To do this week:

• Think about an expert to connect with
• Plan out project more fully
• Create personas 
• Work out first steps 
• Research 

Expert

I could look for an expert in the field of play, connection or designing for play. 

Project Plan 

I plan to start with desk based research and exploratory research myself before reaching out to others. I think this way I can get a base of knowledge and understanding of my subject area before getting others involved so I can ask more informed questions and undertake well planned exercises. 

I need to gain a basic understanding of:

• How play can help people connect and bond
• How design can help adults play
• What helps people to connect 

And explore:

• My personal experiences of play
• What experiences and opportunities for play I can find around me in my local area. 

Then I plan to reach out to my potential audience for insight on:

• How connected/disconnected they felt during the pandemic and now
• Their perception of play
• What they struggle with when it comes to connecting with others 

After I’ve collected and analysed this information I plan to start the ideation phase of my project. During this phase I plan to run workshops or get small numbers of people to test out activities and interview them about their experiences.  

I will also:

• Create a series of mood boards 
• Explore trends 

Personas 

I started to create some example personas to help me think about and define my audience. 

Persona 1

Background Info: They were at university during the pandemic so missed out on a lot of the social interactions that typically go with university. They were also away from family during this time and with restrictions they didn’t get to visit home very often. Now they work from home within a new company having barely met their new colleagues due to work from home restrictions. 

Wants and Needs: To connect with others, meet new people and feel a sense of connection. Get used to interacting with people again. 

Frustrations and struggles: Hard to know where to meet and connect with people. Feel uncomfortable with the idea of joining groups and sports teams. 

Persona 2

Background Info: First time mother who was pregnant during the pandemic, so she missed out on pre and post-natal classes with other mothers. Undergone a big life change during pandemic but without the usual support structures in place. 

Wants and Needs: To have some fun and feel the support that comes with connection with others. 

Frustrations and Struggles: Hard to find time to socialise with a young child. Need something easy to access and use. 

Research 

Cas Holman: Design for Play – Abstract S2: E4

Start with an experiential goal and design the objects around that 

Free play where there is not a right or wrong answer- feel like you have an idea and you’ve done it yourself. If you feel like you are not good at something you retreat. Open ended toys are better for that. Means your ideas are really important. 

She sets challenges to her students like to think of 10 ways to transport water – then ten more. A good exercise to get you to think. 

“The value and joy and experience of free play” (Holman 2019)

“The point of play is that there is not an outcome over than it is intuitive” (Holman 2019)

Animals play not just to learn. They play for enjoyment. 

“Play is as essential as food, air and sleep” it gets your body and mind back together. Dancing as a form of play.

She is careful about choices of materials.  

Rigamagig- is designed in a way that inspires collaboration – you need others to make it work and you don’t know where its going to go. (Holman 2019)

Architecture against death

They believed that being comfortable was shortening lives. They used architecture to create physically and visually stimulating spaces that they believed could extend life. (Doezema 2019)

Their spaces are lacking in right angles, they are colourful and playful and each object interacts with the ones next to it. 

I love how they turn everyday places and objects into opportunities to explore and play, they push boundaries and create emotions in the people who interact with their buildings. 

Connection and Covid19

‘A pandemic of an airborne infection, spread easily through social contact, assails human relationships by drastically altering the ways through which humans interact.’(Long et al. 2022)

‘Social distancing’ had a negative affect on how people felt able to interact during the pandemic. 

Close friendships are of people similar to you- weaker ones have more diversity. during covid close friendships were the only ones to be continued with strict limitations so the diversity that comes with connection with these others was lost. 

“individuals with a large number of newly established relationships (eg, university students) may have struggled to transfer these relationships online, resulting in lost contacts and a heightened risk of social isolation.”

Young adults are reported to have struggled the most with this during the pandemic. The lack of social support also came in a time when we needed social support the most. “Social support, referring to the psychological and material resources provided through social interaction, is a critical mechanism through which social relationships benefit health. In fact, social support has been shown to be one of the most important resilience factors in the aftermath of stressful events.” (Long et al. 2022)

opportunities for spontaneous social interactions had been very much affected. at work etc. 

People struggled with how to navigate this new time “A handshake, for instance, is a powerful symbol of trust and equality.” but with fear and enforced social distancing “previously taken-for-granted interactions were re-examined, factoring in current restriction levels, own and (assumed) others’ vulnerability and tolerance of risk. This created awkwardness, and uncertainty, for example, around how to bring closure to an in-person interaction or convey warmth.” (Long et al. 2022)

Physical touch was also lost completely for some which negatively affects mental and physical health.- “Physical touch is another key aspect of intimacy, a fundamental human need crucial in maintaining and developing intimacy within close relationships” (Long et al. 2022) 

The way Covid spreads and the government imposed ‘social distancing’ have combined to make this pandemic have a very negative effect on people’s social connection at a time when we needed each other the most, many people felt more isolated than ever before. The re-learning of social convention that we had to undergo during the depths of the pandemic seems to be hard for many to undo and as things slowly continue to relax and return to normal, social interactions for many need some support to return to how they were.  

I also find the lack of ‘spontaneous’ social interactions caused by the pandemic to be an interesting issue. Maybe this is something I can try to achieve with my project? 

Play and Connection

Improve relationships and your connection to others. Sharing laughter and fun can foster empathy, compassion, trust, and intimacy with others. Play doesn’t have to include a specific activity; it can also be a state of mind. Developing a playful nature can help you loosen up in stressful situations, break the ice with strangers, make new friends, and form new business relationships.

Play helps develop and improve social skills. Social skills are learned as part of the give and take of play. During childhood play, kids learn about verbal communication, body language, boundaries, cooperation, and teamwork. As adults, you continue to refine these skills through play and playful communication.

Play teaches cooperation with others. Play is a powerful catalyst for positive socialization. Through play, children learn how to “play nicely” with others—to work together, follow mutually agreed upon rules, and socialize in groups. As adults, you can continue to use play to break down barriers and improve your relationships with others.

Play can heal emotional wounds. As adults, when you play together, you are engaging in exactly the same patterns of behavior that positively shape the brains of children. These same playful behaviors that predict emotional health in children can also lead to positive changes in adults. If an emotionally-insecure individual plays with a secure partner, for example, it can help replace negative beliefs and behaviors with positive assumptions and actions. (Mind the Interior 2019)

I am interested in the theme I have discovered now in a few different areas of my research of how play can help us heal emotional wounds. This makes me think that as well as play helping us to reconnect after the pandemic, this process in many ways can help us also to heal after the pain many have felt during the pandemic. 

Icebreakers 

When it comes to playing as an adult, a common way adults play is at work during ‘icebreaker activities’, so I decided to look into what makes a good or bad icebreaker activity.

Playmeo believe that Icebreakers should be:

Fun; Non-threatening; Highly Interactive; Simple & Easy To Understand; and Success-Oriented.

Generally speaking, if the activity/exercise/experience successfully prepares your group for what is ahead, then it is more likely to be considered an effective ice-breaker (Playmeo 2021).  

Reference list

DOEZEMA, Marie. 2019. “Could Architecture Help You Live Forever?” The New York Times, 20 Aug [online]. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/20/t-magazine/reversible-destiny-arakawa-madeline-gins.html.

HOLMAN, Cas. 2019. Design for Play – Abstract S2: E4. Netflix, September 25, 2019.

LONG, Emily et al. 2022. “COVID-19 Pandemic and Its Impact on Social Relationships and Health.” J Epidemiol Community Health [online]. Available at: https://jech.bmj.com/content/76/2/128.

MIND THE INTERIOR. 2019. “WHY YOU SHOULD NEVER STOP PLAYING – Playscapes for Adults.” Mind the interior [online]. Available at: https://mindtheinterior.com/playscapes-why-you-should-never-stop-playing/ [accessed 12 Feb 2022].

PLAYMEO. 2021. “What Is an Icebreaker?” playmeo [online]. Available at: https://www.playmeo.com/what-is-an-icebreaker/ [accessed 19 Feb 2022].