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Give kids an edgy, fun and unique play experience.
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THE CHALLENGE
To create a toy that can survive the exuberance of an enthusiastic child.
Take the much loved spinning and drifting play pattern of the original Spinner Shark and design a more attractive, durable, safer, and affordable solution.
WHAT WE ACHIEVED
The Spinner Shark has become a favorite ride-on toy during school recesses and outdoor play around the world.
The Spinner Shark drifting kneeboard has sold over 200,000 units through Walmart PDQ's with over a 92% sell-through. In school settings, the Spinner Shark is fully functional and maintenance free for years even with constant use.
Spinner Shark Promo
WHAT CAME BEFORE
The GOMO Spinner Shark is a redesign of the original knee board invention. The task was to retain the play pattern of swerving, tail-whipping, and 360 spinning, but bring the design forwards to modern aesthetics and engineering.
The original Spinner Shark was fabricated out of plywood. It was not ergonomic and the edges were a safety hazard. It was also expensive to make and ship. But worst of all the plywood design would not survive the retail store floors. Units were being destroyed before they were sold.
original Spinner Shark
FAST & FLEXIBLE
Drawing inspiration from automotive design principles, the Spinner Shark has taut surfaces and strong directionality. It looks like it is moving when sitting still. The injection mold for a single uni-body construction this large is expensive, so changing the physical design happens infrequently.
The large surface graphic allows for the design to be updated yearly to keep the Spinner Shark's styling fresh. The graphic's surface is also designed to have only single direction curvature so that various non-stretch sticker technologies can be used.
RESPONDING TO THE USER
STAKEHOLDER GOALS AND NEEDS
FROM SKETCHING TO TESTING
The largest challenge we faced in designing and engineering the Spinner Shark was making it structurally durable using only PP plastics.
SALES CHANNELS
We introduced the new Spinner Shark through the Walmart PDQ program. The challenge was to fit over 20 units into the footprint of a Walmart PDQ while displaying the Spinner Shark to its fullest. The final PDQ design sacrificed per unit totals for a better presentation on the store floor. The PDQ we designed accommodates over $1,200 of product.
In 2021 the Spinner Shark had a 92% sell-through.
In the last three years Walmart has expanded the Spinner Shark from 500 to over 1500 stores.