Money Monster
Santander
Helping children save and spend wisely in the digital world
The Brief
In an ever-changing, cashless society, children struggle to understand the value of money. Design and develop an interactive cashless, digital moneybox for children aged 5 and above.
Concept
Born from a passion to help kids understand the value of money in an increasingly cashless society, Money Monsters are modern day piggy banks which link to a real bank account instead of being filled with coins and notes.
Roles & Responsibilities
I was part of a team of two, working closely with Santander and Thought Machine to design and develop these fun and friendly coin-free critters!
Character ideation, design and development.
Managing cross platform transitions, from digital to physical.
Building, testing and analysing prototypes, from foam board mock-ups to 3D printed display prototypes.
Collaborating with manufacturing consultants and suppliers.
Design and development of packaging.
Beginning with initial sketch concepts and a range of facial expressions, the Money Monster character was developed over multiple iterations, and a variety of mediums. As the core concept developed, features such as removable components and body parts were introduced, and this impacted both form and functionality requirements. This had to be factored into the character design and adapted accordingly.
Pre-painted, SLS nylon 3D prints.
Painted, and ready for assembly.
Assembling prototypes for the Kensington Olympia London Toy Fair.
Fully functional prototypes on display at the Kensington Olympia, London Toy Fair.
The packaging was designed to be playful, create a sense of intrigue and wonder, and to communicate that the Money Monster’s were from another planet
Making packaging part of the user experience!
Tasked with the challenge of creating a sense of intrigue, and to communicate that these Money Monsters came from another planet, I wanted the user experience to begin the second they laid eyes on the packaging.
Consumers are bombarded with an overwhelming number of products on shelves. In order to stand out, I wanted the packaging to grab peoples attention by having two glaring eyes peering out of the box, creating a sense of intrigue and wonder. The front panel cold be opened up to show the Money Monster complete with accessories attached.
The packaging was designed to reflect a high-tech, futuristic form of crate that would safely transport the Money Monsters across the universe. The bold use of simplified artwork on raw, brown cardboard was popular with a lot of educational tech toys, and the client wanted the Money Monsters product to fit within this category of educational toy.
Once open, the step-by-step setup instructions were designed to symbiotically work with the natural flow of unboxing the product, guiding the user through safely unpacking the product, while simultaneously setting up their Money Monster.
