Hasta La Ideas

From the nytimes:

Mr. Beck was the original designer and, for 24 years until he retired in 1998, head of research and development for Playmobil (pronounced playmoBEEL). The company is a division of Geobra Brandstatter GmbH & Company KG, founded in 1876, which originally made ornamental casket fittings and handles. Based in Zirndorf, Germany, it has since manufactured cash registers, telephones, piggy banks, self-watering planters and, starting in 1974, those tiny, round-faced, black-eyed characters with moon-sliver smiles.

Now here’s the intriguing part:

After working as a cabinet maker, Mr. Beck was hired by Geobra Brandstätter as a toy maker after showing executives there the model planes he had designed. In the early 1970s, when the company was facing low revenue, its owner, Horst Brandstätter, asked Mr. Beck to design a line of toy buildings and vehicles into which little figures could be placed. Mr. Beck decided to make the figures first, then fashion their environs.

So, ya, he started with the user. Nice.

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