Make It Cute

 

Mid-pandemic, three childhood best friends came to Spanner with a product vision: create a children’s playhouse that accomplishes three critical goals: 

  • Make it sustainable

  • Make it safe

  • Make it simple (to assemble and store flat)

Make It Cute is a female-founded startup focused on bringing sustainable play decor to your home starting with a children’s playhouse. It may come as a surprise to some that Spanner is behind this project when the majority of our recognized work is within the consumer tech space. However, Spanner was founded on, and guided by, designing for good, designing for impact, and designing for sustainability. We were excited to take this on, and as many in the design space recognize, the final goal of ‘make it simple’ is ultimately one of the biggest challenges to take on and achieve.

The collaboration was defined by three phases: 

1. Workshop - Through a multi-day workshop, the goal was to spark inspiration for the possibilities of playhouses and accessories through sketches and storyboards.  We also provided product strategy consulting in support of their business goals.

 
 

2. Design Sprint - The sprint phase was an exploration of the construction of the playhouse through three stages: early sketch architecture, quarter scale mockups, and, finally, handmade full-scale mockups.

i - Early Sketch Architecture

 
 

ii - Quarter Scale Mockups

 
 

iii. Full Scale Mockups

 
 

3. Design Support -  We began by developing prototypes to test various setup and folding methods for storage with the following considerations: 

  • Assembly vs. End User Steps

  • User Setup & Teardown Interactions

  • Storage Locations

  • User Safety

  • Aesthetics

  • Materials

  • Touchpoints

  • Folds, Cuts, & Connections

  • Roof Attachment (if necessary)

  • Stress Points

  • Structural Integrity

  • Full vs. Partial Floor

  • Doors & Windows Decorations

Once the first round of full-scale prototypes was made, we moved to user testing, detailed design, and a refined prototype to finalize dielines and handoff to the corrugated vendor for production. Key to this stage was the identification and enablement of supply chain partners who could uphold the requirements for fabrication and sustainability.

 
 

With patents pending for novel solutions to achieve objectives, we're excited to support the launch of Make It Cute, and the introduction of an environmentally friendly - and aesthetically pleasing - children's playhouse. We're proud to enable the team’s vision to come to fruition and to be a part of their story. Learn more at https://makeitcutekids.com/

 
 
“The Spanner team was instrumental in helping to ensure this product is like nothing else on the market and we’re so grateful that we were able to work with such a high-caliber team.”
— Anne Hoehn, Co-Founder, Make It Cute
 

Project Team

 

Make It Cute

  • Anne Hoehn

  • Maureen North

  • Amanda Seyfried

Spanner

  • Arne Lang-Ree

  • Marco Berkhout

  • Bethany Valderrama

 
 
“Partnering closely with Amanda, Anne, and Maureen to help unfold their vision of the playhouse was an immense joy and privilege. They are passionate, kind, and creative individuals who gave us the opportunity to tap into our inner child as we explored design solutions. Through this development process, we gained more than clients, but fulfilling friendships with the Make It Cute team, and we are so excited to see the dreams of their playhouse come true and inspire others as it did us.”
— Spanner Product Designer, Bethany Valderrama
 
 
 

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