Toy Designer Career Information

If you love game night, and you’re still very much in touch with your inner child, then the job of a toy designer could be perfect for you. Toy designers spend their days developing new toys from both design and marketing aspects.

As a toy designer, you start by researching, watching kids at play, and talking with them to see what they want for a new toy or improved in an already existing toy. You then spend time conceptualizing and designing, coming up with ideas for different games, activities, or toys before building the prototype of your new creation.

During this developmental process, you pay attention to more than just game play, you also think about things like the materials being used and the development level of different kids. For instance, since many parts of toys end up in mouths, you shouldn’t include anything smaller than a fist in a toy for a baby, or have a two-year-old’s game last over twenty minutes.

When you get the concept and prototype exactly the way you want, then you present it. Depending on the type of company you work for, you may be pitching to a toy manufacturer. In this case you need to know things like production and retail costs. Once production starts on your toy, you work with it until the end. This might involve things like designing packaging, deciding what age group best fits its level of difficulty, figuring out possible numbers of players, and writing out questions.