The Premise. Building toys are, at a first glance, perfect for young children. Somewhere along the way, however, adults began picking them up and using them to create and design new things. They offer kids a way to learn spatial patterns and adults a way to create and experiment with prototypes for their inventions.
The Product. IKOS is a building tool comprised of small pieces that lock together to create new shapes. The pieces are larger than typical building toys and come in different colors. IKOS used a modified geometrical polygon to come up with its design. These building blocks are curved and spherical, unlike most building toys which are typically flat.
The Pitch. The long campaign video shows how the adult mind behind IKOS, Mike Wong, enlisted the help of three high school students to help him create IKOS. His vision was to find a new kind of shape to create with, “How are we supposed to think outside of the box, when that’s all we have to design with?” Wong asks in the video. Despite the fact that two of the three high school students are women, the video boasts that the building tool is great for everyone including girls, hmm. The rest of the campaign shows a few of the million different things that can be made using IKOS pieces. IKOS hopes to raise $21,000 in its 32-day Kickstarter campaign.
The Perks. As with other toy building products we’ve seen the past, IKOS offers different packages for different amounts of donations. The lowest priced Young Innovator package costs $22 and comes with 40 IKOS pieces in two colors. The Innovator package comes with 120 IKOS pieces at an early-bird price of $40 and regular price of $50. Other packages offer up to 2,500 IKOS pieces for keen future or current engineers. All have an estimated delivery date of July 2014.
The Potential. IKOS’s unique quality is that it offers a building block that isn’t flat like other building tools, presenting even more building opportunities to kids, professionals and adults alike. The company hopes to branch out by manufacturing the set using recycled materials which will give it even more of an edge in the future. We’ve seen lots of fun building tools on crowdfunding sites like Strawbees, Snaak and CubeCraft that offer designers the chance to dream up new creations easily. IKOS is a different kind of tool because of its curved shape and breathes new life into the building block market.