Making Studio

My best friend Cecily has a two-year-old named Zoe, and when I design for kids, I’m designing for Zoe. Ultimately, with my night light concepts, I was primarily thinking about Zoe.

While I tried to mine the depths of my cranium for any unique ideas, I kept coming back to the usual suspects: sources of light, and perhaps the emanation of music. I pushed myself to brainstorm within more conceptual realms, but just kept hitting blank walls. While I think a vintage-style camping lantern or flashlight could’ve been a neat decorative pillow or vintage-y collectible, all roads eventually led to the anglerfish. I mean, what creature on this earth has a cooler source of light?  

Story & Target User

Thanks in part to Finding Nemo, the anglerfish is now a notorious deep-sea beast. And you know who loves beastly beasties? That’s right—kiddos.

This plush anglerfish is a bona fide predator—if your other stuffies aren’t careful, Zeeborgle might lure them in and gobble them up! In simpler terms, Zeeborgle is the ultimate ugly doll.

The target user is a child aged 3-6, who is still excited about stuffed animals and creating stories (and rivalries and scandals and dramas, oh my!), that may or may not involve one stuffie gobbling up another. They hopefully will not tug the light-up lure, as that would break the circuit and potentially put them at risk. More there to consider, I’m sure.

Planned Materials & Components
For the main body of the fish, including the dangly light lure, I plan to use a soft, fuzzy plush-style fabric. In addition to the fluff-stuffing, I’d like to put wire within the lure, so that it can be bent in different directions. The same fabric will be used for the teeth, which will be sewn and then attached separately. The fins will be a thinner, possibly shiny or metallic cloth, sewn onto the main body (note: I found it very tough to create wavy shapes at such small sizes). For the eye, I’d like to sew a mini plush oval, potentially with a small Velcro or magnetic component so that the eyeball can be moved to look in different directions.

Another neat feature would be Velcro on the teeth plus a pair of little fish that can then be “lured” into the mouth and caught in the teeth. I’m thinking this could be a fun interactive element, to extend the toy’s lifespan, before it gets relegated to the back of the closet.

Thoughts & Next Steps
Lots of anglerfish plushies exist on the internet (some of which light up, like this one, which is also a puppet). I was initially discouraged by this, but it was ultimately still the idea I was most excited about. To differentiate it from existing toys, I thought about the adjustable wire lure and the Velcro within the teeth. Even better would be if the little fish got gobbled up all the way into the stomach—maybe something to explore in my next iteration. Also, I feel like my current prototype leans in the “ugly doll” direction, which is different from the other versions I’ve seen in circulation.

Very excited for the next stage and keen for any suggestions!

Handle a cute teddy bear doll!

There are three sources of inspiration for me:

1: My first fabric doll from my childhood. Legend has it that every child’s bedside doll accompanies them to dreamland and protects them from nightmares.

2: Mr. Black, who accompanied me when I was the loneliest in my high school years. He came from the miniature world and had no hands but only a pair of long and skinny legs, and he was my favorite friend, and I would take him with me wherever I went, but once I lost him when I took him out of the house, and I was sad for a long time.

3: Still in my happiest childhood, this was my favorite creature to observe-a caterpillar (it didn’t look like much), which meant well, and even though he doesn’t look that great now, he’s going to turn into a beautiful butterfly eventually, which sounds great.

I finally decided on a teddy bear ragdoll because I haven’t been sleeping very well lately and I thought he would help me the most, so I started choosing fabrics and made him a lace choker.

The final product is a little small but looks ok.

Concept sketch

The “Fish Illuminating the Night” is designed for the baby

Inspiration Story: The underwater world is pitch black and mysterious, with little stars trembling and hiding by the coral. Suddenly, a little light came from afar, illuminating the blue sea as it approached. Little Star curiously asked, “How did you bring the sun to the bottom of the sea！”

Collection of production materials

1.Cotton

2. White and Grey felt fabric

3.Needle and thread

4.Removable dots

5.Button

Draw the pattern and staple it onto the fabric with a needle

Sewing facial features

Cutting and Sewing of Overall Shape

Reverse fabric+Completion of the toy fabric section

Fill cotton

finish

step1:write down story.

step2:I draw the little man on the paper. i use pencil to try different curve and picked the most smooth one.

step3:cut down the pattern.

step4: i attached the paper on the fibric and trace it with pencil. （in order to make the sew more tidy, i draw the stitch.）

step5:sew the doll using the 2 before 1 after rule

step6:cut the heart shape off.

step9:Sew the heart.

step10:Finished~

The “Ampers’hand” is a night light for small groups of people to stay together in a crowd. As public gatherings and events have had a comeback, getting lost in crowds has also had a larger comeback. Initially thought out as an additional assistive hand for mums with more than two children; I soon realized, music festival go-ers, friend groups, tourists etc could get an extra hand.

I wanted to add a third dimension to an ‘alphabet’ or a sign or a universal symbol for this project. The ‘&’ happened to spark my thought further adding to the ‘pun’

Does it light up?

Yes, I would like to light it up with a touch sensor so that it blinks every time someone touches the Ampers’hand.

Materials used

Cotton or Linen

Hard padding – Foamboard or Cardboard

Pillow Stuffing

This is a scaled-down prototype, that I later realized couldn’t be turned inside out 🙁

Brainstorming

Working in Process

The target users of my small night light are people who are used to getting up at night, and people who are used to putting things away.

The body part of the plush toy is separated from the light bulb by a metal ring and can be freely disassembled and assembled. The software parts can also be tied to various places for easy access.

Further development

The next step is to make the part containing the LED light and sew the metal ring at the joint. If necessary, consider placing a thin wire inside the strip to maintain its shape.

My brand is Madmad, and our primary mission is to assist individuals in relieving stress.

Madmad offers a unique stress-relief toy, which is divided into three parts: the head wires, the body, and the backhand.

The toy is designed to house a ball within it, containing both a pressure sensor and cotton material. When the ball is pushed, it triggers changes in the LED lights on the head wires.

The head wires incorporate LEDs and distance sensors. As you approach the toy, the LED lights will flash, providing an engaging and interactive experience.