Documentation may be an annoying word, but it is definitely an aspect of our own design process, and we all hope we can improve. As an award-winning designer, working with some of the best toy companies around, [Jude] Know a thing or two about showing your work.in his Skunk Factory Project, He took a maker approach to Bo Peep’s Skunkmobile, and in the process provided us with an engineering design master class.
As with any good project profile, [Jude] First, explain his motivation for work. He was very surprised that Pixar did not commercialize Bo Peep’s Skunkmobile, and hoped that his DIY efforts could inspire more toy choices in the Toy Story series. He does admit that Skunkmobile poses more unique design challenges than standard plastic toy figures. Combining textile elements to create the illusion of fur and RC components to give the toy mobility requires careful consideration. When you go around in the backyard, you definitely don’t want the wheels to tear the fabric or let the fur hook every object you pass in the house.
Given the design challenges of making Skunkmobile from scratch, [Jude] Decided that the best way forward was to modify a custom-designed skunk-shaped body onto a standard RC car chassis. The difficulty here is to find a chassis that can not only support the weight of the modified body, but also can accommodate a 9-inch Bo Peep doll in the cab. Before spending countless hours 3D printing (and reprinting) his design, [Jude] First use a card (using cardboard) to model the Skunkmobile. This is a practice we have seen before and have always liked it. He keeps emphasizing that the form of his device may be more important than its function, because capturing the essence of Skunkmobile and “look and feel” are key design criteria. You can even see the skunk wagging its tail in all of his demo videos.The prototype in the card gives [Jude] I feel good about his Skunkmobile, and the design is well transformed into a 3D printed version.
What impressed us [Jude’s] Project is the incredible details he provides for the entire design process, from his background story to the initial prototype, to user testing, and finally to the realization of the final product. Remember, “We want bloody details!”