From peacocks and ostriches to Monsters, Inc. and Imperial Starfighers, Scott Franson doesn’t limit his imagination when he gets his hands on Tegu Blocks–whether it’s at home or in the classroom.
A graphic design professor at BYU Idaho, Franson introduced our magnetic wooden blocks to his BFA students as a case study in design thinking. Recently, one student Brant Day sat down with his teacher to explore the simple and curious world of Tegu Blocks (they even constructed a series of gravity-defying towers). Check out some excerpts below and listen to the full audio here.
Scott on why he brought Tegu into the classroom
One of the things we want our graphic design students to do is to make sure that they’re making decisions that are based on an idea or concept [...] One of the things that I think Tegu did really well is that they solved an initial problem [...] They noticed there was wood available, but that there were a couple of complications with wood such as deforestation, etc [...] In terms of design thinking, one of the things they were able to do was address [the problem] “if we use wood, what are we going to do?” So, they put in their business model to rebuild the resources they were using. For every tree that they cut down, they would plant so many trees.
Scott on the addictive and surprising nature of Tegu
Every time we have company over, this is what we get out–we get out the Tegu blocks. At first everyone’s always like “Oh…blocks” [...] You make that [Scott makes a horse] and then all the kids are like WOAH! Then they’re super excited about playing with them and build thing after thing after thing. After a while, they will build a tower and build it super tall. This is the kind of toy that is designed well and designed to last.
Brant on why Tegu Blocks serve as an example of design thinking
When you bring out the Tegu blocks, there’s no set direction. There’s no right or wrong way to do this; it’s an exploration. I think that’s what’s so powerful about Tegu [...]
