Recreational Tabletop Games for the Elderly.
Design Brief: To design tabletop games for elderly people that will help them spend their idle time constructively and will add as a positivity / confidence booster.
“Design for young and you exclude the old,
design for the old and you include the young.”
design for the old and you include the young.”
There is a need for a design intervention which is not dependent on technology completely yet helps the elderly socialize with people of their age and helps them use their time constructively and also keeps them fresh and away from negative thoughts. So, I started working on the brief which was to design either a game, product or service for the elderly that will help them feel motivated, encouraged and less lonely. Also, it helps them use their leisure time more constructively.
ABOUT THE GAMES
Gaate Raho Pyaare:
The idea came when I visited a recreational center for the elderly and saw how happy the elderly were to sing old Bollywood songs and were going back down the memory lane and very participating a lot, but I also observed that not all of them could think of a song randomly. So this concept revolves around singing songs but based on categories. There are 6 categories and the player sings a song based on the card they get.
Zindagi Ek Safar:
This game has cards which have visuals and the players have to find the pair of the visual they get and narrate a story/ experience from their past and within a time frame. This idea came from the interviews where the elderly told me that they have so many stories to share but nobody is willing to listen.
Problem areas:
After an extensive research it was time to identify the problem areas and understand different perspectives of the elderly and come down to common problem areas. The problem areas identified were:
• Loneliness
• Dwelling in past
• Being Pessimistic
• Lack of activity/ Feeling jobless at times
• Feeling neglected / bored
• Unaware/ Lack of information
• Feeling low/ Poor health
• Poor memory
• Lack of communication/ generation gap
• Loneliness
• Dwelling in past
• Being Pessimistic
• Lack of activity/ Feeling jobless at times
• Feeling neglected / bored
• Unaware/ Lack of information
• Feeling low/ Poor health
• Poor memory
• Lack of communication/ generation gap
Design Solutions:
As the problem areas were identified I had to understand how and what can I design that will solve the problems faced by the elderly and then decide on certain design interventions that can be implemented which are mentioned below:
• Socialise and play
• Positivity/ Optimism
• Reminiscize past without guilt trips and positively
• Constructive ways to spend time
• Information given/ shared
• Memory building
• Communication via play.
• Socialise and play
• Positivity/ Optimism
• Reminiscize past without guilt trips and positively
• Constructive ways to spend time
• Information given/ shared
• Memory building
• Communication via play.
