Designing the future of play for and with children

DESIGNING THE FUTURE OF PLAY FOR AND WITH CHILDREN

Senior designer Pia Viuff Schytz

P. 2 — Welcome

COLOPHON Design School Kolding © 2023 Play User Lab 2015 - 2020 PROJECT DIRECTOR Pia Viuff Schytz AUTHOR Pia Viuff Schytz SUPERVISOR Helle Marie Skovbjerg GRAPHIC DESIGN Mette Højgaard Jensen PROOFREADING Andrea Pedersen & Anette Flinck PRINT Det Grafiske Hus PRINT RUN 10 stk ISBN 978 - 87 - 93416 - 75 - 8

Play User Lab (PUL)

The book you hold in your hand will invite you to play.

Are you ready for that?

The book contributes with insights, recommendations and inspiration for the valuable creation of the play design of the future and is based on interdisciplinary collaboration between professionals and those for whom the design is targeted – the children.

Enjoy!

P. 4 — Contents and Welcome

Play User Lab (PUL)

P. 6 — Foreword by Karen Feder, PhD & Assistant Professor P. 10 — Welcome to the Play User Lab P. 12 — A Playful overview of the proces P. 14 — An Action-oriented Approach to Innovation P. 16 — Cocktail of Children, Play and Design P. 18 — Childhood Nostalgia as a Catalyst for Adult Play P. 20 — Growing Pains for Young and Old P. 22 — Children’s Advice to Adults P. 24 — Beady System, Beads in the Digital Age P. 30 — Co-creation in a Setting where Courage and Opportunities Thrive P. 32 — Today’s Need to Legitimize Play P. 34 — The Design Process is Unpredictable P. 36 — Favourite Design Methods P. 40 — Recommendations for a Strategic Play-design Mindset P. 42 — Want to Read More?

P. 43 — How the Book Came About P. 44 — Play User Lab Partner Facts P. 46 — References

P. 6 — Foreword

”WE LIKE TO GET UP EARLY TO SET A DELICIOUS BIRTHDAY TABLE”.

This is how one of the employees at the TV programme DR Ultra / Ramasjang describes making an effort to create good experiences for children.

Making an effort was a characteristic of a number of Danish toy-producing companies that participated in a 2013 study of the Danish DNA in the design of play. The study revealed a large untapped potential for strengthening this area which, at the time, did not see itself as a unified industry in the line of e.g., the digital gaming industry. On the other hand, it was obvious that the companies designed play with the heart and with a fundamental respect for play.

The 10 insights that reflected the DNA of Danish play design were identified as:

t ite

Foreword by Karen Feder, PhD & Assistant Professor

1.

Op en ne 2. ss Pl to ay w ar m ds ak 3. th e su Re en sh sp ew ec um an t 4. fo an du So rp nt cia la es yi lr te n e 5. d sp a nd Fr on ee of sib do its i lit m el y an f d fle xib ili ty

Putting the Pieces Together

”WE NEED TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS – ALL THE TIME.” QUOTE EMPLOYEES FROM DANISH PLAY COMPANIES

10 R e co g n 9. iti A o n m an ul ti d di eq 8. sc u P i a p la lit l i y n y ar as y 7. a a cu pp M r oa ch

n

ga n

n

ak i

o

6.

M ti v ati o

ra

ltu

ue

lv al

t

e ff or

d

an co m itm

m en t

The collaboration with the companies also uncovered a series of challenges and barriers that hindered further development of their products. There was a lack of research and knowledge about design of play, and the existing knowledge was to be found in thick reports or heavy research articles that were difficult to access. It was not possible for the companies to hire specialized play designers, as such training did not exist anywhere in the world, and company employees had no opportunity to take courses or enrol in supplemental training in design and play, as no such training was offered. There was also a burning desire to involve the users – especially children – to a larger extent in the development processes in order to ensure superior and more relevant play experiences, but the companies did not possess the methods and the tools to get it done.

”THE CHILDREN MUST HAVE THE FREEDOM TO TEST, EXPERIMENT AND EXPLORE FOR THEMSELVES.” QUOTES EMPLOYEES FROM DANISH PLAY COMPANIES

These challenges and barriers became fertile ground for a number of new initiatives that were meant to help secure the future design of play in Denmark.

Both small and large stakeholders worked together to establish new opportunities for the Danish play industry, which resulted in a number of entirely new initiatives across industries. In collaboration with the LEGO Foundation, LEGO Group, Designit and others, Design School Kolding developed and launched the world’s first Master’s programme in ’Design for Play’, where design students from all over the world are now trained as professional play designers. This initiative also includes a research and development department that experiments with play and design in collaboration with a large network of national and international researchers, practitioners and experts in the field. This effort incorporates exploration of how to design play, as well as how to design playfully – with both children and adults as target group.

WE ALL NEED TO PLAY SOMETIMES – TO HAVE THESE CONNECTIONS WITH EACH OTHER. SO PLAY IS NOT JUST FOR KIDS, IT IS ALSO FOR ADULTS. IT IS FOR ALL OF US – TO LAUGH AND TO HAVE FUN, AND TO BE MORE DEEPLY CONNECTED TO EACH OTHER. Play designer with a degree from Design for Play But how do we involve the children in the design of play, and how do we equip companies to include children in their development processes? This was the question Design School Kolding and CoC Playful Minds decided to investigate in more detail, so in 2015 they established the business promotion project Play User Lab as part of the design cluster Design to Innovate. The goal was to develop design-based methods and approaches to involve children in design processes, and together with them teach managers

”THE GOAL IS TO BE THE SPARK THAT IGNITES THE BIG PLAY FIRE.”

and employees how to design good play experiences – for children and with children. ’THE ABILITY TO PLAY WILL BECOME A COMMODITY IN DEMAND, JUST AS WE TODAY DEMAND THE ABILITY TO INNOVATE’ Owner of a play company You now hold in your hand 6 years of practice-based knowledge – knowledge that has been developed during the courses in the Play User Lab and in collaboration with companies, children and experts. The book emphasizes that we will need to be knowledgeable about play in order to design for it, and it introduces an action-oriented approach to the design of play. It contains experiences and statements from the participating companies, and it presents the children’s own sound advice to the adults. The book also

points out how important a common language is, and demonstrates how play can occupy a place in the development process. In addition, it summarizes the effect that the courses have had on the companies and the courage and mindset required to be able to see opportunities in development contexts.

But that is not the end of the play experience... It is now that these experiences and methods must be presented to the world and make a difference. They must contribute to companies and designers being equipped to be able to design play with a focus on the children – ultimately ensuring good play experiences for all children. We must continue to play, experiment and explore the synergy between design, play and children, and we must strengthen and further develop the child-centred design approach to play, for which this book is a weighty foundation. The play continues – and you are hereby invited to play along!

P. 10 — About Play User Lab

WELCOME TO THE PLAY USER LAB There is a lot at stake when play has to find its place in a business context, because play is most often perceived as the opposite of work. The legitimacy of play in companies is often described as the source of creativity and innovation, but the potential of play can also be qualified when it comes to the organizational development culture. Over a number of years, we have gained insight into this issue through our collaboration with a specific type of Danish company that has children as its target group.

From 2016 to 2020, 46 small and medium-sized Danish companies have had the opportunity to develop and test products, ideas and concepts together with specialized design, play and innovation consultants and, of course, children. For this purpose, we have used Play User Lab’s unique innovation platform, based in Billund, the Children’s Capital, at the company CoC Playful Minds.

The purpose of Play User Lab has been to strengthen the competitiveness of companies that work with play, learning and creative initiatives for children.

Together with CoC Playful Minds, we have increased the participating companies’ design and play skills, innovativeness and focus on children, which has meant that they can now design more relevant and motivating play and learning experiences for the children of the future.

We designed courses lasting 6 months for small teams of 3-5 companies. They worked on developing their own product or service in a structured design process.

Hence, they acquired better design skills, innovation skills and a greater focus on children. The format of the course was 10 workshop days, where a basic understanding of design thinking and an exploratory phase around the themes of play were established:

construction play, physical play, fantasy play, games, play and learning. From there, the participants selected and further developed ideas and concepts in the subsequent innovation phase. ”DEVELOPMENT OF PLAY EQUIPMENT MUST TAKE PLACE ON THE CHILDREN’S TERMS – NOT ON THE ADULTS’ TERMS. THAT IS WHAT PLAY USER LAB ENABLES US TO DO, AS THE FIRST IN THE INDUSTRY, IN AN INNOVATIVE AND COMMERCIAL CONTEXT.” John Rasmussen, Design and development, Ledon A/S The interdisciplinary approach has offered enriching meetings between design practitioners, researchers, specialists and children in all the workshops. The course’s interplay between presentations and hands-on exercises was actively put into play, since 9-10-year-old children from Billund School were regular participants on most workshop days. The children played an important role enabling us to co-create, both to become more knowledgeable about the play, but also appreciate what a child’s life is like today.

All adults have been children once, but it was in a different time period which we don’t have to design for today.

After completing the course in the Play User Lab, the companies have continued to work on their results from the joint workshops, and through network seminars they have been able to get sparring, inspiration and new perspectives within their relevant contexts.

For many of the participants, the course has not only provided them with different and improved designs, it has also changed their design processes and confirmed that play has a significant value in a cultural sense, one we should cherish.

W h fro vivi at i m dp sy yo lay ou ur m r m ch em os ild o t ho ry od ?

Play User Lab (PUL)

EXTRACT OF PARTICIPATING EXPERTS Play Researcher, Aarhus University MARC MALMDORF ANDERSEN — Founder of Sofaskolen JOSEFINE JACK EIBY Founders of En hemmelig klub (A Secret Club) ANNABELLE OG KENN MUNK — Designer SHANE BROX Neurologist KJELD FREDENS — Play Designer CASPER MATHIESEN — Interaction Designer, Ph.D. AVIAJA BORUP LYNGGAARD — Lecturer, IT University, Copenhagen MIGUEL SICART — Futurologist, Futuria ANNE-MARIE DAHL — Concept Director, Lego Group SØREN LETHIN — Founders of Morphic LEIF BONDERUP OG CLAUS RANTZAU

P. 12 — Playful Poster

A PLAYFRIENDLY OVERVIEW OF THE PROCESS DESIGNED FOR THE CHILDREN PARTICIPATING IN THE PROJECT

Play User Lab (PUL)

IDÉUDVIKLING Tilbage i Billund skal børneeksperterne sammen med virksomhederne udforske den udvalgte idé. Ideen skal nu bygges, så den kommer fra en idé i hovedet til en figur i virkeligheden. Vi skal bruge limpistoler, knapper, ruller og dimsedutter og se, hvilke nye muligheder og idéer, der opstår. Dem tager virksomhederne med hjem og arbejder videre med.

LEG & LÆRING Virksomhederne tager til Designskolen i Kolding, hvor de lærer om leg og læring, dvs.hvordan børn lærer, når de leger. Her skal de også udvælge den bedste idé, som de har fået indtil nu i forløbet. Den idé skal de udforske nærmere sammen med børneeksperterne.

KONCEPTUDVIKLING Virksomhederne har til denne dag lavet en prototype af deres idé. Den skal børneeksperterne teste og vurdere med deres helt særlige viden om det at være barn. Virksomhederne finder ud af, hvad der virker og ikke virker, og med den viden tager de hjem og retter deres produkt til.

LEGETYPE FANTASILEG Fantasifulde universer &ĂŶƚĂƐŝĨƵůĚĞ ƵŶŝǀĞƌƐĞƌ udvikles, når børneeksperter ƵĚǀŝŬůĞƐ͕ ŶĊƌ ďƆƌŶĞĞŬƐƉĞƌƚĞƌ og virksomheder leger og skaber ŽŐ ǀŝƌŬƐŽŵŚĞĚĞƌ ůĞŐĞƌ ŽŐ ƐŬĂďĞƌ sammen.

De nye forståelser af børneƐĂŵŵĞŶ͘ Ğ ŶLJĞ ĨŽƌƐƚĊĞůƐĞƌ ĂĨ ďƆƌŶĞnes lege arbejder virksomhederne videre ŶĞƐ ůĞŐĞ ĂƌďĞũĚĞƌ ǀŝƌŬƐŽŵŚĞĚĞƌŶĞ ǀŝĚĞƌĞ ŵĞĚ ŽŐ ƵĚǀŝŬůĞƌ ĞŶĚŶƵ ŇĞƌĞ ŝĚĠĞƌ Ɵů͘

PITCH & TAKE OFF Denne dag er en særlig og festlig dag. Virksomhedernes idé har taget form. Den har udviklet sig og er blevet testet af børneeksperterne.

Nu står den sidste prøve, hvor virksomhederne på X-Faktor manér præsenterer deres produkt, og børneeksperterne giver deres endelige feedback.

LEGETYPE SPIL Når der skal EĊƌ ĚĞƌ ƐŬĂů spilles, skal der ƐƉŝůůĞƐ͕ ƐŬĂů ĚĞƌ udvikles regler og systemer. Det ƵĚǀŝŬůĞƐ ƌĞŐůĞƌ ŽŐ ƐLJƐƚĞŵĞƌ͘ Ğƚ gør virksomheder og børneeksperŐƆƌ ǀŝƌŬƐŽŵŚĞĚĞƌ ŽŐ ďƆƌŶĞĞŬƐƉĞƌter sammen. Virksomhederne lærer ƚĞƌ ƐĂŵŵĞŶ͘ sŝƌŬƐŽŵŚĞĚĞƌŶĞ ůčƌĞƌ af børnenes måder at gribe legen ĂĨ ďƆƌŶĞŶĞƐ ŵĊĚĞƌ Ăƚ ŐƌŝďĞ ůĞŐĞŶ ĂŶ ƉĊ ŽŐ ůčŐŐĞƌ ŵčƌŬĞ Ɵů͕ ŚǀĂĚ børnene synes er sjovt. Den viden ďƆƌŶĞŶĞ ƐLJŶĞƐ Ğƌ ƐũŽǀƚ͘ ĞŶ ǀŝĚĞŶ tager de med hjem og arbejder ƚĂŐĞƌ ĚĞ ŵĞĚ ŚũĞŵ ŽŐ ĂƌďĞũĚĞƌ videre med for at udvikle ǀŝĚĞƌĞ ŵĞĚ ĨŽƌ Ăƚ ƵĚǀŝŬůĞ nye idéer. ŶLJĞ ŝĚĠĞƌ͘

LEGETYPE KONSTRUKTIONSLEG <ŽŶƐƚƌƵŬƟŽŶƐůĞŐ ŚĂŶĚůĞƌ Žŵ Ăƚ ďLJŐŐĞ ŽŐ ĞŬƐƉĞƌŝŵĞŶƚĞƌĞ͘ at bygge og eksperimentere. ,Ğƌ ŬŽŵŵĞƌ ǀŝƌŬƐŽŵŚĞĚĞƌŶĞ Her kommer virksomhederne ŽŐ ďƆƌŶĞĞŬƐƉĞƌƚĞƌŶĞ ƉĊ ůĞŐĞog børneeksperterne på legeĞǀĞŶƚLJƌ ŽŐ ďLJŐŐĞƌ ĮŐƵƌĞƌ ƐĂŵŵĞŶ͘ Ğ ŽƉůĞǀĞůƐĞƌ ƐŽŵ ǀŝƌŬƐŽŵŚĞĚĞƌŶĞ De oplevelser som virksomhederne ŝŶĚƐĂŵůĞƌ ƐĂŵŵĞŶ ŵĞĚ ďƆƌŶĞĞŬƐͲ indsamler sammen med børneeksƉĞƌƚĞƌŶĞ͕ ĂƌďĞũĚĞƌ ĚĞ ǀŝĚĞƌĞ perterne, arbejder de videre ŵĞĚ ĨŽƌ Ăƚ ƵĚǀŝŬůĞ med for at udvikle ŶLJĞ ŝĚĠĞƌ͘ nye idéer.

LEG & DESIGN Virksomhederne mødes for sŝƌŬƐŽŵŚĞĚĞƌŶĞ ŵƆĚĞƐ ĨŽƌ første gang på Designskolen ĨƆƌƐƚĞ ŐĂŶŐ ƉĊ ĞƐŝŐŶƐŬŽůĞŶ Kolding. Her skal de lære om <ŽůĚŝŶŐ͘ ,Ğƌ ƐŬĂů ĚĞ ůčƌĞ Žŵ design og om, hvordan man ĚĞƐŝŐŶ ŽŐ Žŵ͕ ŚǀŽƌĚĂŶ ŵĂŶ arbejder med design som ĂƌďĞũĚĞƌ ŵĞĚ ĚĞƐŝŐŶ ƐŽŵ metode – at indsamle, ŵĞƚŽĚĞ ʹ Ăƚ ŝŶĚƐĂŵůĞ͕ forstå, udtænke ĨŽƌƐƚĊ͕ ƵĚƚčŶŬĞ og skabe. ŽŐ ƐŬĂďĞ͘

INTRO Virksomhederne får besøg af Play ĨĊƌ ďĞƐƆŐ ĂĨ WůĂLJ User Lab-folkene, hƐĞƌ >ĂďͲĨŽůŬĞŶĞ͕ så de alle kan lære ƐĊ ĚĞ ĂůůĞ ŬĂŶ ůčƌĞ hinanden at kende og høre ŚŝŶĂŶĚĞŶ Ăƚ ŬĞŶĚĞ ŽŐ ŚƆƌĞ mere om forløbet i Play ŵĞƌĞ Žŵ ĨŽƌůƆďĞƚ ŝ WůĂLJ User Lab. hƐĞƌ >Ăď͘

LEG I PRAKSIS Virksomhederne er stadig i Kolding, Ğƌ ƐƚĂĚŝŐ ŝ <ŽůĚŝŶŐ͕ og denne dag lærer ŽŐ ĚĞŶŶĞ ĚĂŐ ůčƌĞƌ ĚĞ Žŵ ĚĞ ϰ ǀŝŐƟŐĞ legetyper ůĞŐĞƚLJƉĞƌ ʹ ĨLJƐŝƐŬ – fysisk ůĞŐ͕ ŬŽŶƐƚƌƵŬƟŽŶƐůĞŐ͕ ĨĂŶƚĂƐŝůĞŐ ŽŐ ƐƉŝů͘ fantasileg og spil.

LEGETYPE FYSISK LEG sŝƌŬƐŽŵŚĞĚĞƌŶĞ ŬŽŵŵĞƌ Ɵů ŝůůƵŶĚ ĨŽƌ ĨƆƌƐƚĞ ŐĂŶŐ ŽŐ ƐŬĂů ůčƌĞ Billund for første gang og skal lære Žŵ ĨLJƐŝƐŬ ůĞŐ͘ ,Ğƌ ďĞŐLJŶĚĞƌ børneom fysisk leg. Her begynder børneeksperternes ĚĞůƚĂŐĞůƐĞ ŝ WůĂLJ hƐĞƌ >Ăď eksperternes deltagelse i Play User Lab ĨŽƌ ĂůǀŽƌ͘ sŝƌŬƐŽŵŚĞĚĞƌŶĞ ƐŬĂů ŶĞŵůŝŐ ƵĚ ŽŐ ƐĞ͕ ŚǀŽƌfor alvor. Virksomhederne skal nemlig ud og se, hvorĚĂŶ ďƆƌŶĞĞŬƐƉĞƌƚĞƌŶĞ ůĞŐĞƌ ŝ ƐŬŽůĞŶƐ ĨƌŝŬǀĂƌƚĞƌ͘ Ğ dan børneeksperterne leger i skolens frikvarter. De ďůŝǀĞƌ ƵĚƐƚLJƌĞƚ ŵĞĚ ƉĂƉŝƌ ŽŐ ďůLJĂŶƚ ŽŐ ŶŽƚĞƌĞƌ͕ ŚǀĂĚ bliver udstyret med papir og blyant og noterer, hvad ĚĞ ƐĞƌ ŽŐ ŽƉůĞǀĞƌ͘ DĊƐŬĞ ŶŽŐůĞ ĂĨ ĚĞŵ ďůŝǀĞƌ ŝŶǀŝde ser og oplever. Måske nogle af dem bliver inviƚĞƌĞƚ Ɵů ĞŶ ƐŶĂŬ Žŵ ĚĞŶ ůĞŐ͕ ĚĞ ŚĂƌ ƐĞƚ͍ ůůĞ ĚĞ ŽƉůĞǀĞůƐĞƌ ŽŐ ĚĞŶ ǀŝĚĞŶ͕ ƐŽŵ ǀŝƌŬƐŽŵŚĞĚĞƌŶĞ oplevelser og den viden, som virksomhederne ŝŶĚƐĂŵůĞƌ ĨƌĂ ďƆƌŶĞŶĞƐ ĨŽƌƚčůůŝŶŐĞƌ ŽŐ ůĞŐ͕ indsamler fra børnenes fortællinger og leg, ƚĂŐĞƌ ĚĞ ŵĞĚ ŚũĞŵ ŽŐ ĂƌďĞũĚĞƌ ǀŝĚĞƌĞ tager de med hjem og arbejder videre ŵĞĚ͘ Ğ ƐŬĂů ĨŽƌƐƆŐĞ Ăƚ ĨŽƌƐƚĊ ďƆƌŶĞmed.

De skal forsøge at forstå børneŶĞƐ ůĞŐ ŽŐ ƵĚƚčŶŬĞ ŶLJĞ ŝĚĠĞƌ nes leg og udtænke nye idéer Ɵů ĚĞƌĞƐ ǀŝƌŬƐŽŵŚĞĚĞƌ͘

P. 14 — Approach

AN ACTIONORIENTED APPROACH TO INNOVATION In the past, we saw design as being a product of high, aesthetic and functional quality. Today, we have an expanded understanding of what design is. We design products and services that are part of complex systems that are impacted by people’s behaviour and that can often end up changing companies’ business models. In order for design to succeed – in addition to ensuring both the aesthetic and the functional values – we must make sure that we change behaviour in relation to how the proposed design is applied.

The broad concept of design has been the starting point for our understanding in the work with Play User Lab. We have introduced design thinking as a fundamental way of collaborating with companies.

The term embraces ways of thinking and acting, with the following key elements:

Designtænkningen skaber grobund for nye perspektiver, som sætter designere i stand til at udvikle løsninger, der er meningsfulde og relevante for dem, de er tiltænkt. Her er det vigtigt at understrege, at designtænkning først og fremmest handler om at gøre noget sammen, lære af det man gør sammen og at bruge materialer og objekter, som vi kender fra design konteksten, til at organisere processerne.

Denne handlingsorienterede tilgang kendetegnes ved, at man får mulighed for at følge en eksisterende praksis tæt; samt øve en endnu ikke eksisterende praksis, hvor deltagerne bliver i stand til at handle og udforske nyt. Da vi designer til fremtiden, som af gode grunde ikke er synlig endnu - er der behov for eksperimenterende og udforskende rammer, hvor alt er muligt.

—

• Interdisciplinary collaboration that ensures a high level of competence • A playful, wondering and exploratory approach • A visual grip that visualizes new concepts and makes complex elements more tangible • Hands-on work that concretizes the opportunities inherent in physical prototypes • Structured, iterative processes where a • distinction is made between open and closed mental spaces

”IT’S INCREDIBLY INNOVATIVE TO HAVE OUR USERS DEFINE AND CREATE NEW THINGS WE HADN’T THOUGHT OF, BECAUSE WE LEAVE SOMETHING OPEN IN OUR PLATFORM AND HAVE THE COURAGE TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT. PREVIOUSLY WE HAD A TENDENCY AND A NEED TO DEFINE EVERYTHING…” Regina Dubiel, Movie Star Planet Aps

”IT’S INCREDIBLY INNOVATIVE TO HAVEOUR USERS DEFINE AND CREATE NEW THINGS ” Regina Dubiel, Movie Star Planet Aps

The process is unpredictable since the goal is bound to change along the way. It is much easier to do what you have always done or think the same thought that you have done for ages. During the actual design process, you cannot follow a fixed course, because what you experience along the way (when working with things that do not yet exist) are bound to change. You must therefore be ready to be surprised and follow up on the acquired insights.

The action-oriented approach is related to co-creative processes with users, collaborators and experts precisely to explore the potentials for the design and the specific behaviour associated with the use of the design. The design process requires a good deal of curiosity, imagination and empathy. It is absolutely central to be able to invite others in who have a more suitable background for enriching the design process and answer questions that designers do not have the skills to answer.

— IN A DESIGN PARADIGM, HOWEVER, THE SOLUTION IS NOT LOCKED AWAY SOMEWHERE WAITING TO BE DISCOVERED BUT LIES IN THE CREATIVE WORK OF THE TEAM. THE CREATIVE PROCESS GENERATES IDEAS AND CONCEPTS THAT HAVE NOT EXISTED BEFORE. THESE ARE MORE LIKELY TO BE TRIGGERED BY

OBSERVING THE ODD PRACTICES OF AN AMATEUR CARPENTER OR THE INCONGRUOUS DETAIL IN A MECHANICS SHOP THAN BY HIRING EXPERT CONSULTANTS OR ASKING ’STATISTICALLY AVERAGE’ PEOPLE TO RESPOND TO A SURVEY. Tim Brown 2009, Change by Design Founder of IDEO — Being action-oriented has inspired several of the companies to change their ways of developing. Dantoy participated in one of the first workshops and took home a new and different value creation than originally expected. As they say: ”WE HAVE MANAGED TO DEFINE THE ”DANTOY PLAY” AND DEVELOPED A DESIGN PROCESS IN WHICH WE INVOLVE CHILDREN TO A GREATER EXTENT. THUS, THE INNOVATION PROCESS IN THE PLAY USER LAB HAS HELPED US TO BE AT THE FOREFRONT OF CREATING INNOVATIVE QUALITY TOYS FOR CHILDREN’S PLAY AND LEARNING.”.

Anette Joy, Art Director Dantoy A/S

P. 16 — Insights

A COCKTAIL OF CHILDREN, PLAY AND DESIGN

In the Play User Lab, we have made an effort to include the best from three areas in order to make sense and create value in Danish companies. The features that the participating companies believe have created value and impacted their business are described below. There is still potential in defining and concretizing what the areas can do, especially viewed in the light of the changing world in which we live. Provided meaningful, novel design is going to be part of our future experience, the approach of the professionals is absolutely critical.

The companies have acquired an understanding of children as valuable business partners. The workshops in the Play User Lab have enabled the companies to gain experience in working closely with the children, and their eyes have been opened to how it creates value for the development of products. Kubo Robotics describes it as follows:

INSIGHTS ABOUT PLAY FROM 1. Once you start playing, it m loosens up the structures an our heads. Our usual motivati future- and financial reward and now when we play accomp It can awaken different things to use play more in our own same time, we have gone from our approach to development ful/experimental. 3. After parti we are creating more playful w greater experiences, some. ba energizer method

”PREVIOUSLY, OUR DEVELOPMENT PROCESSES WERE BASED ON HOW THEY FIT INTO THE SCHOOL FRAMEWORK AND NOT ON THE CHILDREN’S PLAY AND EVERYDAY LIFE, IN OTHER WORDS, MORE ON WHAT THE CHILDREN HAVE TO LIVE UP TO. NOW OUR PRODUCTS ARE DRIVEN BY WHERE THE CHILDREN’S LIMITS ARE, DRIVEN BY FLOW THEORY AND HOW WE CAN MAKE THE CHILDREN DEVELOP A LITTLE ALL THE TIME. IT’S OUR EXPERIENCE THAT THE LESS STRUCTURE, THE BETTER THE CHILDREN CAN MANAGE ON THEIR OWN. WHEN THE CHILDREN ARE ALLOWED TO DO IT THEIR WAY, THEY ARE NATURALLY GUIDED INTO THE EXPERIMENTS.” Jan Jørgensen, Kubo Robotics

Play User Lab (PUL)

M THE PARTICIPANTS: makes good sense. Play nd routines we have in tion for making things is ds. What happens here plishes something else. s. 2. We have started n development. At the m being theoretical in t to being far more playticipating in the course, workshops that provide ased on the

INSIGHTS ABOUT CHILDREN FROM THE PARTICIPANTS: 1. The spontaneity the children display is inspiring and enriches both the concept and the preparation phase. 2. Rather than just assumptions about children, we now have concrete insights on which to base our developments. 3. Children influence their parents. 4. It was incredibly exciting to be surrounded by children during the product development, in other words, that value was being generated based on the children’s immediate approach to our product. 5. The children help to provide the value that ensures that we hit the mark with our product. 6. The children are an even bigger player, and the children’s perspective takes up more space. Seeing how they approach things has been rewarding.

INSIGHTS ABOUT DESIGN FROM THE PARTICIPANTS 1. The open-ended approach to design with the children has created value, entirely different from producing very limited prototypes and testing them with children.

2. Design has always been an important element for us.

A clear branding profile and a distinct language for the right target groups have been alpha and omega. We did have some tools prior to the course, but we have gained additional ones. 3. Refreshing well-known methods and concepts has been valuable. Familiar concepts were challenged in a positive way, as they were put into play in new contexts 4. We have become much more focused on communicating more clearly with our target group

After participating in the Play User Lab, the companies have developed and brought new products and services to market, ranging from gaming platforms, family experiences in amusement parks, digital bead product, playground elements, language training, play design services, school meals, children’s furniture, a digital piggy bank, play universes, miscellaneous experiences, sensory furniture, robot storytelling, learning concepts and creative boxes.

POP-UP CIRCLES: Children, play and design are focal points for the companies at the centre of that interaction.

P. 18 — a Catalyst for Adult Play

CHILDHOOD NOSTALGIA

In order to enable companies to develop the play and learning products of the future, Play User Lab’s process structure was changed from being based on innovative development processes to being based on basic knowledge about play, since the companies lacked basic knowledge about this topic. Knowledge of play was anchored around four play themes that were explored based on creative, experimental, imaginative and – at times chaotic – practices.

The practice started by bringing the participants back to their own childhood and to their strongest memory of play, which was shared in plenary and

anchored visually with a childhood image of the participants. From there, the different play themes (physical play, construction play, games and fantasy play) offered play exercises, e.g., during construction play, domino courses with obstacles have been built in order to explore the qualities of play.

We have all been children once and carry some strong memories with us from that time. Physical play objects and evocative spaces can very quickly bring us back to those experiences. The nostalgia of play is an effective way of setting a framework for play between people and is often being used in television programmes such as the Netflix se-

” PLAY CAN AWAKEN DIFFERENT SENSATIONS AND EMOTIONS. WE WERE REMINDED THAT THERE IS AN INNER PLAY CHILD IN ALL OF US, AND WE SHOULD NOT BE AFRAID TO EMBRACE IT.” Nick Højgaard, Beady System

ries Floor is Lava (2022) and in amusement and theme parks, e.g., the Canadian Hide Seek, which is a pop-up experience site created from childhood memories from the 1990s. There are activity rooms with ball pits and classic play objects such as teddy bears, LEGO blocks, confetti, walking springs/stair jumps, velcro ball games etc., some of which have been scaled up so you get the feeling of being back in the universe of childhood. In addition, the Danish playground manufacturer Monstrum has created scaled-up, artistic sculptures meant to inspire play and a sense of adventure. When being catalysed back to good play memories, it is largely the joy of being in flow that is reactivated. Just try to think

back to your favourite game from when you were a child and how disruptive it was if your mother interrupted the game to tell you to come to the dining table for dinner.

The Play User Lab courses have demonstrated that play nostalgia is a simple line of approach to get adults to participate and get involved in the children’s play, whether it is a game of catch in Monky Tonky-land, DUPLO construction, dress-up role play or games. Where the magic occurs is in the interaction between children and adults, who can quickly find a premise for joint play when both parties are building on their own, strong play experiences.

P. 20 — New competencies

PERSONAL GROWTH FOR YOUNG AND OLD

Children are no longer viewed as aspiring adults, but are rather seen as valuable human beings in their own right. Their presence is not only relevant in institutions and schools. They visit nursing homes (Rollinger på Plejehjem, DR1 programme), and their way of being in the world through play is attracting a lot of attention. Not least with Mitchel Resnick, the author of Lifelong Kindergarten (2017), who argues that the rest of one’s life should be more playful, just like in kindergarten, where you practice standing in the unknown through play. ”I HAD NEVER IMAGINED AT ALL THAT THE INSIGHTS FROM PHYSICAL PLAY COULD HAVE SUCH A GREAT RELEVANCE FOR DIGITAL DEVELOPMENT – THE FACT THAT CHILDREN USE PHYSICAL PLAY TO FORM FRIENDSHIPS.” Daniel Traun-Terkelsen, Movie Star Planet

“Children are experts in play,” some may say, hence their everyday life and perspectives have been a key starting point for the companies’ work, where children have both enriched and inspired new ideas that the companies can adopt. At the onset of each Play User Lab session, they have studied and explored the potentials for a new design in collaboration with the companies. The children’s roles have therefore not only been to conduct tests at an advanced stage in the development process, but also to participate in co-creation processes from the very beginning. There is a very specific reason for this.

As an adult, you typically draw on analytical capabilities and approaches when you need to understand something, and thus you can say that the immediate sensory examination of something given has been forgotten. As adults, we can practice our play skills, but there is one central thing we do not have access to, and that is the understanding of a contemporary

child’s life, which in many ways is significantly different from what we experienced. Most adults today did not grow up in the same digital age as the children, as Resnick explains: ”... ALAN KAY LIKES TO SAY THAT TECHNOLOGY IS ANYTHING THAT WAS INVENTED AFTER YOU WERE BORN. FOR KIDS GROWING UP TODAY, LAPTOPS AND MOBILE PHONES AREN’T HIGH-TECH TOOLS - THEY’RE EVERYDAY TOOLS, JUST LIKE CRAYONS...”

Resnick, 2017 Therefore, adults also do not have the prerequisites to gain insight into their target group on their own without getting involved in the life that the children live, by meeting the children at eye level. The children acquire entirely new viable skills when the companies are part of the school context.

THE CHILDREN • Feel that they are valued, which strengthens their life skills • The approach gives their perspective a voice • Their knowledge about themselves and cooperation with others are strengthened • Through play, they can more easily communicate feelings, dreams and experiences THE ADULTS • Reinvent and strengthen their play skills • Gain more courage to try out wild ideas • Have the courage to enter into exploratory processes with undefined goals • Display greater trust in their gut feelings

P. 22 — Feedback from the children

CHILDREN’S ADVICE TO ADULTS

“IF WE WANT TO BE CREATIVE AND INNOVATIVE AND ALSO HAVE FUN ALONG THE WAY, PERHAPS WE SHOULD CONSIDER PAYING A LITTLE LESS ATTENTION TO THE FIGUREHEADS OF INNOVATION SUCH AS APPLE’S STEVE JOBS, MICROSOFT’S BILL GATES AND TESLA’S ELON MUSK, AND INSTEAD TURN OUR GAZE TO THE LIVING ROOM, WHERE THE REAL EXPERTS IN THE FIELD ARE PROBABLY IN THE PROCESS OF TEST-DRIVING NEW MARKERS ON THE WALLPAPER. CHILDREN KNOW VERY WELL THAT THE BEST WAY TO SPEND TIME IS WHEN YOU BREAK THE RULES, TEST NEW IDEAS AND GO IN SEARCH OF THE NEXT SURPRISE THAT IS LURKING ROUND THE CORNER.” Marc Malmdorf Andersen 2019, Leg, Tænkepause 70

ONCE CLASS 4TH C FROM BILLUND SCHOOL HAD COMPLETED A COURSE IN 2017, THEY PROVIDED THE FOLLOWING USEFUL ADVICE TO THE ADULTS IN THE PLAY USER LAB:

Play User Lab (PUL)

When developing and being creative in the company of children, you must remember::

- To keep saying that it’s ok to fail - To tell a little about yourselves and your work - To collaborate with children, because they contribute with more ideas - To be as nice as you were to us - To be creative, because then you get better ideas - To be empathetic when you talk, because then we always understand what you say - To stress that the adults can also come up with ideas - To be friendly and helpful - To make your explanations more explicit and ask if we have understood the task

- To include more play into your tasks - To be happy, sweet and smiling, which creates a good mood and then you get good energy - To be happy and positive, which will create a pleasant and comfortable atmosphere - To be happy, because it improves our thinking - To stick to the childlike approach - To maintain the same helpfulness that you did with us

- To have culinary surprises like you had for us - To keep listening and asking us question, which makes us more inclined to say what we mean

- To play a little more

P. 24 — Interview

BEADY SYSTEM, BEADS IN THE DIGITAL AGE Beady System ApS is a startup company that was established and has developed in Kolding. It participated in a course at the Play User Lab in 2019. Beady was started by four guys who want to make bead play be about something other than just beads. The idea is that the bead plates are placed directly on a tablet where hundreds of patterns are accessible in their app. Beady’s mission is to make tablet time more creative and to bridge the divide between analogue and digital processes.

Martin Pryds Lauritsen and Nick Højgaard from Beady talk to Emilie Bech Jespersen and Pia Viuff Schytz from Design School Kolding about using beads actively in social contexts over several generations. From a basement in Kolding, we talk about ideas that are attainable and about building the airplane while it is in the air.

PIA — So, how did Beady come about?

NICK — Beady came about completely by chance. It actually started with Martin telling me that he had created an algorithm that could convert pixels into beads. My immediate, initial thought was: ”That’s as boring as it gets.”

MARTIN — Yes, Nick thought it was yawningly boring; he didn’t say so, but it was plain to see what he was thinking. Then after a while something started to circulate in his head.

NICK — Yes, suddenly I’m also sitting at home thinking about it. I have children myself at the age where

they have tablets, and I was actually also a little worried about the effect it could have on the children, that they spent so much time on the various devices without being active. ”Martin,” I said, ”what if the bead plate were added to one’s own device instead?”

MARTIN — Said to Nick: “You can’t really do that.

It slides around, and it’s too tall, too thick, and...” He replied, ”Then we’ll make our own bead plate!”

The developed plates presented a distinct improvement, since the beads didn’t fall off the plates like they did when using the old plates. With our new plates, we found that once the beads had been ironed, they stuck really well. We solved this problem by making a scraper to remove the beads. At first, we thought that was an additional item that was a bit in the way, but we learned that ironing the beads was an adult job and thus, in the old-fashioned way, it’s the adult who completes the bead plates. With Beady, the adult can do the ironing, but it’s the child who finishes the plate herself by being allowed to remove the beads with the scraper – then they experience the feeling of success that they have completed it themselves FROM TOYS TO TOOLS Beady builds its concept as a presentation of the classic analogue bead game. They aim to make play a tool that develops and builds relationships..

NICK — When developing our concept, we looked over HAMA’s shoulder in order not to make the same mistake they did. They have some dogmas that inspired

Play User Lab (PUL)

us. One of the dogmas is that you work with a tactile approach and with fine motor skills. We fully support that. However, HAMA has also decided that the children had to count, but we have removed that element from our concept, because we would rather make the bead game a successful experience, and then teach the children to count in a different way. We have leaned on some of HAMA ideas and then revamped the concept.

EMILIE — Can you tell us what your dogmas are about?

NICK — Our dogmas are actually that play must be exciting, inspiring and developing – and then it must be social. These are the things we would like to build into our solution. One of the things we are also working on is ’gamification’ and how we create some heroes, someone children can look up to and be inspired by. Beady must be driven by people other than ourselves. We’re sitting in a basement, and Martin and I know how to make pixel designs, but in reality, we’d rather let our solution loose and get 1 million users – hopefully one day – to pitch in with cool motifs, new thoughts and new technologies.

PLAY OVER GENERATIONS Beady’s product is a novel approach to doing something that most adults are familiar with from their own childhood. Beady suggests ’beading’ together – a joint family activity.

MARTIN — We have often been asked: ”Who is your target group?” And we have actually looked inward quite a bit: If we believed it should be fun, what was

then needed? Yes, children are the target group, but there are also many adults who like to lay beads.

What we also want is to inspire or let our users inspire each other. Some heroes are needed. Someone who is skilled. Some initiatives will appear in the app soon that will make it possible for people to make patterns themselves from scratch.

PIA — In that way, I like your vision. I think you are pushing the boundaries for how beads have been used in the past and how they will be used in the future.

NICK — Yes. What we have experienced is that there is an enormous amount of cooperativeness in Beady – far more than we actually thought there was.

In fact, we have been hit by the same boomerang as LEGO – the children themselves may find it difficult to get to the product because they have to go through the parents. The parents are good at activating because there is something recognizable from their own childhood. At the same time, new elements have been added that can build a bridge between children and adults.

We developed a test that we have just received feedback on, showing that the majority use our product together – children and adults..

Continued …

P. 26 — Interview

”THE LEARNING WE’VE GOT THROUGH BEING TOGETHER WITH CHILDREN WITHOUT TESTING THEM, WAS INCREDIBLE REWARDING.”

SHORT ABOUT BEADY Beady Systems Aps saw the light of day in Kolding, 2019. Beady is a concept and product where bead play is reimagined by combining traditional analogue play with digital, co-creative possibilities. The ground-breaking product is a new and innovative bead board that, in conjunction with the Beady app, works on a tablet or smartphone. Beady is used with HAMA beads.

SHALL WE PLAY? Beady talks about the joy and the gift of interacting with children as part of the Play User Lab. Martin and Nick themselves made many good playmates in the Play User Lab. The course became like an incubator, cultivating processes, methods and connections.

PIA — Why did you sign up for the Play User Lab course?

MARTIN — It was a unique opportunity to become smarter and learn a lot; meet a lot of people and figure out how we could test with children. In reality, we had no idea how to approach the actual testing with children, and we were afraid to say; ”Isn’t this just a good idea?”

We have become much better at sounding out the situation, asking; ”What are people saying out there?” What do those who are not our friends and acquaintances say? We know they want the best for us, but you don’t get a real picture of whether the idea is actually feasible.

PIA — When we talk to companies, they are very focused on user surveys. If you can’t do surveys and you have to do something with children, what would you do?

NICK — It’s actually very funny that you say that, because an incredible amount of learning came out of just being there – being together. It’s one thing asking the children a direct question. Observing them and being with them was really worthwhile.

It is deeply inspiring to be with children, because here it really is the sky is the limit. Avoiding all these restrictions ... and being able to let yourself loose, that was inspiring. The learning we gained through spending time with children without having to do surveys was incredibly rewarding.

There has been a lot to learn in the Play User Lab. Also, when facing a specific situation or challenge, a little like, we are building the airplane while it’s in the air, so we have to be a little bit more dynamic and agile in our approach. There is a high degree of agility in what we do, and this is a key word considering that we are still a young company. After all, we are not a big supertanker that takes a long time to make a turn. We borrow a little here, find an opening there.

It will be a bit of a game of chance, but it has also given direction, e.g., the teaching material we are working on right now; it has also been inspired by the different ways of working that we were introduced to in the course.

Beady’s experience that we can open up to and have a glimpse into how children are thinking is an apt parallel to the experience that Beady’s user-parents have. By opening up the creative process and sharing it socially, a bridge is built between generations through common activities and the sense of co-creation is cultivated and nurtured.

P. 28 — Design Thinking

OPEN MIND POP-UP

Gudiksen & Skovbjerg 2020 Framing Play Design ”PLAY IS NOT ONLY ABOUT THE PLAYERS BUT ALSO SEEKS TO ADVANCE THEIR THINKING, PROVIDING INSPIRATIONAL TRIGGERS AND PROMPTS THAT WILL LEAD TO NEW CIRCLES OF IMAGINATION. THE CHARACTERISTICS AND WONDERS OF UNKNOWN OUTCOMES WILL BE LOST IF THE RULES ARE STRICT AND CANNOT BE CHANGED, ADAPTED OR ADJUSTED… IF PLAY DESIGNERS AND RESEARCHERS CAREFULLY OBSERVE INTERACTIONS FROM MORE OPEN-ENDED PLAY, WE ARE SURE A CONGLOMERATE OF VARIOUS PLAYS CAN BE FOUND AND BE FURTHER EXPLORED, CATEGORIZED AND USED FOR INSPIRATION TO NEW PLAY DESIGNS.”

Play User Lab (PUL)

P. 30 — Co-create

CO-CREATION IN A SETTING WHERE COURAGE AND OPPORTUNITIES THRIVE The approach in the Play User Lab is based on the children’s (the end users’) lives, and through qualitative methods, specialists, companies and children have jointly investigated and explored play and learning potential. The big difference has been the involvement of the children, which has enriched and sustained the adults to do more than thinking. In order to succeed, courage and opportunity must co-exist, and this is best done using a co-creative approach within a safe framework.

Co-creation contributes to improved and more meaningful design, because having users involved – in this case the children – ensures that the products are more in line with their dreams, inner motivation and needs. The companies have often used questionnaires, surveys and interviews as a way of involving the users. They have had no experience collaborating with children early in the design process, namely the point where the initial principles of the design are explored. And when children are involved, other premises must be present in order to succeed in the task. The starting point is a recognition of the necessity – as well as the desire – to incorporate the child’s perspective into the development process, and it takes its starting point in a pedagogical practice and in the new and revised view of children. That is, a pedagogical practice that recognize the children as actors in

their own right, as individuals who are capable of doing something, and what they want to and can do can form the basis of design decisions.

We have created joint exploratory experiences between children and adults, and here it counts to be at their eye level and to have a fundamental curiosity about the children’s perspective. In a framework with balanced dynamics, a common language evolves between children and adults, and from this emerges the strong insights that every design needs in order to flourish.

When children and adults meet to co-create, there is a basic unequal power structure, as the adult is more knowledgeable and has overall responsibility for the involvement, ethics and the stated purpose. Where the children, on the other hand, have a leading role, is by going forward into the unknown with an investigative, curious and, not least, experimental practice.

The adults must follow along and both observe the children’s approach and the tools that are used, while at the same time creating something together. The adult has temporarily entered into an apprenticeship where she must learn to do something other than just thinking.

In some situations, it is usually the adults (parents, teachers and pedagogues) who have made the decisi-

Play User Lab (PUL)

on that the children should be included in a development process. That does not mean that the children are willing to participate, and here adults play a key part assuming a negotiating role with children about how they can participate, ensuring that a safe base for co-creation is established. In co-creative processes, the child must be recognized as an individual in his or her own right, a citizen and competent actor in society, who has rights that are independent of the rights and interests of the parents.

Here are the 6 basic elements around adults’ ethical co-creation responsibility in design processes with children in the Play User Lab:

• • • • • •

Have a clear framework and purpose and make things relevant for the children Keep the focus on the safe atmosphere, where play and humour are key ingredients Secure exploration through equal participation and initiative for children and adults Focus on the different perspectives of the participants and let them share knowledge Establish risk-taking in a culture where there is room for error Make sure there is room for everyone to thrive – this is the way for everyone to feel shared ownership of the result

Time and time again, in the Play User Lab, the children’s strongest competence compared to the adults has been demonstrated as they were leading a process to unknown places in order to achieve greater experiences, insights and – not least – an increased understanding of each other. Children’s natural experimental practice is enviable, and that recognition can lead to powerful and truly interesting co-creation processes.

“I WAS LUCKY TO HAVE THREE MEGA-COOL KIDS ON MY TEAM! THE CHILDREN ENJOYED BEING DESIGNERS. GOOD IDEA EQUATING US ALL BY GIVING US THE TITLE OF DESIGNER; IT MEANT THAT I QUICKLY GOT ON EYE LEVEL WITH THEM.” Anne Mygind, Anne Mygind Aps The method we use to co-create with children and adults should also be used when adults meet and co-create. It creates more favourable conditions for fruitful collaborations, since it is based on humane acceptance of and curiosity about each other with a non-predefined goal, where judgments have no place.

Results of co-creation are unpredictable; it is only the purpose that is predetermined, and it creates a safe premise that opportunities arise through interaction between people.

P. 32 — The Challenge

TODAY’S NEED TO LEGITIMIZE PLAY We have all engaged in play at one time or another, but often play loses its legitimacy when children become adults, and seriousness, focus and work become central elements in an adult’s life. In the Play User Lab, we have insisted on emphasizing the qualities and values of play – not as something that only belongs to children, but as something that is of vital importance and that we adults, who design for children, must relate to. In the Play User Lab, we wanted to set a framework where it was possible to legitimize play in an adult context, and to show that play has a potential when it comes to innovation and development of child-centred products. We enabled the legitimacy of play in an adult context, among other things, by showing how play is linked to innovation and innovative processes.

Inviting companies to participate in the work with play and learning for children is simple when emphasizing the innovation perspective. Innovation is closely related to the concept of creativity, and creativity is inevitably linked to play. If we ask a company whether it engages in play, the answer is often no, but on the other hand, it will be difficult to find a company today that does not actively identify with innovation.

We take innovation seriously, and the very definition of innovation incorporates a purposefulness in that the design must be new and appear on the market. Play, on the other hand, cannot exist with

a goal in mind, because then the qualities of play disappear. Play is an end in itself, and therefore one cannot, for example, speak of free play, because play is per definition free.

Helle Marie Skovbjerg, professor in play, has a mission to take play seriously and not just perceive play as something that should only serve as a benefit for learning and innovation. Play has a value in itself. It is a common human phenomenon, where the meaning production of the play participants is assigned a value. That value says a lot about what it means to be human, and it is precisely this insight that we need when we design for play. When we experience that something meaningful is occurring in a play situation, it can be difficult, at first glance, to link it with a concrete design outcome. But when we develop stronger play skills over time, we can, according to Skovbjerg, more easily design for better play: “FOR PLAY DESIGNERS, THE CONSEQUENCES OF LOOKING AT PLAY IN ITS OWN RIGHT ARE THAT THE VALUE OF PLAY IS STRONGLY RELATED TO LIFE, MEANING THAT PARTICIPANTS’ EXPERIENCES OF MEANINGFUL PLAY DESIGN ARE OF CRUCIAL IMPORTANCE. THE QUALITIES OF PLAY DESIGN MUST, THEREFORE, BE STRONGLY RELATED TO THE PARTICIPANTS’ INVOLVEMENT IN PLAY ACTIVITIES (SKOVBJERG 2018). HOWEVER, WHILE THE

Play User Lab (PUL)

EXPERIENCES OF BEING AT PLAY ARE CRUCIAL TO WHAT DECISIONS THE DESIGNER MAKES, THE DESIGNER’S OWN EXPERIENCES OF BEING AT PLAY CAN AND MUST BE ACTIVELY USED IN THE DESIGN PROCESS” Skovbjerg, 2020 Framing Play Design In other words, we ensure meaning and quality in a play design by appreciating and mastering the play ourselves. But those for whom we design definitely must be included in the play in order to ensure that the play is also meaningful to them. Unless we ensure that participating in the play makes sense for children, the innovative power of play would be lost.

Although play has an important justification in our lives, it is far from legitimate for adults to play, as we have a long tradition of seeing play as a child-related practice. When it comes to adults, play is often considered a silly, frivolous and unproductive activity.

Helle Marie Skovbjerg is not the only one who wants to spread the message that play must be taken seriously – also in adulthood. Josefine Jack Eiby, founder of the Sofa School and a consultant in the Play User Lab seminar series, believes that we have built a narrative where play is a childish activity: “ADULTS OFTEN USE PLAY OR BEING LIKE A CHILD AS AN INSULT. WE SAY, FOR EXAMPLE, ”NOW YOU ARE CHILDISH!” THE OBVIOUS

CHALLENGE IS THAT IT IS DEROGATORY TOWARDS CHILDREN AS A GROUP IN OUR SOCIETY. BEING A CHILD OR PLAYING MUST NEVER BECOME A TERM OF ABUSE. WE NEED TO TURN THE WORDS ON THEIR HEAD WHEN IT COMES TO CHILDREN, PLAY AND ADULTS: ”HOW PLAYFUL YOU ARE!”, ”HOW GOOD YOU ARE AT PUTTING YOUR INNER CHILD INTO PLAY!” Josefine Jack Eiby, Stifter af Sofaskolen When we play, anything is possible; it is an invitation to explore life. You can try things out that open up more perspectives, and children are the suitable play guides for adults, as they are experts in existing in the open, creative space. We have been busy creating frameworks where good playmates have been able to meet, and over the years this has created some fantastic, heart-warming sessions where friendships have been formed. Their strong common language is based on amusing and often humorous sessions; there is room to expand.

In order to make the best possible use of the potential of play, we need even more adult role models who dare to step forward and legitimize play, so that it gets the right conditions to thrive – both for adults and for children. First of all, it requires that we find some more good playmates with whom we can explore the world and life.

P. 34 —About the proces

THE UNPREDICTABLE DESIGN PROCESS

The structured process that all Play User Lab participants have followed in the 10-day course over six months has taken its starting point in design opportunities and challenges.

The design process is far from linear, i.e., a predetermined path, but rather a dynamic process where you choose along the way which mental spaces you need to move into and which design tools you can use with advantage depending on which needs arise in the process. In other words, the process is driven by the sub-elements that are clarified along the way towards a meaningful design. Hence, if there is a lack of arguments for opt-in and opt-out, clarification of form or feedback from users, then another iteration (repetition of process) is called for. Thus, the process does not become the goal in itself, but the design rather controls how the process unfolds. It requires a decent amount of courage to put it in play within the given temporal and financial framework. The driving force in the design

process is an alternation between the use of tools that can help to open up (diverge) and close (converge), e.g., the observation method is a diverging process where new knowledge is gathered and possibilities are explored. Subsequently, the methods mapping, grouping and insight definition are a delimiting, converging process that helps to structure, find meaning, prioritize and make choices.

The design process can be divided into four mental spaces, which you alternate between during the entire development process. You move randomly in and out of the spaces: Collect (open), Comprehend (close), Invent (open) and Create (close) with the aim of exploring the current situation and developing a desirable future. In the four mental spaces, it is possible to make use of a number of different design tools, just as there are useful methods for co-creation that can be used across the spaces. The fundamental elements in the co-creation phase are collaboration and communication.

Play User Lab (PUL)

Collect Comprehend Conceptualize Create

Co.creation

Illustration: Design Squiggle by Damien Newman The design squiggle illustrates the following two characteristics: The beginning The start of the design process is characterized by uncertainty and chaos. Insights and appreciations emerge through research Conclusion Appreciations develop into a concept, and clarity and focus emerge through prototypes, ending with a final design.

The design process can be chaotic and unmanageable. A good illustration of this is the design squiggle, which those who participate in the process can apply to set expectations at the beginning and during the course of the design process. In the Play User Lab, most companies have experienced that at the start of the process they have had to spend time exploring contexts and ideas to an extent they have not previously attempted. It has taken longer to arrive at the basic design principles for the design itself. But this, in return, has enabled the companies to carry out a much faster execution process in the final innovation phase compared to previous development processes.

P. 36 — Tools

FAVOURITE DESIGN METHODS DESIGN METHODS 6th Edition 2020

CREATE

COLLECT

generate knowledge based on experience

generate knowledge about what is

CO-CREATE

CONCEPTUALIZE

COMPREHEND

generate knowledge about how we can

generate knowledge through thinking

The design process will be performed in the Play User Lab based on the 6C model (source: Co-creation Cards by Silje Kamille Friis), which is based on the concept of the mental opening and closing spaces. ‘Collect’ and ‘conceptualize’ are opening spaces, ‘comprehend’ and ‘create’ are closing spaces.

Since the start-up in 2015, a method set consisting of 32 methods has been under continuous development, the structure of which is based on Silje Kamille Friis’s 6C Co-Creation Cards from 2015. The methods are adapted to a playful design process, where children are involved in all phases of the design process.

The methods are a mixture of classic, familiar design context methods as well as a handful of methods where play and the exploratory aspects of the children’s perspectives are in focus. Our favourite methods are presented below: The Collect method ”Go on a play adventure” is an invitation to enter the children’s world on their own terms. You explore and devote yourself to the play you become a part of in order to be guided to the play’s qualities and the interaction between the participants that the play requires.

The Collect method ”Guided Tour” originates from participant observation and aims to give the children an expert role in their own lives, where their journey on their own terms should make the adults wonder and immerse themselves in causal connections.

The Comprehend method ”Learning Compass” is based on an analysis of implicit learning based on

Play User Lab (PUL)

a play experience. It provides a concrete overview of the potential of the play experience in relation to children’s learning/development.

The Develop method ”Mock-up with children” moves a good idea from the idea generation phase to concretization by developing and building quick, physical models of an idea together with children.

The Create method ”Play Blue Print” ensures a strong design foundation around explicit learning, where operational aspects of the play experience are put into play, including what makes the play meaningful and what makes the design playful. You acquire an insight into, and an overview of, the experience that the product must provide – and are able to process specific elements of the experience separately.

The Comprehend method ”Repeat it” and the Create method ”1:1 feedback” both stem from the, to many, well-known method Prototype Testing. In the former method, the children themselves have to convey the use of a solution to other children.

This enables them to give other children and adults insight into what they are most interested in. The 1:1 feedback method focuses on identifying opportunities, barriers and errors, as children (unlike most adults) tend to more freely express their opinions and thoughts through interactions with design elements.

With the name change, an attempt is made to give a more accurate picture of what feedback sessions can contribute, rather than using the word test, which is more suitable for quantitative measurements of how something meets already established criteria.

Some classic methods have been renamed, others such as Interview and Persona have been omitted, as they are less applicable in Play User Lab contexts.

As adults, we quickly get into a situation where we carry out an ”interview”, as we know it, in connection with the interaction with other adults; we sit down at a table and talk about a topic/an experience, etc.

But children are rarely able to reflect in-depth on an experience some time after it has taken place.

They are good at reflecting immediately after a given experience.

Scan and discover the methods

P. 38 Tools

Play User Lab (PUL)

“YOU ARE MORE AT LIBERTY TO FAIL, WHEN THE MATERIAL IS A ROLL OF TOILET PAPER.” Shane Brox

P. 40 — Recommendations

STRATEGIC PLAY-DESIGN MINDSET

The key elements of the content perspectives used in the Play User Lab are described in the previous account; what follows is a list of recommendations for others who want to start working strategically with a play design mindset.

We recommend that:

Play User Lab (PUL)

1 — Adults keep in mind that they were once children in another time, a time we should not design for today. 2 — Children and adults co-create the change in order to strengthen the value in play. 3 — The adults equate the children with other relevant experts.. 4 — The adults revert to their inner play child through their childhood play memories. 5 — Fewer target groups are selected, but many more playmates with whom to explore the world.

6 — The adults create safe spaces where it is ok to fail. 7 — The companies work culturally with the legitimization of play.

8 — Adults avoid succumbing to the temptation to ask what the children want and then simply give it to them. 9 — A professional design approach is adhered to when design choices have to be made.

10 — Organizations are brought into the school through collaborations that increase children’s life skills.

P. 42 — More about the subject

Want to Read More?

10 tanker om leg, 2021 Helle Marie Skovbjerg, Dafolo Child Centered Design for Play, Exploring a Child-Centered Design Approach 2019 Karen Feder, PhD Dissertation, Design School Kolding Framing Play Design, A hands-on Guide for Designers, Learners and Innovators, 2020 Sune Klok Gudiksen & Helle Marie Skovbjerg, BIS Publishers The Road to Happiness is Paved with Playful Intentions, 2018 Jesper Falck Legaard, In Proceedings of DRS2018: Catalyst, Limerick, June 25–28, 2018 Research Journal Co-Create, 2019 Lene Tanggaard og Josefine Dilling, Coc Playful Minds & Aalborg Universitet The Sociomateriality of Creativity in Everyday Life, 2013 Lene Tanggaard, Culture & Psychology, 19(1), 20–32 The Value of Play, Designing for Open-Ended Play, 2018 Helle Marie Skovbjerg, Tilde Bekker, M.M. Systemic Change Play-Based Intrapreneurship: Challenging Innovation Processes and Underlying Cultural Understanding, 2020 Gudiksen, Schytz, Poulsen, Quiñones, In:ISPIM Innovation Management Conference

En pop-up-bog blev til — S. 43

How the Book Came About

This pop-up book is part of the KUV project (Artistic Development Company) Pop-up Design for Interdisciplinary Play. The book’s visual and design format has been developed to support the qualities and movements that have been anchored in the Play User Lab project. The graphic identity and the movements of the paper material reference the dynamic playful and exploratory processes that all participants in the project have been a part of.

The project is rooted in Design School Kolding, Design for Play LAB, and was created by Pia Viuff Schytz, senior designer and assistant professor. Pia’s expertise

is spatial design, child-centred design for play and design anthropology. She is in charge of interdisciplinary development projects with external partners, with children as key participants. She has also been the project manager for the design school’s contribution to the Play User Lab. If you want to know more about the work, collaboration opportunities and the research to which the design work contributes, you can find more information at designskolenkolding.dk

P. 44 — Partners

PLAY USER LAB PARTNER FACTS

DANISH DESIGN CENTRE

COC PLAYFUL MINDS CoC Playful Minds – CoC stands for Capital of Children, which is the vision of making Billund the Children’s Capital – not just in Denmark, but in the world. CoC Playful Minds is an incubator for projects and activities within the areas of play, learning and creativity, urban development at the level of children and business development in Billund. CoC Playful Minds is owned by Billund Municipality and the LEGO Foundation, and is the office that nurtures and runs many of these activities. In collaboration with Design School Kolding, CoC Playful Minds is the initiator of the Play User Lab.

As Denmark’s national design centre, Dansk Design Center strives to bring the latest knowledge about design into play in order to create innovation and sustainable growth in Danish companies, contribute to a strengthening of the design industry as well as develop and brand Danish design nationally and internationally. We experiment and challenge boundaries and disregard traditional frameworks and notions of where and how design can create change and sustainable growth. We choose to create and participate in efforts where there is a need for innovation, where the solution requires collaboration across sectors and where it’s too risky for the individual company, in terms of investment in time and resources, to carry out the work on its own.

From our offices in Copenhagen and Kolding, we collaborate with more than 2,000 business leaders, designers and decision-makers every year. Our foundation is the designers’ professionalism and a consistent focal point for our efforts. In projects, we lead companies through processes where they can experiment, test, fail and learn. This is the way we bridge the gap between the design field and other actors.

Play User Lab (PUL)

DESIGN SCHOOL KOLDING Design School Kolding is an international talent workshop and research centre for the development of Danish design. Since 1967, the school has been active working in the Danish artisan tradition, where design is carried out in a playful, innovative and creative space between practice and theory. The school offers Bachelor’s, Master’s and PhD programmes.

The three-year Bachelor’s programme includes the following fields of study: Industrial Design, Fashion and Textile Design, Accessory Design and Communication Design. The Master’s programme consists of the interdisciplinary fields of study Design for People, Design for Play and Design for Planet. All the educational programmes as well as the research have a specific focus on social design, sustainability and play.

The school has approximately 340 full-time students.

The school offers continuing and further education in design thinking and tailor-made courses for private and public organisations.

In 2019, the school received the Danish Design Council’s Honorary Award, one of the justifications being the close collaboration with the Danish business community, with a particular focus on competence enhancement through design, for small and medium-sized companies.

In 2020, Lene Tanggaard, professor of educational psychology, became rector of Design School Kolding.

Lene Tanggaard is a recognized researcher in the field of creativity and learning.

Design School Kolding has approximately 100 employees and an annual budget of almost DKK 70 million, of which 2/3 is financed by a grant from the Budget.

The remaining third is a mix of research and development funds and partnership agreements. In 2020, Design School Kolding received a positive accreditation from the Danish Accreditation Council.

P. 46 — Literacy

References

Brown, Tim (2009) Change by Design. Harpercollins Publishers Inc James, A., Prout, A., Jenks, C. (1998) Theorizing Childhood. Policy Press Resnick, M. (2017) Lifelong Kindergarten, cultivating Creativity through Projects, Passion, Peers and Play. MIT Press Skovbjerg, HM & Gudiksen, S (2020) Framing Play Design, BIS publishers Skovbjerg, HM 2020 Framing Play Design, BIS publishers Andersen, MM (2019) Leg, Tænkepause 70. Aarhus Universitetsforlag Friis, Silje Kamille (2015) Co-Creation Cards, U Press

Play User Lab (PUL)