Lovevery was started to help parents everywhere feel confident they are giving their baby the best resources they can. Lovevery play products are designed by child development experts and distilled to their simplest, purest purpose: to be exactly what children need at every stage.
I worked with Lovevery to develop a system of graphics and colors for their first line of products. Lovevery is focused on science driven design and so the system was based on a progression of intricacy that evolved as babies grow.
The playmat is designed to engage a baby from day one until a few years of age. Each of the flaps represent a new developmental stage – moving from monotone to color when the child's eyes develop enough to see color, and from basic to more intricate shapes as the child's eyes are more able to see details.
The system I designed for the Play Gym and Play Kits was based on hand painted shapes and patterns. Giving the products a handmade feel really makes them stand out in a market of products that basically use clipart and standard, opaque patterns. The painted gesture of Lovevery also lends itself to the Montessori school that the founders were very influenced by.
Toys that do not require printed graphics are dipped in paint.
Many toys use an abstract paint dabbing look.
We started with design of the Play Gym. The idea was to create a mat that could evolve with the baby's developing eye sight and interests. The mat would begin with large, contrasting shapes and unfold or transform into more intricate and colorful shapes.
The Process
The design process started with the creation of a system of graphics that would be able to evolve from simple, contrasting shapes to more complex and detailed compositions. Some concepts had mats that unfolded, revealing new intricate graphics, others used layers that would be added or removed, revealing new visuals.
The Play Gym and accompanying toys needed to engage all of a toddlers senses. A simple legend was created to express which sense each item was designed to fascinate.
One of the final concepts used geometric patterns as a base. The patterns start with large shapes and become more detailed as the child gets older and the mat unfolds.
Once we decided on the hand-painted concept, we explored a range of different art styles, including stamping, painting, dip-dying, watercolor and stitching. All of these created interesting compositions that could evolve from simple to complex.
The final graphic strategy was handed off and then Lovevery ran with it, creating a vast assortment of products based off of the painted aesthetic.