top of page
DSCF1666 COPY.jpg

Monster blocks

Product design, Child Culture Design

Monster blocks is a university project by a group of 3 designers. The task is to choose a piece of artwork in the museum of Gothenburg and add play elements to make it children friendly.

Monster blocks-29.jpg

We choose the tiles of Ishtar and Maduk. Although they lacked content, we felt they had the potential to mediate deeper engagement with children. Our initial inspiration is to create a narrative and storytelling through play; we were also interested in how objects can become mediators to create dialogues and trigger interest in children.

The outcome contains two parts- wooden feet and soft blocks. it creates a fixed but open-ended frame to invite children to explore the area and art piece through play.

2020.09-2020.10

Groupwork by

Chelsea.Wang, Luisa Fazio, and Betty Wallingford

Monster blocks_画板 1 副本 3.jpg
44a6c6c4f205f3c6782f4803b7227d1.png
d23d4c26cac5e6a1b980aefa5e5da5d.png
9480fb47825c6edf6eceb3bd0960beb.png
Monster blocks-14.jpg

THE TILES OF
ISHTAR AND MADUK

22b9ebba4db2afeea4e2f3199dcbe96.png

GOTHENBURG MUSEUM

d184fb4ea8e8b302efb2760eeb609e4.png
Monster blocks-19.jpg
Monster blocks-30.jpg
Monster blocks-18.jpg
Monster blocks-24.jpg
Monster blocks-23.jpg
Monster blocks-26.jpg
Monster blocks-28.jpg
Monster blocks-22.jpg
4e0b3ac87f1d11904f2d6eb1425b3bb.png
dfce236973b354251031e8257979bd4.png
4bcca549b78693f301501664ba73216.png
23b073c0d002d67d8bb04d8adaa2c46.png
a5464c22ca5d2a1c0931833793f6b83.png
Monster blocks-15.jpg
b2d7eeda0176f1b1a373cdf5c69af5b.png
22cdb0c9cf2ff515925e19f28159587.png

Different materials were experimented with to make it approachable and loveable for children, including wood, transparent textured soft plastic, foam balls, fabric and cotton. In the end we decided to use fabric with a black print for the shell and fill it with cotton.

DSCF1605.JPG
DSCF1672.JPG
DSCF1711.JPG
Monster blocks-23.jpg
DSCF1681.JPG
DSCF1726.JPG
DSCF1705.JPG
DSCF1771_edited.jpg
Monster blocks-18.jpg

We wanted to make the product as simple as possible so that it would have the capacity to carry more imagination from children. The involvement of children allows the project to be extended and developed, either as a secondary display to engage children with specific exhibits, or as a workshop tool for children to tell their own stories.

3_edited.jpg
3_edited.jpg
3_edited.jpg

This is the actual size scale of the products, they should be able to be placed like this in front of the corresponding exhibits. The children can interact with them freely. They can assemble, move, even lie on them or drill around.

Monster blocks-12.jpg
DSCF1693.JPG

Monster blocks
University project in CCD

bottom of page