Conversations in Toy Design

I am often reminded that I am back in undergrad, when conversations like this happen:

Youngest classmate: Man, we just saw the grossest thing.
Me: What happened?
3rd youngest classmate: We saw this old couple, making out in public. ALL over each other.
Cute Gay Korean Dude: Ohh, what if they're in love!?
Fellow 30-something: Where did you see this? On the street?
3rd: McDonalds.
Me: McDonalds!? (laughter)
Youngest: Yeah, they were sitting at McDonald's, just going at it, all out in the open!
CGKD: Hahaha. Was it really that bad?
3rd: Yeah, it was gross! There was tongue and stuff!
Youngest: I don't know. But they were too old to be making out.
Me: How old are we talking?
3rd: I don't know, but they should not have been making out.
Youngest: I don't know, but people over 30 should not be making out.
Fellow: Over 30!? (rolls eyes)
Me: Wow. That's old. Um, don't even talk to me anymore.
3rd: It was bad! They were like: (suddenly starts to mime-re-enact the couple, with flailing tongue)
Everyone: AUGgggh-EEWWW!!!!

During a class break for History of Industrial Design, I showed my BFF the new super-cute Vancouver 2010 Olympic mascots, designed by Meomi:

BFF: Why are the Olympics in Canada again? Wasn't it just there?
Me: I don't know... They have a lot of snowy land?
BFF: Like, why isn't it in some place new, like Greenland or Iceland?
Me: I don't know. I don't really follow the Olympics much anymore. I feel like it's not quite as exciting as it used to be.
BFF: I think it's still exciting. Where else has the Olympics been? Has it ever been in L.A.?
Me: Yeah! The '84 Olympics!
Fellow 30-something: '84 Olympics? Were you there?
Me: Yeah, my brothers were big into Track & Field, so we got tickets to see that.

Later, it dawned on me, that about half my class weren't even alive in 1984. And I was old enough to remember going to the Olympics. I remember that, and seeing that really awesome Orwellian Apple commercial.

In Marketing class, we did an exercise where we made up toy concepts and quickly brainstormed marketing plans around them. One of the classmates brought up the idea of advertising one of the toys on shows like "Yo Gabba Gabba".

Teacher: Have you all seen "Yo Gabba Gabba"?
Class: Yeah!
Teacher: What do you guys think of it?
Me: I LOVE IT. It's crazy!
Teacher: Yeah, that show seems to appeal to twenty-something or thirty-something parents, who grew up with rap music and that sort of thing. But Fisher Price actually passed on that license...
Me: Whaaa!?!?
Teacher: I know, right? But SpinMaster got that license, so it'll be interesting to see how well that performs.
Me: Yeahhh!

Go SpinMaster! That's where I'll be interning this summer. I will be on cloud nine if I get a Dancing Brobee doll out of it!

I've found that the sweatshop–er, sewing lab hours are conducive to conversation, as we're basically doing light manual labor, pushing fabric across the machines and yanking thread all day.

Cute Gay Korean Dude: I saw the movie, Jumper.
Me: Was it any good?
CGKD: Yeah, I liked the movie. It was fun. But I don't really like those actors, Hayden Christensen and the girl.
Me: Wait, the brown-haired girl?? The girl from The O.C. –you don't think she's cute?
CGKD: No. Uh-uh.
Me: What!? I think she's sooo cute.
CGKD: No. You are so much cuter than she is.
Me: ...

I would guess the straight boys in class might disagree with that. But I'm not complaining...

As my class was busily sewing up cute stuffed animals designed for infants, we discussed our Chinese Astrological signs. My BFF was sewing a little fuzzy hippo, the quirky Korean girl designed a patched bunny, and I was working on a chubby squirrel.

Quirky Korean Girl: Do your friends sometimes think you are like a kind of an animal?
BFF: Hmm, yeah, I get koala, panda, sometimes otter...
Me: So all the cute animals, basically.
QKG: (looking at me.) What about you?
Me: Well. I used to be a little obsessed with monkeys. So if you asked my Californian friends what animal they'd associate with me, they'd say monkey. I had an email list that had monkey in its name, and some of them call me the Monkey Queen.
BFF: Monkey? No, I don't think you're like a monkey.
Me: No?
QKG: No. I think... more like... squirrel.
Me: Squirrel!?
BFF: Yeah. I can see squirrel. Like, "Chee-chee-chee-chee-chee!"
Me: Huh. I like squirrels... But I'm clumsy.
QKG: You're a squirrel!
Me: Squirrels aren't clumsy. They jump from branch to branch and climb walls! They're like Spiderman!
BFF: So squirrels are aspirational?
Me: Yes. Squirrels are aspirational. That's what I'd put as a strength for my infant toy if I made a marketing report for it. "Squirrels are aspirational."