A Guide on How to Become a Toy Designer

toy designer

Manufacturing designers develop the ideas for manufactured products like cars, soft toys, and home appliances. They show business, art, and manufacturing to design products that many individuals use each day. Many toy designers focus on the design of specific kinds of toys for certain age groups. Know how to become a toy designer.

A bachelor’s degree is typically needed for entry-level industrial design jobs. It is also important for toy designers to have knowledge of electronics. To flourish as a toy designer, you must have creativity, an eye for toy arranging, and customer service skills. This profession does not follow strict educational requirements.

Jobs in this field are extremely uncertain. The most obvious attribute for someone who works as a toy designer is a love for toys. Toys must be intricately designed, mainly because there are many safety regulations involved and the toy must meet certain standards after repeated and harsh treatment.

[Also Read: Learn How to Become a Shoe Designer]

Toy Designer Education

To become a toy designer, you naturally require a university degree or college diploma in an applicable field. This is because most toy design occupations occur with toy manufacturers, who usually favor to hire candidates with an applicable education, like diploma or degree in the below kinds of programs:

  • Toy Design:  Someone who understands children or the other target groups, and has design and artistic skills can do exceptionally well in the field. University and College programs in Toy Design are comparatively fewer in number in North America.
  • Engineering: engineering degrees like in Electrical or Mechanical are fields that are extremely important to become a toy designer. Besides the leading areas of education, pursuing computer design (CAD) courses can be exceptionally useful for an occupation as a toy designer.
  • Liberal Arts: pursuing a degree in arts can be extremely appropriate to a profession as a toy designer, principally coursework in areas that give importance to toys as well as their influence on child growth like with sciences like psychology and sociology
  • Business: Coursework in specific areas of business can be extremely beneficial if you wish to become a toy designer. Study courses in retailing, business marketing and administration — mainly those that belong to the toy business.

Toy Designer Job Description

  • Consult with customers to regulate requirements for design.
  • Research numerous methods of a particular product that may be used, and what category of people will use it.
  • Make use of computer software to develop computer-generated models of different designs
  • Make physical models of those designs.
  • Inspect manufacturing materials needed to regulate production costs.
  • Work with other experts such as manufacturers or mechanical engineers to estimate if their design concepts might have any commercial value..
  • Work with other specialists such as mechanical engineers or manufacturers to evaluate whether their design concepts will fill the needs at a reasonable cost.
  • Toy designers get to work in focus groups with parents and children to test diverse kinds of toys and check what kids wish to play with.
  • Sketch out ideas or create renderings, which are images on paper or on a computer that provide a better visual of design ideas.

Skills You Require

  1. Analytical skills: toy designers use reasoning or logic skills to study customers and identify the requirement for new products.
  2. Computer skills: Toy designers need to understand how to use computer programs, especially computer aided design and drafting programs (CADD), as they play a crucial role in executing various functions, such as documentation, illustration, rendering, animation, drafting and three-dimensional modeling.
  3. Creativity: Industrial designers should be original in their designs and the methods where they work on machinery to make new products.
  4. Interpersonal skills: Industrial designers should develop working associations with customers and colleagues who focus in related disciplines.
  5. Mechanical skills: They should know how products are developed, at least for the kinds of products that they design.
  6. Problem-solving skills: Toy designers must recognize difficult design problems like the size, need, and expense of the product, expect production problems, develop replacements, gauge options, and implement solutions.
  7. Occupational Management Skills: These designers will be required to know how to find customers that wish to purchase their products. In order to create designs that are aesthetically appealing, durable, functional, safe, and profitable, toy designers must have a thorough knowledge of the materials used in the development of their designs.

Toy Designer Salary

The level of salary for toy designers can differ significantly depending on various factors. For instance, it depends on the service structure; a few toy designers might earn an unpredictable and inconsistent pay, while others might earn a more reliable and stable income.

The U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has projected the average job growth of 6% for toy designers. As per the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average salary level of US employees in the toy Designers sector group is $63,521 each year.(1)

Conclusion:

Toys are exciting and that’s why an occupation as a toy designer sounds so perfect. The rewards of designing toys are understandable.

Toy designers make an amazing living. In order to enjoy performing the duties of a toy designer, you need to have certain personality traits. Taking enjoyment from your job duties is important, as it helps you maintain a positive attitude towards your work, which can lead to having a long and successful career.