Insights curated by Experientia, the UX research and design consultancy
Insights curated by Experientia, the UX research and design consultancy
From industry giants Mattel and Hasbro to smaller players LeapFrog and VTech, toy manufacturers are lowering the age ranges for their high-tech and educational offerings at this year’s Toy Fair, betting that “toddler tech” will help reverse several years of…
The new version of Mindstorms, Lego’s all-time best-selling product, was developed with the help of a Mindstorms User Panel, with the aim of developing a better product but also a tighter, more trusting bond between corporation and customer. A lengthy…
Some years ago, the media office at the Embassy of Finland in Washington, D.C. saw the potential and possibilities of investing time and effort on children as a novel target group for building relations and international understanding. This was the…
The room looks like a typical child’s playtime fantasy, decorated with bright carpet and packed with toys, games, costumes, and an indoor jungle gym. But it is also lined on one side with windows and on the other with a…
A long essay by Henry Jenkins explores the cultural geography of video game spaces, one which uses traditional children’s play and children’s literature as points of comparison to the digital worlds contemporary children inhabit. Specifically, it examines the “fit†between…
Manufacturers and service providers are starting to design, test and launch a stream of new products specifically for young children. To support the development of these new products and services, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) has published a…
In recent years, there has been a big increase in new electronic media products for very young children, including those as young as one month old. A driving force behind this new market is the advertising and package labeling that…
A News.com special report explores how a new generation, technologies return the net to its social roots. The report, which is aimed at a broad audience, is organised in five chapters and provides an insight in the importance of grassroots…
A prototype of a cheap and robust laptop for pupils has been welcomed as an “expression of global solidarity” by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. The green machine was showcased for the first time by MIT’s Nicholas Negroponte at the…
This Christmas, tech-peddlers are turning their gaze toward kids, with new lines of grown-up gadgets built for tiny hands. “There’s a shift in need in terms of what a child finds fun and entertaining,” says Jim Silver, editor of the…
Bill Lucas of Maya Design just pointed me to his recent post on Boxes and Arrows where he discusses the notion of experience design by drawing parallels to Friedrich Fröbel’s invention of the original Kindergarten. At the beginning of the…
The Guardian has a fascinating and slightly depressing article about the multi-million-pound industry intent on turning teenagers and toddlers into passionate consumers. British child is familiar with up to 400 brand names by the time they reach the age of…
Two Dutch telcos – KPN and Scarlet – have introduced mobile phones specially made for young children, reports The Register. “On Wednesday, national carrier KPN will unveil a kid phone – iKids – with a built in GPS receiver, which…
This week WestPoint Home presented smart bedding and other interactive furnishings to store buyers at its showroom in New York. One new product will be available next month: a Cinderella-theme coverlet that lights up like Broadway and makes the sound…
Experientia takes part in an international creativity workshop on “toys for children’s rehabilitation” in Yerevan, Armenia. The symposium, workshop and exhibition, which will take place from 20 November to 3 December, is a joined organisation of Studio-College of the National…
Two recent Australian reports investigate how children and teens relate to internet and mobile devices. kidsonline@home – Internet use in Australian homes [April 2005] NetAlert and the Australian Broadcasting Authority recognised a need to capture behaviours and attitudes associated with…
Survey results released from ACE*COMM indicate most North American parents aren’t supervising the mobile phone use of their teenaged children. Seventy-one percent of teenagers surveyed admit they enjoy unrestricted use of their mobile phones. The Itracks survey also found that…
Companies tailor new offerings to preteens and their parents. With an estimated 80 percent of adults between 18 and 65 owning a cell phone, the potential for growth in the cell phone market is slowing. By contrast, only 10 percent…
Developed by LeapFrog Enterprises, a maker of educational toys, the amazingly clever Fly “pentop” computer is just what it sounds like: a talking computer hidden within a pen the size of an electric toothbrush. The gadget, which contains an actual…
Lego released a new version of Lego Factory, a recently launched brand that combines Digital Designer — free software that lets children create their own 3D models — with the ability to let customers to share their personal designs as…