From guest blogger Krishnan Srirangam, Senior Designer at Lund and Company for over 15 years
Children over the age of 5 are buying fewer toys. Toys based on apps are foundering. It’s all about branding. Overall spending on toys is down 4%. Blah, Blah, Blah.
As we listen closely to the pulse of the any industry, there is an endless barrage of information – mostly true and based on strong statistical evidence, all in need of digesting if we want to be proficient in our field. If we don’t pay attention to consumer trends and market realities - so goes the popular cliché - we will suffer the same fate as the buggy whip business.
As a toy inventor, I feel it is sometimes good to stop listening to this chatter and follow my instinct. Had Alexander Graham Bell first put forth his idea for focus groups and savvy market analysts to consider, someone else would have invented the telephone.
True innovations often come not from compliance and conformity, but from ignorance and a little bull-headedness. If Beethoven’s 9th had to be approved by “senior management” and had to pass “testing”, it would not be on anybody’s iPod Shuffle - another superb innovation borne out of someone not paying close attention to reality.
From guest blogger Michael Starrick, Senior Design Engineer at Lund and Company Invention, L.L.C.
in*ven*tion (n-vnshn) n.
1. The act or process of inventing: used a technique of her own invention
2. A new device, method, or process developed from study and experimentation
The above definition, while good, is lacking in a fundamental truth that we all need to reinvent ourselves to remain relevant in an ever-changing world.
In my 25 years in the toy industry I have had the privilege to work with many people that have exercised this principle. These people have been influenced by moving from one company to another, or the shrinking toy market, or the changes in consumer demand to reinvent who they are and how they participate in the invention process.
We can each bemoan our changing circumstances, or we can embrace the new challenge set before us.
The outcome of our efforts may not be clear cut in the present moment, but our response to this moment can reflect our true inventive nature.
From guest blogger John Fertig, Sr. Designer at Lund and Company Invention, L.L.C.
John has made a name for himself in the toy industry as an inventor for over 20 years.
He is a new addition to the Lund and Company team.
(Continued from previous post)
I’m right handed so much of the precision work I do is done with my right hand.
My right hand is articulate, intelligent, and the driving force of what I do. My left hand is not as intelligent as the right; in fact it can be rather clumsy or even stupid when I want it to do something it can’t.
It holds nails for the right hand to pound in with a hammer. The left hand gets X-acto knife cuts, holes drilled in it, hit with hammers, stained with marker and paint. It does whatever the right hands ask or needs, never hesitating. The right hand controls the task at hand; it needs to get things done. The left hand the does what is needed, without ever complaining, it needs to be strong and steady.
From guest blogger John Fertig, Sr. Designer at Lund and Company Invention, L.L.C.
John has made a name for himself in the toy industry as an inventor for over 20 years.
He is a new addition to the Lund and Company team.
I got thrown into the world of toys by chance. I graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Art and came to Chicago looking for employment. I was going through the phone book (remember them?) interviewing at design firms. I interviewed with Marvin Glass and was hired on the spot! I did not even know what they did when I called them, maybe they were a glass company?
It turned out they were in the toy invention business and my work there set the mold for who I am today.
Every toy and game inventor out there is keenly aware of the consumer love affair with apps, all things iPad, iPhone, iPod, and the mobile gaming trend. All are trying to figure out how to tap into the exploding billion-dollar market (and growing every day!) -- if they haven’t already!
So, of course, we at Lund and Company Invention are working on our strategy to integrate electronic games into our product offerings. However, as an industry mentor told me long ago, sometimes you need to ‘zig’ when everyone else ‘zags'.
It works for stock investing and perhaps for product development, as well.
I’d like to see more more openness from toy companies toward a collaborative process with independent inventors, and not just for back-filling small existing line opportunies, but for creating significant, big, innovative new lines and categories that the entire industry can benefit from.
The inventor community is a largely underutilized resource that used more effectively may help the toy industry dig out of the malaise of current market conditions! Great products - TMX Elmo is an example - benefit the entire industry, just as a rising tide lifts all boats.
Collaboratively, we can create those great new technologies, brands, or just great items from which all will benefit.
