Play-Maker
Play-Maker exists to provide children with the opportunity to choose comfort within high-stress situations. Our multi-functional elements allow the child to engage in storytelling and world-building, as our design moves and molds to the needs of the user, adapting to different dimensions and environments. With few rules or boundaries, children find agency when using their Play-Maker. Especially in
high-stress environments like hospital waiting rooms, children often don’t have a space to make their own. We created Play-Maker as a pilot program for the waiting rooms at AnMed Anderson, located in Anderson, South Carolina, with the hopes of expanding beyond just local hospitals.
Our team collaborated in ideation and research. I designed and produced the Play-Maker mat and stuffed shapes. Through many whiteboard sessions, we determined the goal and focus of our product. Our research informed how our product visually existed and how.
Project Type
Visual Identity, Brand Identity, Product Design and Development,
Package Design
Deliverables
Publication, Case Study, Prototype
Collaboration
Design Challenge
To collaboratively create a product for children intended to aid in education.
Design Solution
Play-maker acts as a tool for hospitals to provide children comfort, control, and play while in waiting rooms. Using abstract shapes, the mat and blocks are designed to spark the imagination, inspire world-building, and play. This creates a more comforting environment for children in waiting rooms that are not necessarily designed with them in mind.
Play-Maker is a mixing pot of my team’s ideas and goals for this product. From the beginning, we valued giving children in stressful situations back agency and comfort. This eventually led us to designing the mat specifically for Hospital waiting rooms. And, I was able to brush up on my sewing skills! Play-Maker beautifully illustrates our values and hopes in a playful, comfortable mat.