Karen Lyons works in one of the most exciting professions around -- she's
a freelance toy designer. And though Lyons spends her days designing wonderful
and unique toys, her profession isn't all play.
"Toy designing is a very demanding yet fun, exciting career. You must be
a real self-starter and be able to manage your own time and business," Lyons
says.
"Being creative and being able to build prototypes is very important as
well. Companies will give you pointers on how they want things designed and
built. But the most important skill of a toy designer is being able to judge
how much time a project will take and getting a prototype in on the day you
promised.
"This is difficult because you'll usually be building a toy that has
never been built before, so you'll be inventing new methods and working
with new materials. Millions of dollars of the toy company's money rests
on your prototype getting there on time and working."
A prototype is an original model on which a toy is patterned. It's
an example of what the finished toy will look like in full scale. Usually,
the prototype is fully functional.
"Almost all prototypes are built outside the toy companies by small studios
and individuals like myself. Because the outside toy designer is so important
to toy projects, toy companies are very careful whom they hire to do their
prototypes.
"But once they trust you, they'll use you regularly. You will also
get a name in the whole toy community, which is rather a small, tight-knit
group," says Lyons.
Lyons highly recommends the career. "It's a good career because most
of the time, you can live anywhere you want. Most projects are handled through
faxes, e-mail and mail. I visit the toy companies about once a month and when
I'm working on a large project. The work is very creative, and every
project is a new invention or design."
Deadlines can be very tough, though -- especially as the American International
Toy Fair held in February in New York City approaches.
"It's very exciting to go to the toy fair and see your toy unveiled
at the show. The presentations are very elaborate, much like a small Broadway
show. You attend many formal parties and...make contact with many other toy
company executives," adds Lyons.
Norman Lowe is a carpenter by trade. He ventured into toy making when his
granddaughter was born.
Through word of mouth and a little advertising, his wooden toy industry
has blossomed. He still works full time, but he devotes every bit of spare
time to making toys.
So where does Lowe get his ideas? "We go to craft shows and look in craft
magazines and get ideas. Time doesn't allow you to mess around trying
to decide what you want to do. So you get basic ideas from other places and
change them to make them yours. From the original plan, it'll get changed
three or four times before it goes to market," Lowe explains.
Lowe feels very strongly about a good education. He's a firm believer
that everyone should have a trade, whether they use it or not after they get
it. To anyone considering toy designing as a career, Lowe offers this timeless
advice:
"Nothing comes easy. Kids are going to have to work at it. You aren't
going to succeed in everything you do, and everything you make you aren't
going to get rid of. You have to be very diversified and be able to adjust.
"With toys and crafts, everything changes all the time, so you have to
try to stay one step ahead of what people want."
Richard Bly is president of a toy company in Kane, Pennsylvania. He agrees
that a good education is important. But in the field of toy designing, creativity
is most important.
"We look for creative individuals. Our designers come from many different
educational backgrounds, but we don't have anyone on staff with a degree
in toy design itself."
Bly's company boasts years of tradition and success, beginning with its
first line of wooden toys in 1929. The company periodically brings back some
of its old toy designs.
The company also manufactures new designs, usually created by its own design
team. However, the company also considers ideas from other sources.
"If a designer has a completed toy that is protected by copyright, we'll
take a look at it. But if it's not protected by copyright, we won't.
It's too risky a business."
If someone shows Bly's company an idea that isn't copyrighted, and
if years down the road the company designs something similar, the original
designer could claim that the idea was stolen. So, toy companies are very
careful to consider only toys that are protected by copyright.
Bly's company has a factory toy museum where visitors can play with and
test their new toys. "Large toy companies may spend millions of dollars developing
and marketing a new product, but smaller companies don't have that luxury.
So, consumers test them for us," says Bly.