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Recent tales from Goldman Sachs of a 30 % decline in toy sales since 1998 have been proven to be overstated but we are well aware of a trend towards technology, this is a great thing to happen as we do need to arm our young people with the skills needed for the coming decades and so embrace technology toys we must, and are doing, better than any other industry.

This new category to take on the might of the app developers can broadly be defined as the Appcessory market.

Amongst the first appcessories to arrive on the market appeared in September 2011, establishing a new category as a small company is, well, impossible, so only a selected few were able to enjoy the Augmented Reality experience offered by UK start-up AppToyz.

Move on to early 2012 and noises from the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas from a few major toy players such as Hasbro and Mattel that we should watch their space for developments in global properties in this now recognised category and more retailers, well more mainstream retailers started taking an interest.

The trouble with the creation of any new category is that it is always going to take an amount of time to convey a message to the consumer of exactly what is on offer. Let’ s face it, the app market is in its infancy, despite on-target to rack up 45 billion downloads this year, and now we’ re asking smartphone users to“ appcessorise”. They really were not listening in the first two quarters of this year, but now we have the“ big boys” and their brands hitting shelf space sales are starting to scale up.

Across this new category of toy it is difficult to imagine any area across the toy spectrum that can’ t become involved. We have seen iPad train system management apps, the cuddly toy app market has a double digit of offerings, remote controlling helicopters is almost an old idea already, jigsaw makers see it an amazing opportunity and for those heavy on board game sales for revenue it is a relatively low cost of entry to a brand new space.

It is universally recognised that margin in this new area are much lower, as much, in some cases( board games) as 80 % lower than that of selling a traditional game but the key, as many a successful app developer has discovered, is to keep you in the game and sell add-ons.

The clever people at Rovio gave the world Angry Bird for free and whilst are making millions from licenced products still made a dollar here and there to fund early growth by selling you an

in-game advantage. These people are rethinking the way games are played, it isn’ t just getting you to buy a board game play it, keep it in a cupboard and take it out now and then, this new way, is to keep adding to the game experience you are already enjoying.

Traditional manufacturers can enjoy the same success by not only

teaming up with these new thinkers, which they have in numbers this past few months, but create new games that think App first and board game as an add-on and then I think the challenge is on. The

creative brains in the toy industry can easily take on the might of the app developers – collaboration is what is called for and is occurring on a huge scale but we’ re looking for reverse collaboration and to celebrate new toy industry driven innovation in this category not just teaming up and producing some characters with contact points on the underside.

To use the best example once again, Angry Birds is far from a kids play game, small people only played when they found it on their parent’ s phone and this, amongst a handful of others, can be seen as the driver behind the evolution of this appcessory market.

Dr. Amanda Gummer of goodtoyguide. com:“ With the rise of apps children can still enjoy the tactile feel of toys. Products that combine apps with physical toys bridge the gap between the physical and virtual world. This is good for multi-sensory development and can provide additional play value.”

Imagine, a supermarket loyalty card appcessory that you tap on your smartphone in-store and it’ ll tell you how much you are going to save if you spend £ xx? This tangible experience is something we all enjoy, and, could make shopping more bearable?

Today’ s kids are growing up with technology that no other generation has ever experienced; they are the guinea pigs for new generation of play. A recent NPD survey showed us that tablet use amongst kids is up 10 % year on year and as we adults discard our old tablets, or donate them to small people this is set to continue growing.

Source: RedPaper on Toys 3.0 published by Spielwarenmesse eG

Toys have an age old tradition in a country like India with its rich culture of play and with one of the youngest and largest populations in the world. Design with its ability to synthesise parameters related to user, technology and market dynamics can give new approaches and directions to the designing of toys keeping in mind the benefit of all stakeholders.

There is a need for good toys and playmaterial for entertainment as well as education and development. Designing of toys has gone beyond the‘ making the toy beautiful’ paradigm to cover many layers including the experiential, operative and strategic in order to make a concrete difference in the way toys are perceived and experienced.

One of the most important facets about toys is innovation. The constant need for new toys in the market as well as broadening requirement of toys in wider sectors, requires a creative response and design has an important as well as responsible role to play in the same. It was with this consideration that a PG program in Toy and Game design was started at the National Institute of Design, NID, Gandhinagar, India.

About the PG Program in Toy and Game Design

The PG Diploma in Toy and Game Design at the National Institute of Design aims to develop a professional and creative approach to the growing needs and aspirations in the field of education and entertainment.

The programme draws its strength from its trans-disciplinary nature, integrating knowledge from various disciplines both in terms of

creative conceptualization as well as in terms of working with a variety of material and media.

The learning modules give equal importance to conceptual thinking as well as practical exhibition / understanding. The curriculum is progressive in nature with courses involving basic design fundamentals, material and media studies, cultural studies, creative thinking, user psychology etc. and progressing into methodologies for understanding complex system level problems and scenario visualizations. Modules such as elements of play, game theory, character design, user search methods provide spe- recialized inputs. The project based pedagogy helps students to choose projects of their choice and integrate creative ideas with practical know how in order to come up with innovative designs. dents work on design projects of

Stu-

their choice ranging from heritage

toys, digital games, educational play material to sports equipment and designs for futuristic scenarios.

An active student exchange programme with Dept. of Play and Learning, Burg Giebichenstein, School of art and design, Halle, Germany as well as collaborative classroom projects with industries provide a rich exposure to students. The emphasis on innovation-led designs helps students to begin their career in a spectrum of industries or start their own enterprises.

Author: Ms. Gayatri Menon, Faculty at National Institute of Design