Design Project: I Need Your Input!

General Yo-Yo
1

Sup throwers,

I’m currently taking a course called Design Thinking and for my final project, I’m planning on designing a new yo-yo (or maybe even an entirely new skill toy!). I have access to both a 3D Printer and a laser cutter, which can be used for prototyping. I was wondering if I could have your honest input on some of the following things, as my view is relatively restricted and I want to know your opinions as well:

Beginner Players: I find that with beginners, yo-yoing can tend to be difficult to pick up. It’s very easy to quit if you’re stuck on a trick and you’re not extremely motivated to keep trying. I know a lot of you are well beyond this beginner phase but I was wondering if you had any thoughts on the new thrower experience and if it could be streamlined.

Why Do We Throw: From the outside, I feel as though it’s easy to see the hobby of skill toys as something with low utility (is this accurate?). After playing for a while their utility as destressers and a medium for self-expression become apparent. Is there a way this utility can be made more apparent from the outside earlier on? What traits in yo-yos might you want to see in another skill toy?

Durability: It’s happened to most of us: You’re trying out that new trick or you get a little bit too excited on your throw. Your yo-yo hits the ground and gets dinged or maybe even chipped. In some cases this really hurts the stability of the yo-yo or causes vibe. I know there’s a lot of posts on this subreddit about how to deal with dinging your yo-yo, but I was wondering if you had any thoughts on using different materials or a modular system that made the yo-yo less prone to dings.

Space Dependency: Some tricks can be very space-dependent (horizontal comes to mind) and often you’ll need to find a good amount of space to do these tricks. Is this a problem?

Other Problems: Do you have any problems with yo-yoing that weren’t listed above?

Thanks in advance, you all are a beautiful group of people. I look forward to discussing these things with you all! <3

2

Ok, I can give some input

Beginners - I asked around and the two things that beginners need are spin time and a large catch zone.

Why do we throw - for me, I throw for fun. If I see a yoyo, I want to feel like “oh, that would be fun!”

Durability. I don’t mind dents or dings as long as it doesn’t overly vibe and is still playable. Some 3D printer filaments are more durable than others, look them up and see what you can find.

Space dependency: not much you can do about this with the yoyo, you kind of need to adjust the tricks

Post pics of your proto!

3

Sounds like a Fun project! Here is my input.

Beginner Players - I find that the beginning yoyo contributes a lot the persons interest. A solid yoyo with a slim and wide bearing included seems ideal.

Why do we throw - I throw because it feels more productive to do during my downtime than playing video games. I also like to do it while watching movies at home because I can’t sit still.

Durability - Plastic yoyos seem to be the most prone to this. Titanium is obviously the best bet or 7068 aluminum is supposed to be great but regular aluminum will maintain playablility through pretty much any abuse.

Space density - Not a huge problem with regular 1a. I stopped playing 4a primarily because of this though.

Other Problems - For me, I don’t yoyo in front of others and only a few of my friend know I yoyo. I know I shouldn’t care what others think, but I hang out with friends who trash talk a lot and yoyoing is an easy target and too obscure of a hobby to be taken seriously right now, by others. The only thing I could think of to solve this problem is to have a cool guy or gal take yoyoing into the mainstream.