat that wears her style of clothing being the boots, cargo pants, and top. For the cat, I would want to use a soft texture to mimic the realistic nature of a cat. I may also make it hold ice cream to some extent as I think that it would be more personal to represent it in that manner.
IDEA 2
Mini-Mia. My idea is to make a soft toy that resembles her as she seemed very excited about something representing herself. For this design, I plan on making it the size of an upper body as that is more “huggable” provided that she likes hugging stuffed animals at night. This would accommodate her habits which is the goal of toy design. Moreover, I think that in making it look like her, it would be very easy to convey the idea that it’s a mini her. While I would like to add small ornaments such as a small icecream cone or a broadway show plush in the mini-mia’s hand, I’m afraid that my skills would not allow for that. If I could make it, I would want to make it have many characteristics that I interviewed about her.
IDEA 3
My last idea is to make a dolphin with a horn that’s shaped like an ice-cream cone. Being rather soft and crescent like, I think that this design is fun to hug and wrap yourself around as it accommodates to the angle of a person. Moreover, as she’s shown respect for wanting to be a dolphin, I may also make it unique to her tastes such as making it green and red rather than the standard blue gray.
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