NEWS RELEASE
October 30 2002
UniSA student
designs fight fat with fun
With warning bells
ringing about the rise in childhood obesity around Australia, UniSA has
joined forces with Adelaide toy manufacturer Orbit Products to put fitness
back on the playtime agenda.
In a unique design
project UniSA has brought together aspiring experts in early childhood
development and its emerging industrial design gurus to make toys that
promote active outdoor play for children from toddlers through to
pre-teens.
The Industrial
Design project for 3rd year students at the University is novel in that it
has been devised with a strong emphasis on collaboration between design
students and fellow students in early childhood development.
And in-keeping with the professional aims of
the project the exciting range of children’s toys will have their first
market test this Thursday October 31 at 10 am, when children from the
UniSA’s Magill campus childcare centre will be invited to play with the
new prototypes to see if they pass muster.
UniSA Senior
Lecturer in Industrial design, Peter Schumacher says the assignment has
tested much more than the students’ creativity.
“We have
structured the project to give students a framework in which to research,
conceptualise and develop a product, much as they would have to do if they
were working in industry,” he said.
“The dynamic
factors include the input from other student specialists in child
behaviour and development and of course the project brief provided by a
‘real world’ manufacturer to design toys and play equipment that will
meet the goal of encouraging active physical play for a wide range of
children.
“In the research
phase, design students worked with final year students from the
University’s de Lissa Institute for Early Childhood and Family Studies
so that they could develop design goals that matched the highest goals for
children’s play. They also worked with Orbit Products to fulfil the
product design brief.”
Orbit Products has
supported the project by providing information about the toy industry and
feedback on the designs. Orbit will be looking at the designs for possible
production and commercialisation.
The students’
design task was to develop a new piece of quality play equipment or
furniture for children that was innovative, educational, functional,
sustainable and most importantly that supported early childhood research
findings.
Students were asked
to consider everything from the needs of the target age group, packaging
and point of sale information and presentation, to product materials.
In what is an
imaginative approach to research across disciplines, UniSA Program
Director for the de Lissa Institute, Anne Glover says the project
encouraged students to share a broad body of knowledge and develop skills
important for each of the degree programs.
“Our final year
students acted as researchers in the process, meeting with industrial
design students to present regular sessions on a whole host of issues such
as, what makes a good toy, what factors are important for children across
different ages or what are the special needs of children with a
disability,” Glover said.
“The research the
early childhood students gathered showed that several key issues had to be
uppermost in the minds of the designers. Safety was a key issue but other
factors were found to be central to the development of successful
toys.
“They needed to
be products that stimulated children’s imagination; that had a cause and
effect aspect; and were open ended, with more than one application or
solution so that children would never feel that they failed at the game.
It was also important that the toys would encourage independent play and
that a toy could be enjoyed by children without the need for adults to
control or assist with that interaction.
“There was some
important input from students on catering for children with special needs
– so the designers could consider texture and colour, the size and
weight of toys, or the decibel level of sounds associated with a toy.
“It has been a
wonderful exercise in collaboration and the result of that is some
fabulous designs and some of the best researched children’s toys you
could find anywhere.”
Among the designs
are a range of water toys, a hybrid three-wheeled scooter-bike-skateboard,
innovative furniture and cardboard cubby construction toys and a special
trike suitable for children with a disability.
Schumacher says the
work is especially pleasing because of its quality and creativity.
“I am very
pleased with the quality of the students’ work and the bright, fresh
ideas that have been developed – but I am thrilled with how well they
have integrated the research with their designs,” he said. “They have
obviously paid close attention to the ideas of their student colleagues
from Early Childhood and the brief outlined by Orbit. They have looked for
ways to build toys that are safe, educational, enduringly entertaining and
encouraging of different styles of play and physical activity.”
Media
contact: Michèle Nardelli (08) 8302 0966 or 041 8823673
email: michele.nardelli@unisa.edu.au
