Designing Toys
a case study of the work with Durex & MysteryVibe on adult toys
Durex had long been an established brand with regard to contraception and embodied Durability, Reliabilty & Excellence, its brand values. They wanted to continue this ethos in the world of adult toys but also wanted to be more playful. I got involved with Durex after Seymourpowell had already designed 3 products for them, working on another 10 projects of which 6 made it to market. Some of those project are shown below.
Ultra
Modular bullet
Touch
Little Devil
Dreams
Pure Fantasy
Project Smartballs
Discover
Introducing MysteryVibe
MysteryVibe, a start-up company, came to see us on the back of the work we had done for Durex. They wanted to create a toy that could bend from an I shape to a C shape but did not know how to achieve this. They had already figured out the technology to control multiple motors and knew that toys had evolved very little in this market. Before we could start on the industrial design we needed to create a Brand & DNA which could help us create a design language to inform the rest of the work. As well as leading all the industrial design work, I also managed the design of the website, creation of promo movies and advertising collateral. Packaging and Trends/CMF teams were involved to progress the brand and create some compelling packaging for the toys.
Process
When MysteryVibe first came to see us they were still in the process of fund raising. The initial work on the Brand DNA was just a start point which allowed the industrial design to begin. An internal creative workshop allowed us to ascertain what the product would be and how it might look. We developed a range of concepts, from which at least six ideas were chosen as potential products. Two were chosen to be amalgamated into one concept for further devlopment. MV now had more backing allowing us to conduct a more indepth trends and cmf study which was used to update the brand dna. during concept refinement, we looked in more detail at how we could achieve the bend and hold, making many test rigs and prototypes while also developing the appearnce of the product.
Button details, the ears, the end seal as well as the bendability of the product were further refined in design development culminating in a working prototype which would be the base line for manufacturers to achieve for the final product. We spent a lot of time working with a variety of technical partners, trying to ensure the product was as we intended during the DFM stage and into production in China.
