![](http://web.mit.edu/2.00b/www/buttons/banner08b.jpg)
I interviewed
Barry Kudrowitz, founder & instructor of
MIT Toy Product Design class on my HighTechFever TV show tonight. We discussed his latest class which just finished a few weeks ago -- culminating in
PLAYsentations! -- and the
ten product ideas student came up with, and the broader design and development ethos underlying his efforts generally.
![](http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/toy-enlarged.jpg)
(Btw, nice little story in MIT TechTalk last year entitled
Toy soldier: At play with Barry Kudrowitz, MIT toy designer) Key factoids: 80% of the students were freshmen thinking about what major to pursue; this was a Mechanical Engineering class... Tomorrow, 7/10 projects are presenting to a real client, the uber-toy company
Hasbro. We'll see how many actually productize, of course. But the prospect, the very real chance of commercialization -- of an MIT freshman class project! -- is
hugely compelling. In my opinion, not only are toys a fantastically relevant and attractive design challenge, but they embody the harshest design constraints MIT students all need to learn more about -- the hard-core need for extreme usability, ultra low-cost, special ruggedness, extraordinary safety, delight and attractiveness, and more. I suspect, however, that toy design is not perceived as "serious" enough for "real" education at the Institute (nevermind "real" research). But this couldn't be further from the truth: Play-That-Matters and ideation should be front and center and is the ideal rallying theme for a core intro-inspiration class and beyond!
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