Background
Assignment
Project designing for specific users is about learning to co-design with a participant who has certain needs. The assignment is to realize a physical prototype of a product that supports the participant in maintaining a healthy lifestyle, taking into account their needs and wishes. To accomplish this, the group needs to work to gather with the participants and learn about their norms and values.
Participant
The participant was born and grew up in Kerala, in the south of India. Her parents were both doctors and she went on to study at university and become a doctor herself as well. After university, she moved back in with her parents. Being a doctor in India is hard work. She had to work long hours, six days per week. During both her studies and her time working in India she had little time to meet friends or have time for her hobbies. Meeting her husband changed her life around. Not only in the sense that she married him a few months later but also she had to move to the Netherlands since he has a job here.
At the moment she keeps herself busy with exploring the city and picking up some of her old hobbies, including cooking, singing and dancing. Yet she is also looking ahead to a future where she may need to know an adequate amount of Dutch or as she noted, German before she can practice medicine in either country.
​
(DSU Assignment 1.2_Preliminary research_Interview with visual notes)​
Fig. 1 - Visual summary interview participant
Phase 1
Context mapping
On the 15th of February, an interview took place with the participant supporting group 9 during the project Design for Specific Users. The meeting occurred in a reserved room at Vrijhof, with two interviewers present. Interviewer A led the questioning and did the conversation, while Interviewer B took notes. Later these notes were used to make a visual representation of the interview (see Fig. 1: Visual notes), this was supported by a recording of the interview.
Before the interview, very little was known about the participant. The interviewers had received the information that she was an international and based on a call to set a date for the meeting it was found that she is from India. Other information was not known. Therefore, the interview was setup with general questions.
​
The participant arrived at the meeting location from the city of Enschede by bike. Having recently moved from India to live here with her husband, she had then been living in Enschede for about a month.
The goal of the interview was to get to know who the participant is, what her expectations of the project are and look at the potential challenges she faces as an international.
​
Since the goal of the interview was to get to know the participant, most insights were gained from her background story.
Her challenges in adapting to life in The Netherlands also reflect in her professional career. There are mandatory waiting periods and professional development standards required to move medicinal practice from one country to another. She enjoys that her life is on pause yet is also looking ahead to a future where she may need to know an adequate amount of Dutch or as she noted, German before she can practice medicine in either country. She has taken smaller steps to learn German with online resources but expects to fully commit to that or Dutch once she decides where she will live and work.
​
Design challenge
“Create a tabletop game that encourages different cultures to discover similarities and differences that allow people to get to know each other better on personal and cultural level.”
Interview
Literature research
Further insights were done with regard to research papers. Three articles were deemed relevant to the current problem range. The first article covers a study on bicultural socialization practices among white parents who adopted children from India in the Netherlands, Norway, and the United States. The study aimed to understand the importance of bicultural socialization, children's participation in related activities, and experiences of negative encounters like adoption-related and racial discrimination. Results showed variations in BCS practices among the countries, with Norwegian and American parents emphasizing it more than Dutch parents. Negative experiences differed across countries, with Dutch parents reporting the least negativity overall. Factors such as maternal involvement, parental age at adoption, and pre-adoption care influenced these practices. The study highlights the complexity of BCS practices and underscores the need for further research to explore these dynamics comprehensively.
The second article talks about the research they did regarding culture and language being passed down through generations in South-Asian families. These findings are used in the development of digital tools that promote knowledge sharing among generations. The information regarding the methods of language and culture sharing can be used in our project, to look at differences in this between Dutch and South-Asian families.
The third article is more of a general article.
​
(DSU Assignment 1.2_Preliminary research_Interview with visual notes)​,
(DSU Assignment 1.1_Information Literacy - Systematic Search)
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
Market research
Market research was used to find games that are already on the market. This way competitors could be analyzed and inspiration was found (see attachment).
​
Interesting elements from existing games that were found interesting to explore in the ideation phase:
-
logical thinking
-
finding a balance between rules/structure, and making it easy to explain
-
competitiveness
-
maximum playing time of around 20 minutes
-
a combination of board and cards
-
Party and co: a combination of guessing acting out, drawing, sounds
-
Uno: simple design (inviting)
-
Cards against humanity: fill in the blank
Co-design
The first co-design session
For the first co-design session, we had not yet determined the problem to tackle. This was due to our participant not really having one. We used this session to dive deeper into her daily life and her possible struggles. From the interview, we had determined certain topics that we would like to discuss with our participant. These were travel, hobbies, cooking, family, community/making friends and integration. For these topics, we had prepared photo collages to possibly bring inspiration during the session. We had also made a mindmap which dove deeper into the topics mentioned during the interview. Before the session, we ideated on possible solutions for these topics but later decided not to bring them to the session. This was because we did not want us or our participant to be biased on a solution even though the biggest problem was yet to be determined. We did bring the mindmap to the session, be it in a simplified form.
Using conversation to guide the session, we discussed every topic we had prepared alongside other topics. The session was relaxed and we had a very comfortable environment with our participant. The possible solutions that we determined can be seen in [picture of the whiteboard]. The two that were eventually the most viable products were the pressure cooker combined with the fermentation device and the boardgame that would allow you to get to know the unspoken rules. Because we thought the latter to be the more useful (and quite frankly, more fun) product, we decided to pursue this.
We then brainstormed what aspects would be important in this game. These were the following:
-
It would be fun if it was a combination of a board and a card game
-
It would have to be replayable with the same group
-
It would have to be portable to be able to take it with you to a bar or a place outside
-
It needed to have some complexity, our participant liked that
-
It could possibly have different roles within the game
-
It needs to be able to be played by at least 3 people
-
It would have to last between 15-20 minutes
-
It could possibly have ‘dares’ or something physical
-
The design could consist of easy, inviting, comical cartoon-like drawings
-
It should have some complexity and competitivity but still be relatively easy to explain
-
It could consist of multiple categories of questions, like acting out, making a sound, etc.
-
It could use a timer to make the gameplay quicker
Our participant also gave us some inspiration in the form of a game she played in her childhood; mancala.
After determining the product we were going to design, we discussed the design. We had prepared a collage of all different products, color pallets, patterns and other pictures that could aid us in giving an insight of what our participants style is like. We asked her to mark these pictures in three different colored groups; ones she liked, ones she was neutral to and ones she did not really like. From this, we got a nice feel of what design direction we could go into once the game was specified.
.png)
Fig 4. - Requirements from co-design
Fig 5. - Collages from co-design
(like - neutral, dislike)
Fig 3. - Discussed topics
Fig 2. - Mindmap as result from Interview
Yet, her experiences integrating in the Netherlands show little challenges. Of course, there is a lot that needs to be done, like organizing papers, learning a new culture and settling in. The fact that most Dutch people speak English on some level, makes it easier to go about. This, however, is easier because her husband already found his footing in the Netherlands. Through him, she made new friends. These are both from the Netherlands and other internationals. One thing she struggled with was the weather in the Netherlands. It can be cold during the winter, certainly compared to India. She had a toothache for a couple of days because of this. In the future, she hopes to practice medicine again, either in the Netherlands or somewhere else, but for now, she is happy with taking a break from working.Personal freedoms and agency is valuable for the participant. Buying a bike allowed her to have more freedom in the Netherlands. She can go out on her own more easily and discover the city. This helps to get to know the culture and keep busy during the day. Also, she gets a lot of freedom and support from her husband to explore, not only her new home but also her options of getting a job.India is still quite conservative compared to the Netherlands. She feels that in the Netherlands it is easier to talk about sensitive subjects like sexual orientation. But, shops are more accessible in India; they are open later and sell a larger variety of goods. Additionally, a delivery service will bring your order within 10 minutes, while in the Netherlands you will have to order a day prior. Also, the food is different, not all products that are available in India are available in the Netherlands. She has to go to special stores to get her products. However, she likes to taste food from the Netherlands as well. Overall, during the interview, this participant came across as very satisfied with where she is in life now.​
(DSU Assignment 1.2_Preliminary research_Interview with visual notes)​
Requirements
As a result of the analysis phase a list of requirements was made.
​
The product shall...
Functions
- promote learning about various cultures
- getting to know new people
​
Aesthetics
- have a colorful design
- invoke a flowing texture without being overbearing
​
Dimensions
- take 15-20 minutes of the users time
- be small enough to fit inside a handbag or backpack
- constrain any board element to <25cm length per side
- be portable
​
Materials
- resistant to fluid spillage equal to one glass
- be light enough for portability by one individual
​
Use
- have intuitive game rules that are simple to explain
- allow 3+ people to participate
- fit onto a collection of cards
​
Nice to have
- have a backstory
- include Dutch and Indian elements
- have a physical element
- incorporate elements of Indian childhood games
- assign different roles to each player
Phase 2
Ideation on games
Based on the analysis and the results of the co-design session with the participant, it was decided to make a board game. Several concepts were generated. Some are based on already existing games while others are more unique.
​
Concept selection
The requirements are weighted based on how important they are deemed. Then all game concepts were rated accordingly (see Figure 6).
​
1 ~ nice to have / concept does not comply
2 ~ should have / concept can comply depending on the design
3 ~ must have / concept does this well
Concept 4 "Your perfect day" and 8 "Ticket around the world" stand out in the scoring. Therefore these concepts are selected to develop further.
Concept development
Your perfect day
Every player gets a small board with about 15 empty slots in a row representing activities to do on their perfect day, the first and last ones are a bed for morning and evening. Many different small icons representing activities (e.g. showering, breakfast, driving, work, etc.) fit into the slots. A few icons are left blank for people to fill in themselves (specific activities).
-
each player first defines their perfect day, maybe describing it to the others
-
all icons go on a pile with the right side down
-
every player picks random icons from the pile and puts them in their slots
-
by playing minigames players can get points to switch icons and get to their perfect day (the predefined activities in the right order)
​
minigames (cards) examples:
-
getting questions about cultures/countries: get 1 point for correct answer
-
drawing/acting out: you get -1 point if 0 people guess it, 1 point if 1 person guesses it, 2 points if >1 people guess it, other people get 1 point for guess it
​
scores:
-
1 point: player can switch two icons on their own board (change order)
-
1 point: player can switch own icon with random icon from pile
-
2 points: player can switch own icon with icon from someone else
options: questions specific for the icons players want, have to get it right to get it
Ticket around the world
The board contains a map of the world. Each player starts with their pawn on a different continent. The goal is to be the player who gets to all continents first. When it is your turn, you can choose what mini game you want to play. This is dependent on what path you want to follow. For example, if you want to move from North America to Europe, you choose for the boat. This vehicle is connected to the mini game Sign. One of the other players will take the pile with the mini games and turn around the timer. With in one minute the player will act out as many cards as possible, while the first player guesses. When the minute is over, the first player can move their pawn the number of cards guessed correctly. Then the next player is.
​
Mini games examples:
- Sign; the player acts out whatever is on the card
- Draw; the player draws on a piece of paper whatever word is on the card
- Sound; the player makes the sound of what is on the card
​
Additional ideas:
-
gathering points like in ‘ticket to ride’ before you can move to another continent
-
you get a certain route appointed that you need to take (will potentially make the game shorter)
-
timing is based on vehicle you take -> one is easier than another
-
opportunities for power ups that will allow players to move around the board more quickly
Final game selection
The two games 'your perfect day' and 'ticket around the world' are both already selected based on how well they fit the requirements, therefore the games were compared and discussed. The games are quite similar in the way that they both make use of mini games to earn points. However, 'Your perfect day' was considered more of a unique game compared to 'ticket around the world', since the later takes a lot of elements are taken from existing games like Party and Co and Ticket to ride.
Additionally, 'your perfect day' allows for mini games that can be related to the theme of 'a perfect day'. Which makes the game more of a whole.
Final game direction
After selecting a final concept direction a couple of brainstorming sessions developed various concept directions of the final game. These were compared and an overview of the different options was made.
Testing
Preparation
The second co-design session was mostly meant to evaluate if the product is what our participant expected and how it can be improved. For this session, that meant that we were going to play the game together with our participant. For this, we prepared a rough board together with question cards and activity cards made out of thicker paper, which can be seen in (see figure 9). To accompany that, we printed a ‘Perfect Day’ card where you would write down your personal perfect day and brought pencils. We used the whiteboard in the meeting room to draw out when given that type of question. We used our phones as a timer.
Session
The session itself started off with explaining the rules, which took a surprisingly short time; less than 5 minutes. This was very good, as it was a set requirement that the game would be easy to explain. We set a timer and started playing the game. The youngest player started and we went around taking a card from the pile. We allowed for placement of tiles all over the board, not per se in the correct order of the day, just to try out if that would allow for a fun game. We also had a surprising amount of fun with the questions. We were not certain yet if the ‘concentration’ questions would be fun when having a range from 1-100 or if 1-10 would be better. The 1-100 range was quite fun, which our participant agreed on. The first question that caused some possible problems was one that asked to draw either your school, home or local supermarket. Because the amount of possible options is quite low, three players guessed correct, resulting in a rock-paper-scissors battle. We would have to find a new solution for this. In the end, we played for around 40 minutes and had a little over two/thirds of the board filled. We then had a evaluation session from which we concluded a number of things.
We would need to think of solutions for questions like the drawing one mentioned above.The current board was fine, but we preferred a round shaped board, as it was more in line with the theme of the game. We agreed that the order in which the tiles were allowed to be placed on the board was the most fun in the game we played. This meant that instead of following the order from left to right, you would be allowed to place them at random on the board. This would also allow for more points to be possibly scored, for when you win a certain category card you could place it wherever you wanted.The game lasted longer than expected, but our participant said that that was fine because it is in essential possible to stop the game at any given time and determine a winner. This is made even more fun by being able to place the tiles at preferred places on the board instead of the determined order.During the session there were 6 participants in total. This was a good number to play with. Rounds were quick enough to stay interesting for everyone. The number was also good to make it still possible for everyone to at least complete a part of their 'perfect day'. ​
We asked our participant if she still had the same opinion regarding the design of the game as last time, when she asked for bright colors and a cartoony feel. She said she had the same opinions, but we could make it less childish as the target audience for the game is clearly older people, given the game difficulty. Overall the play session was very useful and gave us a nice boost, knowing that our product was quite satisfactory up until then at least.
Fig 6. - Scored concepts based on requirements
Fig 7. - Perfect Day concept board
Fig 8. - Ticket Around The World concept board
Fig 9. - Testing low fidelity prototype
Phase 3
Final design
When it comes to the design, the game went through certain steps in order to get to the finished prototype. Based on the first co-design session, a color palette was determined together with a broad design direction. Our participant mentioned a colorful cartoon-like design would fit nicely as it the game is meant to be for everyone. Our participant also liked it to be portably, to be able to take it with you to for example a picnic or a bar. Because it was only determined within that co-design session that we would be designing a game, there were no further specific design directions.
After determining we were going to pursue the idea of the ‘Perfect Day’ game and specifying the rules and gameplay, we made a quick prototype to play the game in another co-design session with our participant. For this session, we used a board that consisted of a path that used the space of the board. The cards were distinguished by bright colors which matched the tiles, with written words on both. This simple first design was merely to determine if the playstyle was any good, which it fortunately was. From this we concluded with our participant that the board layout was to be changed to a circular design, to increase the feeling that you were placing down activities throughout a day. Furthermore, our participant stated that the design could be a little less childish because that would probably not be the target audience.
Prototype
The board was designed to be neutral, because both the tiles and cards already consisted of a lot of colors. The layout was determined in the second co-design session, with the dimensions being based on the size of the cards, because they have to be placed in the middle. A sun and moon were placed on the left and right side to indicate you’re going throughout a day when playing the game. To fit the board in the bag, we thought of multiple methods. One where you would slide each part in from the side, one where there is a small piece of wood and an equally sized hole in between the parts to keep them together and one where the board consists of four puzzle pieces. We decided on the latter because this would keep the board relatively sturdy to play on and would not require difficult laser cutting or additional pieces of wood.
The game manual was a document outlining each gameplay element, their mechanics, and the overall process of a full game played beginning to end. It features an aesthetic reminiscent of the gameboard itself and graphics from the dice, cards, and characters. It had undergone multiple revisions to feature changes in gameplay mechanics, and examples to ease the explaining of the rules.
The game tiles were individually laser cut from a 3mm wooden sheet. From there, the backs were painted corresponding colors for each Tasktype and the fronts had a similar process of varnishing and gluing as the gameboard to adhere each piece of paper to them. A tile holder was 3D printed similarly to the card holder, featuring a mechanism focused on bending the plastic using a reasonable amount of force to dictate whether the tiles can enter or exit the holder.
​
Reflection
Concluding the project, a reflection was conducted to gauge the project’s success in terms of multiple criteria. They are evaluated below:
​
Success as a game - The group performed multiple sessions of playtesting at two different points in development – during the low fidelity development phase for larger and more consequential aspects of the game, and during the high fidelity late development process where more minute details regarding individual minigames and rules were crafted. During the low fidelity development, game aspects such as the scoring system, the order in which players could place their tiles, larger minigame rules and goals were decided. In late development, playtesting revealed more minute details that had to be addressed, such as how to award points in the drawing and charades minigames. Additional decisions were made such as whether players could place a tile of the same category anywhere on the board or only in their specific spot. Further deliberation was conducted on whether the minigame host should be able to earn points.
​
Success as a design for a specific user - This was a more difficult aspect to gauge success for as there were few concrete rules in place that came solely from the participant, rather softer wishes and directions to follow that came as a collaborative result of codesign. That said, looking back at the game there are larger game decisions that can be traced back to requests from the participant that the group agreed would make strong contributions to the game. These included aspects such as getting to know other players and their cultural differences on a personal level, which was a very difficult attribute to translate into a game as it needed to facilitate the influence of players’ cultures while still allowing for the subjectivity in players’ personal opinions and wants that could not be expressed solely through their culture. Another aspect was the timeliness and offhandedness of being able to casually and conveniently bring the game to social functions, explain it, and play it in a light and simple overall experience. Sacrifices had to be made on the participant’s original request of a 15-20 minute game, however these were made in pursuit of fleshing out the game and its mechanics in a way that the participant agreed with. The user also requested separated roles that changed how the game was played, which was attempted to be partially addressed with the role of the game master who had different abilities in mingames, before being scrapped due to added complexity. Another aspect the participant requested which was better addressed was replayability, where the group thought of changes that users could make at the beginning of the game in their day planner which allowed them to play as a different person or under different circumstances than their typical daily routine. These were manifested in the form of an included die that, when cast, dictated one of six categories that could break the potential mundanity of typical gameplay.
The day planners were printed and cut from high quality thick paper and laminated to create a surface which was light, durable, and capable of being a canvas for dry erase markers. The designs were adjusted copies of the main board’s layout for players to match the layouts easier. To make sure the game is portable, it comes in a Japanese knot bag. It is sown to be reversible showing two fabrics: a neutral beige one to fit the color of the board, and a red one with colored thread details to fit the participants style preferences. It has a pocket which can be closed using snaps to fit the smaller parts like the hourglass, type-of-day die and markers. The fabric is non-stretch making it a sturdy bag which will hold its shape way longer.
Fig 10. - Making of the bag