Interview with Björn Jeffery of Toca Boca Nov 17, 2011

We think playing and having fun is the best way to learn about the world. Therefore we make digital toys and games that help stimulate the imagination, and that you can play together with your kids.

Toca Boca apps are creative, unique and open ended, they engage and interact, the kids just adore them and go back to them time and time again. Read more of what we think and a breakdown of all the Toca Boca apps in our Toca Boca review.

We sent CEO Björn Jeffery a few questions, here’s what he had to say.

Muslim Friendly Apps: How do you come up with ideas for apps?

Björn: It’s a long development process that tests ideas with kids at many stages to make sure that they are fun enough. We have play designers that have many years of experience with making interactive products for kids, and they often come up with the first drafts of concepts. After that we go through several stages of testing and making prototypes until we finally get to the finished product. So it’s a very creative process, but in a structured manner.

MFA: How do you know when you’ve got a winning idea?  Do you test the apps with kids to gauge their reactions to them before finalizing? So far all your apps have been winners, at least in our house, my kids have been building Toca Robots for 2 days straight and I regularly attend iPad tea parties (I go for the carrot cake).

Björn: The testing tells us. Sometimes ideas that test well on a paper prototype level don’t work as well when they are developed further, and sometimes the play designers gut feeling tells them that minor changes can be made in order to increase the fun a lot. But in short it is just a lot of testing with kids and then being true and honest to what the kids actually like and dislike.

Björn: Our play designers have been making interactive products for children for a long time, and are well experienced in what is suitable for different ages and stages.

MFA: Are there any apps away in a dark closet that you decided not to develop? Apps on the cutting room floor if you will.

Björn: Loads! We have literally hundreds of ideas (most of them stuck on the wall behind my desk) that haven’t been developed in full yet. Some of them might never see the light of day, and some may evolve to be future blockbusters. We’ll see!

Björn: We are more interested in the concept of learning rather than education, since it is a wider approach to things in life and doesn’t have to follow a specific curriculum. There are many things that technology can facilitate, and learning is definitely one of them. We state on our website that we have a positive view on technology and think that it should be used for good, and I think that sums it up pretty well. It’s not about sticking an iPad in every classroom and thinking that that will solve everything. But for certain types of learning or experiences it may well be better suited than what is being used today.