JEEPERS PEEPERS
(NYLON CHEW & SMEAR TOY)
"BOX" OCTOBER' 23
INITIAL SKETCH
After all the internal pitch rounds at ABRK this was the final design. It was meant to be a nylon on nylon over molded chew and smear toy. With a great paw and jaw shape. The theme of the box was camp fire ghost stories, so this toy is meant to be monster eyes looking at you in the dark.
INITIAL CAD + 3D PRINTS
After a few rounds of edits back and fourth with the factory we landed in a solid place and so I pivoted to a 3D print of each size to further inspect both the design over all in person sizing of the products.
CAD EDITS (PRE SAMPLE MOLD)
After reviewing the prints. It was clear that the taper of each sides edge needed to come in a but to help the edge feel cleaner and not be such a bite point.
SAMPLE MOLD LEARNINGS
In lab testing both with our external lab as well as at our internal factory lab we found that the glow in the dark (GID) additive was causing the over molded nylon to become brittle and the toy was failing our drop tests. We had two options, remove the GID from the over molded nylon, or turn the item into a solid one color nylon construction.
THE FIX
In the end due to safety and cost concerns for the over all box assortment we ended up changing the toy to be just single color solid nylon. However if we kept the design as it was it felt very plain. As a way to add interest to the design i added debossed patterning to help accentuate the molded eye details, and made these new details as well as part of the eyes a in mold gloss finish to really make them pop and allow for differentiation even without a color break.
PRE PRO SAMPLES
Below are the final pre production samples for approval before we began production. Even though the final product was not an over mold execution I think this was the best thing that could have happened to the toy. The new texturing & gloss accents add even more value than the color break ever did. While making the toy easier to produce and functionally better over all.
FINAL PRODUCT
Some great photography of the final product & some amazing dog models showing it off.
