Swimways Friendly Fishin’

Launch Date: Spring 2022

The goal of this project was to take the popular fishing bath toy and translate it to pool play. This was the first toy I saw to production ever and most of the development was done during latter half of 2020.

The original design was about 70% over target cost and this was my first experience severely cost reducing. Since this was developed while we were working from home, the designer and I spent two days on a Zoom call as I broke apart the model and we identified multiple cost reductions—enough to bring the total cost below target. Examples include simplifying the fish structure, thinning out all plastic components, and greatly simplifying the fishing mechanism.

Though the item wasn’t complex, it is an item I’ll always hold dearly. Through this project, I gained a strong partnership with my co-designer and we’ve worked on a myriad of projects together. It was my first experience leading a cost reduction project and having to share my findings with the larger team.

Image credits to Spin Master.