Inkling
Minky fleece, cotton, stuffing, wire, carabiner.
This child’s emotional indicator toy was designed on the principles of delightful design, (Cuteness, Serendipity, Surprise, Engagement, Liveliness, and Reassurance) focusing on cuteness, engagement, liveliness, and reassurance. Inkling is a companion for children ages 4-7 who have difficulty expressing their emotions to their parents, peers, and teachers. Easily clipped onto a backpack, Inkling gets the most use at school, where the busy environment can make it difficult to communicate important emotions.
Process Images
When sketching, I focused on finding the best function and designing the cutest form. After prototyping I decided on an octopus plush due to its liveliness and ability to display multiple emotions as once.
After deciding on a form, I made a pattern for the toy by modeling it in rhino and uploading to Plushify, a site that creates stuffed animal patterns out of CAD models.
When fabricating Inkling, I began with a test model to brush up on my sewing skills and ensure that the pattern works.
When sewing the final product, I machine sewed the body, leaving an opening to turn it inside out and stuff it. Then, I hand sewed the top halves of the tentacles to the main body, threaded the wire through the opening in the main body, and cut holes in the bottom to guide the wire into the tentacles. I then stuffed them and fabric glued the remaining openings in the body and tentacles.
Final Images
