Co-creating embodied sketches playing as a method to design with children

Abstract

Designing body games, games in which the main source of enjoyment comes from bodily engagement, is not an easy task. This article reports on a holistic design approach that considers the social and physical setting of the activity as design resources, together with the technology. We introduce the concept of embodied sketching as a method to gauge how different configurations of resources make for a good design. We report on the experience of using embodied sketching in exploratory workshops with children, as a way to co-create design ideas. The explorations were based on simple games implemented in a technological prototype, which allowed organizers and children to collectively explore game variations by changing the rules of the game, the physical configurations, and the roles of players. We report on our takeaways from four workshops at four different schools in three different countries.

Embracing First-Person Perspectives in Soma-Based Design

“…There are also sensitizing activities, where designers hone their sensitivity towards a particular bodily aspect or aesthetic they want to discuss, brainstorm, and ultimately design for, by engaging with a bodily experience that supports this aspect or aesthetic in an interesting way (perhaps in a non-conventional one, like with techniques that disrupt our ways of acting or thinking) [5]. Lastly, there are co-creation ideation activities, where users play around with (test and appropriate) a technology prototype to support particular experiences [99]. All these ideation activities heavily involve the moving body and are meant to happen early in the design process, before the construction of fully-functional prototypes.…”