1971 Newspaper Article on Toymaking
I ran across a 1971 newspaper article, “Toy-Making Involves a Lot of Team Effort”, that’s worth reading if you’re at all interested in the design and manufacture of toys. Interviewing Erwin Benkoe of Ideal Toys, the story goes through the broad steps of toy design in the toy industry at the time, from concept to shelf.
“‘ . . . each of our divisions–toys, games and dolls–has a staff of creative people whose job is to spot trends and come up with ideas for new playthings. They throw away hundreds of ideas for each one that eventually makes it.’ This is the case in most big toy companies.”
Working at a much smaller company, I can report that we go through a lot of the same steps as Ideal did over four decades ago. Computer advances and our smaller staff change many of the details, but the big picture isn’t too far off. I do wonder sometimes just what it would be like to work with a large team with more specialization. Does it really speed things, or does the added administrative needs eliminate any speed gained by more hands on a project?
Related articles
- Affiliate Link – Amazing Toys of Marvin Glass: 1950’s to 1974 (battlegrip.com)
- “Toy industry dates from 1903″ Featuring ROM Space Knight Pic (battlegrip.com)
- “Licensing has become a coordinated professional effort . . . “ (battlegrip.com)