Craft n' Connect
Craft n' Connect
Co-designing with residents from Banfield Pavilion to create a functional game for engagement & use within the long-term care home.
Co-designing with residents from Banfield Pavilion to create a functional game for engagement & use within the long-term care home.
Craft n' Connect was selected to be exhibited in Emily Carr University’s Health Design Lab Showcase in April 2024 as part of the Perspectives Program: Storytelling through Co-design with People Living in Long-Term Care
Working with long-term care home residents to collectively design a game to enhance connection and socialization through its use by residents, staff, volunteers, family and visitors.
Craft n' Connect was selected to be exhibited in Emily Carr University’s Health Design Lab Showcase in April 2024 as part of the Perspectives Program: Storytelling through Co-design with People Living in Long-Term Care
Working with long-term care home residents to collectively design a game to enhance connection and socialization through its use by residents, staff, volunteers, family and visitors.
Team
Neharika Sidda, Jasmine Wong, Sunnie Sun
Role
Research, UX Writing & Testing, Illustration, Workshop Facilitation
Timeline
January - April 2024
Deliverable(s)
Board & card game with instructions
Team
Neharika Sidda, Jasmine Wong, Sunnie Sun
Role
Research, UX Writing & Testing, Illustration, Workshop Facilitation
Timeline
January - April 2024
Deliverable(s)
Board & card game with instructions
The Problem
The Problem
Social connection is essential in long-term care homes. How can design contribute to enhancing connection and socialization between those living in long-term care home facilities?
Social connection is essential in long-term care homes. How can design contribute to enhancing connection and socialization between those living in long-term care home facilities?
The Solution
The Solution
Practice participatory co-design methods, in designing to enhance the quality of life for people living in care. Learn and design alongside those with lived experience.
Practice participatory co-design methods, in designing to enhance the quality of life for people living in care. Learn and design alongside those with lived experience.
The Outcome
Introducing interaction to the UX was Here mobile app through; weekly UX design challenges, inspiration boards, and the ability to share and receive feedback. These conceptual solutions are meant to attract new users & maintain current users.
The Outcome
A board/card game co-designed with residents, staff, and volunteers at Banfield Pavilion over the course of 4 months. The game has a heavy focus on accessible gameplay and simplifying infomation for game facilitators.
Consent
Before our first visit to Banfield Pavilion, we began with familiarising ourselves with consent procedures and having consent forms for our resident co-designers to sign.
These consent forms covered details such as usage of residents’ names, work, and details, in our projects and for publishing.
Residents were explained the scope of our project and terms in the forms by staff and caregivers before providing signed consent.
Co-Design
Introductions
Our first visit to Banfield Pavilion consisted of ice-breakers and getting to know our resident co-designers.
Long-term memory is often stronger than short term memory in older adults with dementia, which was the demographic of our group.
As such, our ‘getting-to-know’ activities asked about backgrounds and stories to share in regards to hometowns, families, hobbies, careers, etc.
Gatherings & Insights
Through the next couple visits, we were able to narrow down some key details betwen our resident co-designers to find commonalities to move our project in the direction of.
We also introduced games and activities to play within our group in order to gauge responses & engagement. With each of the games we introduced, we also assessed how well they play in a group setting.
Games & activities we tested include:
Qwirkle
Origami
Uno
Cards
Pen & Paper: Drawing & Writing
Picture Bingo
Playdoh
Charades
Of these games & activities, we noticed that our group of residents seemed to be most receptive to verbal communication, simple instructions and tactile experiences, such as using playdoh.
Ideation
Using our insights about:
1
&
2
Our group's interests & commonalities
&
The games/activties with the best engagement,
we brainstormed game concepts that incorporated our ealier activities of questions & prompts to create a game that served as a space for sharing stories & conversation.
Solution
Based on observations of our group dynamic during our visits to Banfield, we wanted to create a solution that was attentive to the diverse group of individuals that we were co-designing with.
Following this, our group’s aim was to accommodate for different levels of cognition, energy, and mobility, and this goal became central to building our solution.
This goal was reflected in the gameplay through ‘modes’.
Instead of having too many directions/options for the facilitator, we designed 3 variations of the same game to include any type of player, regardless of individual energy levels, cognition, and abilities.
Mode 1: Narration
'Narration' is meant to be played with verbal directions from facilitators, with the prompts being read out and verbally answered. This mode is meant to ease the pressure of encouraging interaction between players and caters to nearly any level of ability.
Mode 2: Making
'Making' is played through the involvement of tactile materials from the box such as pipe cleaners and play doh to create players' answers to the prompts. 'Making' was created through our observations of how receptive our co-designers were with materials introduced to them. This mode is adaptable to mobility-based disabilities and encourages tactile interactions.
Mode 3: Gifting
The final mode, 'Gifting' is meant to encourage interaction between players. This mode was created due to our co-designers' receptiveness to the act of gift-making and giving, and unlike the other two modes, involves players to respond to the prompt through interaction, by making the answer of another player. This mode may need more attention from facilitators to ensure players are able to comprehend one another.
Introducing the same game through three ‘modes’ or ‘levels’ helped make the gameplay much more accessible, and relieves the pressure that facilitators may feel in encouraging interaction through a game instead of whichever means of communication were previously used.
Protoyping
Our co-designers indicated their preference for roulette, poker & card games, therefore we modelled our working game prototype following these interests.
Game Design
The working prototype consisted of a spinning wheel-of-fortune-like circular box with compartments inside to store materials our co-designers had been communicating with during our early phases & instructions.
Instructions
The instructions consisted of our 3 modes designed into 3 pamphlets and our prompts in a separate sheet.
Testing
Ahead of testing our prototype, I set the following goals/inquiries for myself:
Inquiries & Observations:
Is the game fun?
Does the game promote interaction between residents?
Who are facilitators? Do they understand the game?
What other information needs to be included?
This helped create a benchmark for what our game needed to address before moving to the next phases.
Testing our prototype was successful and our group enjoyed playing the game, we also found that our modes helped a lot in bridging interaction between residents, especially the third one, which residents were extremely receptive to.
Our prototype also revealed certain problems and inconsistencies, mainly pertaining to the comprehension of gameplay, and instructions.
Based on the early inquiries, I then set the following goals to refine the gameplay after having tested our prototype:
Goals:
Ensure instructions are comprehensible
Residents are able to understand instructions given to them
Make the purpose of the three modes clear to facilitators
Gameplay
The goal in creating the instructions sheet for Craft n’ Connect was to have it be simple and comprehensive enough for a facilitator who has never played the game before to quickly understand the three modes and how to play each one.
To do so I broke the game instructions into phases as we worked on condensing this information with each iteration.
Possible facilitators: Care home staff Therapy staff Volunteers Family & friends
For our instructions we needed to include the following information:
1. Three modes & why
4. Goal of the game
2. Co-design project info
5. Gameplay
3. Game setup
6. Restock instructions
Design
Our co-designers - Cat, Jiren, and Robert - were involved in nearly every stage of conceptualising and informing the design of Craft n' Connect.
We used our co-designers' common interests and experiences to pinpoint where and how they were able to contribute after figuring out Craft n' Connect's initial direction.
The following are some areas informed directly by our co-designers:
1. Game & Gameplay
Due to our resident co-designers’ preference for games such as poker and roulette, we focused on making our game follow this direction which led to our prototype of the wheel and our final iteration of it.
The gameplay of three modes is also based on our observation of the abilities within our group & in the care home through our interactions within Banfield, leading us to prioritise inclusivity through accessibility.
This table helped me summarise some of the main accesibility-related pain points I wanted to address through the integration of three playing styles of the same game.
2. Style
As seen in the venn-diagram above, our co-designers spoke of their shared interests in westerns and classics. When presented options for the visual design of our project; Art-deco, geometric forms, and pictorial motifs were most popular, which helped form our game’s art direction.
3. Colour
We made 5 colour palettes based on gatherings from earlier conversations and asked cour group of residents which colours or combinations they preferred.
Deeper & muted colours, such as the reds, and greens starred below were consistent winners. Craft n' Connect's colours therefore consist of red, green, mustard, and black.
Illustration
We chose to add a personal touch to this project through our art direction by involving our co-designers in creating illustrations to decorate Craft n' Connect. The following illustrations were made in Adobe Illustrator over the course of 4 months, with continual refinement and feedback from our group of residents.
Initial illustrations were based on our co-designers’ interests and commonalities; Vancouver, Gardens, Favourite animals (cats and dogs)
Garden
Pets
Vancouver
For the final side of our box, I led an informal workshop where I printed out the borders of the working illustration to show our co-designers and had them to draw illustrations to put on the box.
Border outline
Our co-designers enjoyed the idea of having their work on the box and contributed their drawings. All of these drawings came with individual stories and recollections, making this project very personal and pays a homage of sorts to our group of resident-codesigners.
UX Writing
(Game
Instructions)
The final in itself is pretty small but ironically it was one of the more challenging parts of my responsibilities as our initial instructions had always been too big. The initial instructions for our game consisted of the booklets, each describing its respective mode. But this was condensed and the problem of deciding between our wheel and a card game was resolved during our in-class check ins, when it was suggested we simply combine both.
The first iteration of our gameplay and instructions consisted of three pamphlets, each with instructions of its respective mode and prompts to match the level. Along with a single-sided A4 sheet of all the other game-related information.
As it was our very first iteration, these pamphlets also contained in-accessible language, an example being the titling of our levels, with words such as ‘moderate’ and ‘challenge’ which may intimidate those playing the game.
While the pamphlets played a large role in our art direction, it was tedious and reiterated much of the same information through them, making them redundant and unnecessary to the overall gameplay of Craft n’ Connect.
For the third iteration of the instructions, I worked on refining the written content and condensing all the information into a single, double-sided A4 sheet.
Side 1
Three modes
Acknowledgment
Goal
Side 2
Gameplay
Setup
Re-Stocking
This iteration was distributed to peers, family & friends, professors to see how well they gameplay, intent, and modes were understood by those who had no relation to this project.
The sheet from the third iteration lay the foundation for reaching a solution to our instructions. After having received all the input from the third iteration, I had the chance to receive feedback and work with staff and volunteers at Banfield to find ways to refine and simplify the contents further.
The second iteration followed the same design with the three pamphlets but made the language more inclusive and refined the gameplay to make three modes; ‘narration‘ ‘making‘ and ‘gifting‘, instead of levels of difficulty. Along with these pamphlets, we moved the prompts into an A4 sheet, which was double sided to also include other game-related information.
Final
Iteration
(Game
Instructions)
Through all the corrections, edits, iterations, and testing the previous iterations underwent, I was able to condense everything into a single, double-sided 6” x 6” sheet.
Front
Gameplay
Goal
Back
Three modes + Setup
Re-stocking instructions
This final iteration utilized both sides in a concise way while also including all the key infomation identified earlier, to play, understand and re-stock Craft n' Connect.
Prompt card deck (used for all modes)
Final
Our final project is a board and card game curently being housed and played at Banfield Pavillion.
The contents of our box consist of:
* materials for players to work with
* deck of 16 cards
* instruction sheet; one side with directions on how to play the game the other with the three modes and recommendations to help restock the game .
The game box is made to be deep enough to store most commonly used craft materials in addition to our instructions & prompt cards.
In order to comply with sanitisation measures at Banfield, all of our print materials were laminated for infction conrol. Lamination protects the paper and ink against wear, moisture, other contaminants, and makes it easy to clean and disinfect the game as needed.
The spinner was built to be large enough for residents to comfortably spin it if they choose to do so.
Accolades
Team member Jasmine Wong & I
Photos from our project showcase
© 2024 Neharika Sidda | Made with ♡ in Vancouver, BC
© 2024 Neharika Sidda | Made with ♡ in Vancouver, BC
Consent
Before our first visit to Banfield Pavilion, we began with familiarising ourselves with consent procedures and having consent forms for our resident co-designers to sign.
These consent forms covered details such as usage of residents’ names, work, and details, in our projects and for publishing.
Residents were explained the scope of our project and terms in the forms by staff and caregivers before providing signed consent.
Co-Design
Introductions
Our first visit to Banfield Pavilion consisted of ice-breakers and getting to know our resident co-designers.
Long-term memory is often stronger than short term memory in older adults with dementia, which was the demographic of our group.
As such, our ‘getting-to-know’ activities asked about backgrounds and stories to share in regards to hometowns, families, hobbies, careers, etc.
Gatherings & Insights
Through the next couple visits, we were able to narrow down some key details betwen our resident co-designers to find commonalities to move our project in the direction of.
We also introduced games and activities to play within our group in order to gauge responses & engagement. With each of the games we introduced, we also assessed how well they play in a group setting.
Games & activities we tested include:
Qwirkle
Origami
Uno
Cards
Pen & Paper: Drawing & Writing
Picture Bingo
Playdoh
Of these games & activities, we noticed that our group of residents seemed to be most receptive to verbal communication, simple instructions and tactile experiences, such as using playdoh.
Ideation
Using our insights about:
1
&
2
Our group's interests & commonalities
&
The games/activties with the best engagement,
we brainstormed game concepts that incorporated our ealier activities of questions & prompts to create a game that served as a space for sharing stories & conversation.
Protoyping
Our co-designers indicated their preference for roulette, poker & card games, therefore we modelled our working game prototype following these interests.
Game Design
The working prototype consisted of a spinning wheel-of-fortune-like circular box with compartments inside to store materials our co-designers had been communicating with during our early phases & instructions.
Instructions
The instructions consisted of our 3 modes designed into 3 pamphlets and our prompts in a separate sheet.
Testing
Ahead of testing our prototype, I set the following goals/inquiries for myself:
Inquiries & Observations:
Is the game fun?
Does the game promote interaction between residents?
Who are facilitators? Do they understand the game?
What other information needs to be included?
This helped create a benchmark for what our game needed to address before moving to the next phases.
Testing our prototype was successful and our group enjoyed playing the game, we also found that our modes helped a lot in bridging interaction between residents, especially the third one, which residents were extremely receptive to.
Our prototype also revealed certain problems and inconsistencies, mainly pertaining to the comprehension of gameplay, and instructions.
Based on the early inquiries, I then set the following goals to refine the gameplay after having tested our prototype:
Goals:
Ensure instructions are comprehensible
Residents are able to understand instructions given to them
Make the purpose of the three modes clear to facilitators
Design
Our co-designers - Cat, Jiren, and Robert - were involved in nearly every stage of conceptualising and informing the design of Craft n' Connect.
We used our co-designers' common interests and experiences to pinpoint where and how they were able to contribute after figuring out Craft n' Connect's initial direction.
The following are some areas informed directly by our co-designers:
1. Game & Gameplay
Due to our resident co-designers’ preference for games such as poker and roulette, we focused on making our game follow this direction which led to our prototype of the wheel and our final iteration of it.
The gameplay of three modes is also based on our observation of the abilities within our group & in the care home through our interactions within Banfield, leading us to prioritise inclusivity through accessibility.
This table helped me summarise some of the main accesibility-related pain points I wanted to address through the integration of three playing styles of the same game.
2. Style
As seen in the venn-diagram above, our co-designers spoke of their shared interests in westerns and classics. When presented options for the visual design of our project; Art-deco, geometric forms, and pictorial motifs were most popular, which helped form our game’s art direction.
3. Colour
We made 5 colour palettes based on gatherings from earlier conversations and asked cour group of residents which colours or combinations they preferred.
Deeper & muted colours, such as the reds, and greens starred below were consistent winners. Craft n' Connect's colours therefore consist of red, green, mustard, and black.
Illustration
We chose to add a personal touch to this project through our art direction by involving our co-designers in creating illustrations to decorate Craft n' Connect. The following illustrations were made in Adobe Illustrator over the course of 4 months, with continual refinement and feedback from our group of residents.
Initial illustrations were based on our co-designers’ interests and commonalities; Vancouver, Gardens, Favourite animals (cats and dogs)
Garden
Pets
Vancouver
For the final side of our box, I led an informal workshop where I printed out the borders of the working illustration to show our co-designers and had them to draw illustrations to put on the box.
Border outline
They really enjoyed the idea of having their work on the box and contributed their drawings. All of these drawings came with individual stories and recollections, making this project very personal and pays a homage of sorts to our group of resident-codesigners.
Final Iteration (Game Instructions)
Through all the corrections, edits, iterations, and testing the previous iterations underwent, I was able to condense everything into a single, double-sided 6” x 6” sheet.
Front
Gameplay
Goal
Back
Three modes + Setup
Re-stocking instructions
This final iteration utilized both sides in a concise way while also including all the key infomation identified earlier, to play, understand and re-stock Craft n' Connect.
Prompt card deck (used for all modes)
Final
Our final project is a board and card game curently being housed and played at Banfield Pavillion.
The contents of our box consist of:
* materials for players to work with
* deck of 16 cards
* instruction sheet; one side with directions on how to play the game the other with the three modes and recommendations to help restock the game .
The game box is made to be deep enough to store most commonly used craft materials in addition to our instructions & prompt cards.
In order to comply with sanitisation measures at Banfield, all of our print materials were laminated for infction conrol. Lamination protects the paper and ink against wear, moisture, other contaminants, and makes it easy to clean and disinfect the game as needed.
The spinner was built to be large enough for residents to comfortably spin it if they choose to do so.
Accolades
Team member Jasmine Wong & I
Photos from our project showcase
© 2024 Neharika Sidda | Made with ♡ in Vancouver, BC
© 2024 Neharika Sidda | Made with ♡ in Vancouver, BC