Mr. Piggy

The brief of this project was to explore and design an entirely new object by adding behaviours and interactions to an existing static product. The brief was quite broad and I was free to narrow down on a particular user segment of choice.

Mr. Piggy is a product that not only reimagines what a piggy bank could be like, it most importantly tries to keep the essence of a piggy bank the same. The product is the transformation of a traditional piggy bank in sync with the transformation of money from cash to plastic. It redefines the usage of a piggy bank from being just a static depository of money to something much more engaging and personal to a kid.

Looking into the usages of a traditional piggy bank, one hardly finds it in suitable in context in today’s world especially when the concept of money is increasing trying to become virtual/plastic. Through adding behaviours to an otherwise static product, Mr. Piggy becomes more than a piggy bank…it tries to become a pet. Mr. Piggy is thus able to passively invoke an emotional connection of a pet with the kid that encourages him/her to take care of it.

Swiss psychologist, Jean Piaget's research on Genetic Epistemology was the starting point for my research. Once a target segment was finalised, I proceeded to conduct primary one to one interviews with parents of children aged 6-12 years to understand intervention possibilites. 

My research pushed me towards researching the effects of Play, that helped me focus on designing a tangible playful experience.