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Toy Design

Toy designers create new and unique toy concepts, activities, and games for children and adults. They then bring these ideas to life for a client or market them to manufacturers. Toy design is often a segment of commercial and industrial design.

The Work

Toy designers may be self-employed artists, or work for larger design service firms on a contract basis. Some work for major toy companies.

Developing a new toy requires strong creative skills, research skills, and an understanding of what interests children and adult toy-buyers.

Toy designers must also be able to create models (or prototypes) by hand and with sophisticated computer software. To model a toy, designers spend much time sketching or drawing initial ideas, and then build a physical prototype or computer model of the toy. Modeling a toy concept is useful in determining what materials are most suitable and cost-effective, the mechanical skills needed to build the toy, and to discover any safety or mechanical issues the toy may have. And prototypes are critical when marketing the toy to manufacturers.

Toy designers should be able to work with a variety of physical materials, including electronics, plastics, fabrics, and stuffings. And business skills such as negotiation and finance (to develop a cost analysis and estimate revenue) are also key attributes of successful toy designers.

Education

Many toy designers have a bachelor's degree in industrial design, engineering, graphic design, interactive design, and/or computer art and design. Many also take some business or design management courses in their degree program to address marketplace needs.

Along with getting a degree, successful toy designers keep abreast of trends and issues affecting the toy industry. Issues may include government regulations about toys, copyrights, new materials that could make a toy cheaper to produce or more popular to use, and related social trends that might make a toy more or less popular.

Salary and Outlook

Toy designers make on average $53,000 a year, which is comparable to other graphic, commercial and industrial design jobs. This number varies according to location, company, experience, and benefits.

Toy designers may suffer during economic downturns, as consumers cut down on entertainment expenditures. Toy design jobs have decreased over the last 1-2 years in the U.S. However, according to some job sites, demand for designers as a whole has increased 17% over the last year. Toy designers with a background in industrial design, engineering, or interactive design will be well equipped to handle downturns.

According to the latest numbers from ResearchAndMarkets.com, the toy manufacturing industry in the U.S. made $291.7 million in 2008, and exported $117.5 million worth of toys. The U.S. imported $3.5 billion in toys. The total domestic demand for toys was $3.7 billion.