The increasing adoption of smartphones and tablets has lead to a boom in mobile gaming. The mobile gaming industry is characterized by a wider range of audience than its traditional counterpart, thus presenting designers with both opportunities and challenges.
Project Overview
Type | Tablet Game Design |
Date | Spring 2016, 4 weeks |
Course | Interaction Design Studio |
Tools | Sketch, Photoshop, inVision |
Skills | Scenarios, Storyboarding, Visioning, Interface Design |
Roles | Researcher, Designer |
Team | Helen Li, Vanessa Cesário, Joel Rodrigues, Iris Wu |
Project Background
The Problem
Mobile apps and games for ordinary people are in abundance, but the availability of assistive software is limited. Autism is the second most prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder among children. An educational gaming app has the potential to benefit the development of many autistic children.
Personas
Natacha
- 36, Paulo’s mother
- kind and positive
- likes reading
- president of parents' association
- very patient with Paulo’s needs
- knowledgeable on the topic of autism
- has taught Paulo some basic routines
Challenge: increasing workload as new president
Immediate Goal: prepare Paulo to elementary school
Life Goal: make Paulo more independent as he grows
Paulo
- High-Functioning Autism (HFA)
- 7 years old, lives in Madeira
- does not like changes
- enjoys space-related topics
- owns a cat
- goes to pottery classes
- has trouble communicating emotions
Challenge: new morning routine for school
Immediate Goal: learn new skills
Life Goal: become more independent
Final Design - Live interaction in InVision
Final Design - Sample Screens (Child App)
Final Design - Sample Screens (Guardian App)
The Process
Summary of Design Process
- Brief introduction – explore the problem scope and present initial ideas
- Research – frame persona and scenario and brainstorm gaming concept
- Studio – create and revise scenarios, storyboards, and wireframes through feedback
- Presentation – refine final deliverable and present game to the class
Scenarios & Storyboards
Story 1: Routine Reinforcement
Story 2: Evaluation and Level-Up
Story 3: Coping with Changes
Sketches & Wireframes
Sketches - Visualization of App Interface
Lo-Fi Wireframes - Outlining Key Points of Interaction
Looking Forward
Our group truly enjoyed working on this project together. However, we only have a four-week timeframe, so many aspects of the design could be refined. I think this project can further benefit from the following improvements:
- More consistent terminology across the child's app and guardian's app.
- Better check mechanism to enhance real-life impacts of mini adventures.
- In addition to messages and notifications, encourage the communication of emotions through easy and interesting ways.
- Add community feature to create support network for users.