It is always a little confusing to talk about the workflow of Jem, without a diagram, so this page should help. The Marketing VP was headed up everything dealing with Jem. She was key in the development and preproduction of the line. She okayed the release of information from Hasbro to Sunbow. She had to approve, reject, or suggest changes for episodes, etc. Her responsibility was also to approve or suggest change for dolls, fashions and playsets to be included in the doll line. So she was the person who stopped the International Fashion from becoming a fashion assortment, even though Girl’s Soft spent a lot of time developing that assortment. She also had a friend who was a fashion designer design many for Jem’s “higher quality” fashions for the fashion assortments, for example Flipside Fashion and Music is Magic Fashions. The freelance designer would come into Hasbro with rough sketches, and work with Girls’ Soft to prototype her fashions.

This diagram also shows the two distinct departments involved with the development of the doll line and accessories, which also leads too much confusion. But is very easy to remember what is what, because Girls’ Hard worked with “hard” plastics and Girls’ Soft worked with “soft” fabric, fur, etc. Jem’s Senior Design Director was in Girl’s Hard and over saw the work of the Design Director and designers in both Girls’ Hard and Girls’ Soft. The dolls, playsets and majority of hard plastic or soft plastic items in the line were developed by Girls’ Hard, exception of the boots and Music Is Magic instruments. Girls’ Hard would request the “soft” parts of their designs to be prototyped by Girls’ Soft -- which included the fashions sold on the dolls, with the exception of Rock’n Curl Jem. Because Hasbro was looking to develop a cheap fashion quickly for that doll, they utilized the Girls’ Soft design her fashion. Girls’ Hard would also place a work order for which fashion assortments needed to be developed to sell with the dolls and themes for each year. The Girls’ Soft Design Director coordinated which new fashions (and old fashions) would be included in the new or updated fashion assortments, either from the Girls’ Soft designers or the Freelance Artist.

The reason why we have never seen prototypes for a Hollywood Jem assortment or Stingers assortment is because a work order was never placed for these 1988 fashion lines, after the lack of interest in the 1987 line from the toy buyers – the 1988 dolls and Matching Medley fashions were further along in development prior to the 1987 Toy Fair. And the Mardi Gras fashions did not fit the usually workflow, because Carleigh Hoff designed the mask which were loved by higher ups, so she was asked to then create the fashion assortment to go with.

I also included Griffin-Bacal/Sunbow to show how they worked independently from the Hasbro designers, but the Marketing VP made the connection between the show and the doll designers. So if there is every an issue that Sunbow and the Hasbro designers didn’t seem to be on the same page, it’s because the information was funneled through the Marketing VP – so what information and how it was used was at her discretion.
This just has the key titles, not the individuals responsible for each design. I included a little note about what they are known for or have done since. I didn’t include the original Freelance Designer that designed the doll molds, because I trying to show an over view without making these to complicated, and alterations and later head molds followed the normal workflow.

Having been a Marketing Specialist it fascinates me that so much control was given to the Marketing Department for the development, look and feel of the toy lines – other than naming the new products, I’m use to being told what the new products are and I’ve responsible for figuring out the most effect way to promote the products. I have had no real input of whether or not I think it’s a good product, other than if the competitor had an equivalent or better similar product. But the enlisting of outside companies (like Sunbow) to promote the new products is very typical responsibility for Marketing VP or at least the Marketing Department.