Design games as a tool, a mindset and a structure Kirsikka Vaajakallio

The three cases: seeking for new design opportunities
The Extreme Design project was constructed through three distinct case
studies: the first concentrated on people flow in senior houses; the second
looked at user-centred service models in banks; and the third searched
for service opportunities within social media. The empathic design perspective
directed the way design games were utilised during the case
studies to allow multidisciplinary group of people, from users to other
stakeholders and designers, to co-construct a variety of representations
about user’s world. The aim was to make personal connections to the users’
experiences through which new insights or revelations may emerge.
These insights then informed the argumentation for interesting topics
and acted as design drivers for further exploration during the case study.
The main application phase can be generally described in terms of
concept search, which precedes the actual concept design and definition
of a precise design brief (Koskinen & Battarbee 2003). Thus design does
not concern designing in regard to final design but rather aims at laying
out the ground for it. It points out design possibilities grounded to the
user insights that can be taken as starting points for a further research if
considered interesting and perhaps eventually leading into an actualized
design solution. The case studies also contributed to partnering companies’
on-going design projects, either directly or indirectly. (Figure 29)
concept search
(concept) design
Fig. 29
Searching for opportunities
to establish a new
(concept) design project
case study
On–going
development project
(in partner company)
The case studies conducted in Extreme Design contributed to the partnering companies in two
ways as illustrated in the picture.
One particularity of the implementation of design games in Extreme Design
was the relationship between them as separate one-off gatherings
and as a package of several design games that had been developed as a
progression from one to another. However, the relation between the design
games is not about using material produced in the first game in the
following as in Brandt’s and Johansson’s User Game and Scenario Game
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