Toy Design
This intensive, one-of-a-kind program thrives on creativity, inspiration, and joy. Our students are artful designers, storytellers, and makers who create toys that help children learn about themselves and their world.
In this program, you’ll gain hands-on experience in conception, manufacturing, and branding, learning to design toys and games that delight children while supporting their physical, emotional, and intellectual development.
Program
Toy Design BFA
Learn the complete toy design cycle, from brainstorming, sketching, drafting, and rendering through design and engineering to product materials, safety considerations, and building working prototypes. FIT’s Toy Design program offers courses on child psychology and hands-on training in our model-making shop. You’ll study design for the infant through ’tween markets, child development, and motor learning. You’ll create 3D digital renderings that translate to 3D-printed objects, and you’ll engage in a required internship with a major toy company.
If you are an Art and Design AAS graduate, you may apply to this program. Learn more about eligibility for this program.
Our Work
Toy Design graduates change the world one child at a time, entertaining, educating, and inspiring kids across the globe.
Our graduates demonstrate an awareness of beauty, craft, and safety, and promote science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM), as seen in Cristal Perez's plush toy, Little Leppie, who overcomes his fears and makes new friends at the home of his abuelita, an astronomer who studies the stars.
Jennifer Tan, Toy Design ’07, became the creative director of consumer products at Pixar Animation Studios, and served as a judge and mentor on the ABC reality show The Toy Box.
Impact
Fun follows function … Great toys encourage open-ended exploration and play, providing unforgettable experiences that last a lifetime.
Outside the Classroom
With 67 million children in North America and annual toy sales topping $24 billion ($67 billion worldwide), you’ll enter a world of opportunity. Students have interned at Fisher-Price, Spin Master, Hasbro, Mattel, Nickelodeon, Disney, and LEGO. Graduates of the program work as toy designers for major toy and specialty design companies and inventor groups. In fact, even before graduation, many have designed toys that are already on store shelves.
Explore More
some related minors
Learn From the Best
Judy Ellis
Professor and chair of FIT’s Toy Design Department, Ellis is an award-winning expert in toy design, with a BFA from Parsons School of Design. She was conferred the SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professorship in 2015 and was inducted into the Toy Industry Hall of Fame in 2013.
Paul Locasto
Locasto, a toy designer for over 30 years as well as an FIT alumnus, has worked with major toy companies and brands as a key designer on numerous new license pitches, acquisitions, and product launches. Awarded the prestigious Mattel Ovation award in 2014, his design work has been recognized numerous times at the Toy of the Year Awards. He currently servves as Principal Designer at Spin Master.
Contact Us
Toy Design
Judy Ellis
Jordan Cook
Important Links
Art and Design Gallery
The Art and Design Gallery is open from 9 am until 5 pm, seven days per week. The gallery is located at the northwest corner of Seventh Avenue and 27th Street.
Let's Make It Happen
APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS