LITTLE
MACDONALD
Little MacDonald is a sustainable playset inspired by farm and farm animals. The playset aims to teach kids empathy, sustainability, and love and care towards nature.
ROLE
Industrial Designer
company
College of Art and Design, RIT
CATEGORY
Pretend / Preschool Toys
responsibilities & contribution
Concept Development, Toy Ideation, Form Exploration, Play Pattern Design, CMF, 3D Visualization, Mechanism & Interaction Design
MIDjourney ideation
Combined the works of Oskar Schlemmer and Jamini Roy as figurines of farm animals to establish the visual direction for the project. What followed was a rough sketch session where the form and build of the chosen ones were established.
Used the AI-ideation to note down repetitive patterns, shape, form and colors. This informed my decisions while sketching how the toys would look like. And that is how Inky, Pinky, and Ponky were born!
vector concept development
Before moving into 3D modeling, I developed vector studies in Illustrator to refine proportions, silhouette, color, and surface pattern placement. These 2D explorations helped establish the visual language and guide later CAD development.
3D PRODUCT VISUALIZATION
The selected toys were developed as 3D models and placed within a stylized environment to explore play pattern and how they might exist within the whole play system.
PLAYSET EXPANSION KITS
To lend to the world-building of the playset and to make a kid truly feel like they're living in a barn, three playset expansion kits were designed. The Dairy Kit, Veggie Kit, and Mushroom Kit each add a different part of farm life, encouraging children to build out the world, create new stories, and combine activities across the play system.
