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

As Westerlund (2009, p 77) has pointed out, and as was mentioned earlier,
all representations resulting from co-design are useful, if not displaying interesting
design opportunities, then in defining the design space, or as “seed
for other more relevant proposals”. Therefore, from the designers’ (creative
secretary) perspective other comments and statements may be more relevant
than those needed to piece together the fragmented user insights into
a unified storyline. Thus both types of documentations are needed.
The above examples demonstrate the game material as documentation
of the dialogue and decisions made during the design games, as well
as a visual tool in exploring alternatives. Another value an evolving representation
can provide, is demonstrating the progress of the game for the
participants. At the same time, the step-by-step process makes ambiguous
topics more manageable.
“It was good that it was cut into several phases, because had this been
introduced at once, then I think it would have been a bit hard.” (A
representative from OPK after the Project Planning Game, March
2009, translated from Finnish)
“Somehow it felt in the beginning that this [the project description
with clearly defined stages] is too huge, like one big thing [makes a
hand movement, which seems to illustrate a ball], but then it was possible
to cut it into parts, so that these [pointing to different stages] are
already pretty big as such.” (A representative from KONE after the
Project Planning Game, November 2008, translated from Finnish)
Building of the project plan proposal or storyline gradually visualises the
growing amount of information that can thus be verified by the participants.
For the same reason, the resulting representations work as reminders,
as the question from one participant after the OPK’s Project Planning
Game illustrates: “Could it be possible to get a photo about the outcomes, a
picture would be nice […] to remember one’s own thoughts?”
As has been discussed, design games imply several types of visual game
material which serve various purposes. In some, like in the Project Planning
Game, predesigned material is more meaningful in guiding the interaction
or understanding the design space, whereas in others, like in
the Storytelling Game, the material emerging during the performance is
the most important. However, the amount and role of the game material
needs to be carefully considered when designing a design game. For example,
in the Character Game, the amount of predesigned visual material
was extensive, since its aim was to present glimpses of senior houses and
of seniors living in them. It also followed the basic idea of the Project
Planning Game, that is, utilising game material as reference points for
discussion. Since role-playing was added as a new dimension to the inter-
5.2.1
From
predesigned
material
to
materialising
discussion
in–situ
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