Mel Chang

MAGIC CHEF PET PITCH

Product pitch for a new Tamagochi-esque toy. Lead a team of five to create a product from branding, to prototype, to executive pitch.

BARBIE’S MYSTERYS TREATS AND GAME BOOTH PLAYSET

This playset features a magical toy cotton candy creation station where a blank stick is inserted into the non-electronic candy machine, swirled, then topped with plastic cotton candy when removed from the slot. Girls are visually lead to play the carnival game first, collect their prize, then create and retrieve their cotton candy for a full narrative experience.

Concept art for a tech toy which featured interchangeable plastic furniture which, when plugged in, triggered different digital rooms for Barbie to play in. Further interacting with the furniture triggered different events to occur on screen as Barbie autonomously went about her day.

Interchangeable plastic plug-in piece concepts: Bathroom Vanity, Window/Dresser Combo, Washing Machine, Oven, Front Door.

Pieces were chosen based on a collection of data and research anecdotes to suggest what kinds of stories girls 5-8 like to tell with Barbie and how they like to tell them, as well as what rooms are required to tell a complete house story, and what tasks are the most exciting, aspirational, and express the most autonomy for these girls in those rooms.

A bathroom vanity for self care, getting ready, and signaling the start and end of your day.
A window for changing the time of day for their stories, and a dresser for choosing an outfit.
A washing machine for caring for those outfits and giving them a realistic place to go once they have been used.
An oven for cooking meals and doing timed tasks in the kitchen.
A front door for packages, mail, gifts, grocery deliveries for your oven, and visits from surprise guests, both digital and physical.

Sample of cause and effect flow between physical items, d-pad control on playset, and triggered digital events.
Built in Miro, used to help both engineers and asset artists track their work.

BARBIE’S WONDERHOUSE PITCH

A new kind of Dreamhouse where Barbie plays back with whimsy, humor, and curiosity. (Barbie’s Digital Dreamhouse 2.0)

After some testing of the first Digital Dreamhouse, we found that girls did not like that the pieces covered the screen. It just wasn’t how they naturally played. We also cited issues with eyeline and a successful physical/digital illusion. This meant the plastic pieces would have to be entirely changed to accommodate for how they would play and where they would play. However, girls were still asking for a way for them to play Barbies the way they always had while Barbie, herself, “played back.” After further testing we found that this meant they wanted someone to validate their play and, on occasion, help push their stories forward. Moms wanted a digital barbie house that encouraged more play and imagination, without the fear of their imagination being replaced by the main event being what was shown on screen. Thus, Barbie’s Wonderhouse was born.

Building on the success of Barbie Miniland, Wonderhouse functions at the same scale and allows the same play, but this time the playset is outside of an interactive digital Barbie’s home. Her entire role is to “yes and” your play and validate exploration with curious expressions and surpringly delightful responses.

HOT WHEELS REDESIGN

Concept redesign of the Hot Wheels City T-Rex Blaze Battle Playset. The same track and composition is used, but this time with new mechanics, surprises, and narrative.

FLAME ROUTE CHANGE MECHANISM

CHANCE TAIL SLAM MECHANISM

Each time a car pushes past the thunder bold, the tail raises higher and higher.
On the 4th car, the tail will fall. If the car does not pass through fast enough, it will be slammed  by the tail.

TAIL HIT REACTION MECHANISM

If the tail is already down, the next car will hit it, causing the dragon to do a full body reaction (2).
To depict a reaction of pain and surprise, the dragon lifts its tail, throws back its head, and lifts up a piece of the track, creating a new jump.
The next car (3) will trigger the dragon to drop it’s head to blow another fire ball out of rage, and the car will fly off the jump to safety in the clouds.