Designing for wellbeing

Action Painting Wagon
Action Painting Wagon 8 (page 49) is an art therapy device for children in
foster care. The wagon comprises a table with an upward-facing speaker
mounted in the centre. One end of the table holds a roll of paper, from
which a sheet can be pulled over the speaker and painted on. When music
is played through the speaker, the paint vibrates according to the intensity
of the sound waves. The space between the top and bottom of the table
is used for storing the music player, amplifier, painting accessories and
two different-sized benches to accommodate children of different heights.
The wagon was developed together with children under the care of Espoo
child welfare services.
The wagon is the result of the designer’s interest in combining music
and visuals, but what makes this case special is how he applied his interest
and how the project was realised. Because he wanted to work with media
that interested him personally, not professionally, his motivations were
genuine and honest. The project was inspired by a presentation by Espoo
child welfare services and, although there were no expectations to do so,
he took it as his mission to provide something for children from troubled
families. While this project is different in its approach to the user-centred
projects, he wanted to make it collaborative for the sake of providing a
positive contribution to the children’s situation while exploring and developing
his own professional identity.
The decision to involve such stakeholders in his project also imposed a
great deal of responsibility on him. In his final report he discusses the uncertainty
he felt about realising the project, having no previous experience of
working with children, and about undertaking a project that could become
so meaningful for the people it touches. His medicine for this uncertainty
was to rely on a common denominator he had found during the course –
that of happiness. Albeit a fairly vague term, it was the cornerstone that
8 Action Painting Wagon by Maarten Den Breeijen
50 · We have always been here before: on design courting real disciplines