There are 67 million kids in North America, and annual toy sales top $24 billion ($67 billion worldwide). Translation: Tremendous opportunity for creative, well prepared, socially responsible designers who produce toys that respect and honor children.
In this program, you’ll learn to create safe toys that entertain, educate, and inspire kids, from infants to ‘tweens. In an environment that simulates a toy-industry facility—including a high-tech workshop with a professional model-making shop and a product library of toy catalogues, games, stuffed animals, and toys—you’ll study child development and psychology, design and engineering of hard and soft toys, game design, model making, product materials, and safety considerations. You’ll create three-dimensional renderings using industry-standard computer applications. And you’ll understand the business of toys, from manufacturing to branding and promotion.
Courses are taught by industry professionals in a team-teaching format that simulates an on-the-job, cooperative design environment. Students become so immersed in the industry that even before graduation many have designed toys that are already on store shelves.
Highlights
- FIT’s offers the world’s first and foremost accredited bachelor’s degree program in Toy Design.
- The program is endorsed by the Toy Industry Association, the not-for-profit trade association that represents more than 550 toy companies.
- Alumni have designed numerous toys for such popular product lines as Tickle Me Elmo, Barbie, Leap Pad, Bakugan, The Littlest Pet Shop, and Star Wars—more than 3,000 toys in all.
- FIT’s New York City location gives you industry access. The annual International Toy Fair is held here, and 42 Toy Industry Association members are located within five miles of campus.
In this program, you’ll:
- Learn from industry leaders at weekly meetings with CEOs and executives.
- Gain real-world experience through an internship at a major toy company, such as Disney, Fisher-Price, Spin Master, ALEX, Hasbro, Mattel, LEGO Systems, Nickelodeon, and Toys R Us. Nearly 50 percent of graduates are hired by the companies that sponsor them as interns.
