Specializing Master in Design for Kids & Toys

June 20th

The Master in Design for Kids & is organized in partnership with Assogiocattoli, which represents Italian manufacturers and distributors working in this industry. Italy generally excels in design (that means culture, method and practice of project and production) in several fields like fashion, food and creativity applied to multiple activities, but in the toy and childcare productions, Italian design has yet to play a key role in building a recognizable identity. The “Design System” and “System of Enterprise”, shows significant episodes but certainly not a coherent and recognizable oversight in children’s products, in furniture for children, in the game and in the toy sector. From this scenario, it comes a need in polytechnical and multi-skill training.

Designers and, in particular, strategic designers have the role of creating scenarios and understanding the many aspects and skills that compose the system. Designing a toy or a product/service for children needs the skills to design the whole system of artifacts, around the child and for products and services.

Too often actually products for children have been interpreted as the declination of pre-existing goods, overloaded with signs, functions and colors inserted in a deliberately redundant packaging, or the unmediated reproduction of an adult object. Today technology offers interesting opportunities but often it is not a vehicle of qualified content able to generate new ways of playing, learning and socializing or stimulating creativity and imagination, but more often it is self-referential and not suitable for children component.

If we think today about the “Design for Kids”, then we realize the number and type of skills needed to design a quality product aimed at the world of children.

Master in Design for Kids & Toys has three types of employment opportunities:

• Freelance professionals and consultants able of thinking, developing and managing product service system projects and educational activities (training, laboratories, workshops etc.)
• Startuppers able of giving life to new businesses within offering for kids by taking cross-cutting opportunities in different sectors and areas (from technology to services)
• Positions in research and development offices, technical office, marketing and communication of companies, agencies and institutions that have business related to the child system.

Frequency

The training project is based on a remote learning model: through the Moodle e-learning platform, students can access theoretical training modules that they can manage independently according to their needs. The e-learning-based teaching approach is enhanced by the constant support of didactic coordinators and lecturers during the entire course, through the use of digital tools such as the Slack collaboration platform, and Microsoft Teams for planning video conferences and one-to-one meetings, and targeted email exchanges. In the following phase, the program includes an approach based on “learning by doing” design with workshop activities, for which physical presence at POLI.design is strongly recommended but not mandatory, and project work developed during the professional internship.

Didactic Plan

The educational project is based on an approach that integrates theoretical training modules in e-learning with workshop activities, for which physical presence is strongly recommended but not mandatory, and a project work developed during the professional internship.

Didactic Modules

Theoretical training modules in e-learning mode:

Students, using thee- learning platform, follow all the e-learning didactic modules managing autonomously the times and the hours of use of the didactic contents with exercises for the assessment of learning contents. The theoretical training modules, delivered in e-learning mode, concern the following subjects:

• strategic design and design thinking;
• human centered design;
• marketing and communication;
• companies, the sector and the markets;
• technologies and materials;
• laws and safety;
• pedagogy, psychology, cognitive ergonomics;
• communication and distribution.

Face- to-face design workshops:

The workshops are intensive design sessions lasting four weeks each (the master’s program includes 2 workshops carried out with companies operating in the children-oriented sectors). Starting from the skills gained in the e- learning modules and during the workshops, the candidate will then be able to develop a project work during a professional internship lasting 3 months. During the internship, the candidate will be able to independently develop a final project based on the practical experience developed in the internship and the knowledge and interests gained through out the Master. The Final Project must be delivered in the form of a digital presentation and discussed in an exam session with the presence of the appointed Teaching Committee.

• 1st in Italy
• 4th in Europe
• 8th in the World

Politecnico di Milano - QS Ranking 2023 in Art&Design category