Magnetivity: Melissa and Doug Toy Design
Magnetivity is a building system that combines the educational value of a construction toy, the mix-and-match fun of dress-up dolls, and the open-ended storytelling possibilities of dollhouse and vehicle playsets in an approachable, gender-neutral toy.
As the lead designer on the project, I worked with illustrators, engineers, and packaging designers to bring Magnetivity to market with a full product launch of 16 unique sets for the 2019 holiday season. This was the most challenging—and most rewarding—project I’ve ever been a part of.
I currently have five design patents pending as part of the Magnetivity lineup: one for each of the two truck chassis, sports car, pirate ship, and submersible vehicles.
Pirate Cove Set
Undersea Adventure Set
Our House Set
Fire Station Set
Food Truck Set. The set includes extra magnets and panels to convert the ice cream truck to a burger truck or taco truck. The plastic truck piece was also used in the Hospital, School, Farm, Restaurant and Safari Truck sets.
Illustration to pitch initial vehicle and garage concept
Initial sketches and Illustrator explorations of how to introduce vehicles into the Magnetivity system. Initially the magnetic panels themselves were intended to communicate the vehicles' forms.
The more appealing option was to design more detailed vehicle pieces, with color and panel decorations to provide differentiation.
Solidworks renderings of the final universal truck chassis
3D printed mockups of the truck chassis to test interaction with magnetic panels and wooden play figures
Development sketches for Pirate Cove set. The ship itself was initially going to be constructed from panels, but I opted for a molded plastic piece with panels for sails.
Solidworks renderings of the pirate ship, constructed from 9 pieces: 2 hull sides, the deck (which protrudes through the hull sides to form gunport covers), a movable rudder, crow's nest, and 4 magnetic panels.
Exploration thumbnails for the submersible. It was a fun challenge to develop an identifiable submarine shape that could accommodate a non-articulated wooden figure!
Solidworks renderings of the submersible: the bottom image is the final design with beefier landing skids and a squared-off canopy to accommodate more diverse hairstyles.
Thumbnail sketch exploration for the sports car included with the "Our House" set. The vehicle had to fit three figures, and accomplishing that while maintaining a sporty "roofline" was another fun challenge.
3D-printed prototypes: the open windows were later closed to add structural integrity during rough play.
Solidworks renderings of the sports car in open-window, roofless, and the final closed-window iteration.