Happy Meal Toy
Define a Problem
Group Norms:
Charlie and I already had each others numbers since we have been friends since last year so we already had contact information. We had planned to stay after school on Wednesday to do most of the project but we couldn't because school was cancelled. Before the weekend though we decided that I would work on the Minion since I was better at Inventor and Charlie would do the skateboard and majority of the website since he was better at Weebly. We managed to communicate well with each other and talk about questions or problems we were having.
Charlie and I already had each others numbers since we have been friends since last year so we already had contact information. We had planned to stay after school on Wednesday to do most of the project but we couldn't because school was cancelled. Before the weekend though we decided that I would work on the Minion since I was better at Inventor and Charlie would do the skateboard and majority of the website since he was better at Weebly. We managed to communicate well with each other and talk about questions or problems we were having.
Generate Concepts
Product Research Documentation:
Existing Products: When McDonalds begins to design a Happy Meal toy they usually do research first to see what young children are into or what is popular at the time. They want to make sure the toy will be appealing to the younger audience so that they sell more food and make more money. Although when creating the toy they also need to think about how much money it will cost to create all these toys. If they make the toys out of really expensive material and then sell the Happy Meals at a very cheap price then they are losing a lot of money and that will eventually put them out of business.
Safety: They also need to be worried about safety and if the toys are safe for kids. The material the toys are made from can't be poisonous or toxic to little children and also the paint can't be poisonous in case the child puts the toy in their mouth. Also they have to be careful and make sure the toy doesn't have any small breakable parts so the child doesn't choke on the part and die. Therefore to avoid lawsuits they put warning labels on the bags so that the parent(s) can look at the bag and make sure they want to give their child the toy.
Logo Usage: McDonalds is very strict about their material or logo being used anywhere. On their website they make sure people know when they can use their material/logo and when they can not. The following was taken off their website:
Existing Products: When McDonalds begins to design a Happy Meal toy they usually do research first to see what young children are into or what is popular at the time. They want to make sure the toy will be appealing to the younger audience so that they sell more food and make more money. Although when creating the toy they also need to think about how much money it will cost to create all these toys. If they make the toys out of really expensive material and then sell the Happy Meals at a very cheap price then they are losing a lot of money and that will eventually put them out of business.
Safety: They also need to be worried about safety and if the toys are safe for kids. The material the toys are made from can't be poisonous or toxic to little children and also the paint can't be poisonous in case the child puts the toy in their mouth. Also they have to be careful and make sure the toy doesn't have any small breakable parts so the child doesn't choke on the part and die. Therefore to avoid lawsuits they put warning labels on the bags so that the parent(s) can look at the bag and make sure they want to give their child the toy.
Logo Usage: McDonalds is very strict about their material or logo being used anywhere. On their website they make sure people know when they can use their material/logo and when they can not. The following was taken off their website:
Develop a Solution
Construct and Test a PROTOTYPE
I showed the toy to my mother and my grandmother and they both really enjoyed the toy. My mother thought that the Minion was very cute and appealing to younger generations and that it looked like something you would find in a Happy Meal toy. When I showed the Minion to my grandmother she was very impressed. She thought the Minion looked great and that younger kids would love it and play with it. She was also very impressed with the Inventor program and how I was able to create all these things using a computer program.
Evaluate SOLUTION
With this project what I would change would maybe be the Minions body and adding a few new parts. With the Minion we had a few more inches to work with and make it bigger so I could have made the arms and the legs bigger so the Minion didn't look so squeezed together. The Minion, I think, looks nice already but if we made some of the parts bigger I feel like it would've made the Minion look more natural. However, the overall project was very fun to do and I enjoyed working with Charlie very much cause we can get along and get work done when it needs to be and I hope to work on more projects with him in the future. While creating the Minion I didn't really have much trouble because I really like working on Inventor and its easy for me to come up with ideas and create them on the program. Overall the project I think turned out very nice and I enjoyed doing it as my final project for pre-engineering.