P’kolino PlayStacks

As part of a collaboration between RISD, the Babson College Entrepreneurship Program, and P’kolino, my team and I strove to create a functionally smart, playfully stylish children’s play furniture product designed for outdoor use. Our goals for the playset were to enhance children’s outdoor play exploration experiences while helping them build on their fine and basic motor skills.

Through several weeks of market research our team of designers and Babson College MBA students decided that our sponsor company P’kolino would enter the outdoor children’s furniture market in the high-end segment – exclusive products sold primarily through catalogues, design depots, trade events, specialty retailers, and direct from the manufacturer. We learned that buyers are looking for something unique and beautiful, yet functional and educational for their child. It is estimated that in 2006, there were approximately 9 million households with kids between the ages of 2-5. Of the infant, toddler and preschool market, retail sales of home furnishings and accessories surpassed $8 billion in 2005 and is estimated to increase to $8.9 billion by 2010. This data served as a launching point for the design process as well as grounded us in a real world product development mindset.

After several rounds of sketching and team voting, we refined our concepts down to the PlayStacks, Fun Boxes, and Play Dome. We then took them into the field and interviewed 58 randomly sampled potential buyers including parents, preschool teachers, daycare owners, and toy store managers. We collected data on perceived safety, educational value, growth with the child, and creativity. After our team decided on the PlayStacks as our final design, we engineered and built a full scale model and tested it with several children in our target age range who all loved it. We then shipped the prototype to P’kolino, our satisfied client, who is hoping to bring it to market.