Bachelor Assignment

This research explores the design challenges Zappie, a subscription-based STEM toy company, faces in balancing rapid production demands with educational relevance. Zappie's core mission is to inspire the next generation to pursue interests within the field of STEM. However, the nature of the monthly subscriptions introduces rapid product development cycles, where product designers struggle to validate whether their concepts integrate sufficient educational value for their target audience. Therefore, this study aims to define educational value as Sustained Educational Engagement (SEE), and implement its success criteria into a practical design support tool, integrating seamlessly into the existing workflow. This tool, called the Concept Evaluation Matrix, functions both as a guidance framework for ideation and a quantitative tool for concept selection. Finally, it was evaluated and validated through the development and testing of a high-fidelity prototype in a similar fast-paced environment.