Logostarter: Research into KonneKt

The goal of this project was to support the social development of isolated children in child cancer hospitals by bringing them into contact with other children in the hospital. In interviews with children three play types were found: adventurers, gamers and tinkerers. To support each of these play types, an ambiguous game, which could be played on the window to the hallway, was developed: KonneKt.

The game consists of shapes which can be attached to the window. Different meanings can be attributed to the shapes. For example, existing games such as chess can be played with KonneKt, but a tinkerer could build fantasy worlds and adventurers could build an obstacle court. KonneKt enables isolated children to stay connected to the other children in the hospital, and even to play with them!



Patient & Problem

Cancer is the number one cause of death for children between the ages of 2 and 12. Children with cancer are currently treated in several hospitals in the Netherlands, but in 2015 a new paediatric oncology center will open its doors in Utrecht: the Princess Máxima Center. The TU Delft and the Princess Máxima Center have set up a research initiative to advance the quality of patient care. Because the treatment process of cancer has a major impact on children’s regular social lives and on different aspects of their development, this specific project was focused on children’s well-being and social development in the hospital. The goal of this project was to develop a product or service which encourages and supports social interaction between children in the ages of 6-12 in the hospital, in order to promote and support normal social development of children with cancer. Because isolation is very common in children’s oncology departments and harmful for normal social development of children, the project focused on children in isolation.



Intervention

The three visions for the design are (1) Direct social contact, (2) Imagination and (3) Different types of Children. To select which idea to develop the ideas were compared with 6 design requirements. Three iterations were passed: window board games, modular play and inspiring shapes. The goal of the exploration was to explore different games and to develop a concept which is suitable for the gamer, the adventurer and the tinkerer.

For isolated children the window is a connection to the hallway but at the same time a barrier. Using that same window to play games on transforms that barrier into a medium for interaction. KonneKt does this by providing a set of shapes, which can be attached to a window with suction cups and/or magnets. The shapes in the KonneKt kit can be used by the personas to play different kinds of games, because the meaning of the shapes in the KonneKt kit is ambiguous.



Outcome

The modularity of the KonneKt set was inspiring and inviting. Different children used the set in different ways, and the play activity attracted more children. Each of the children seemed to enjoy the activity and the prototype already brought different children into contact with each other. The user test pointed out some strong aspects of KonneKt and some usability issues. A very strong aspect was that, as intended, children assigned meaning to shapes. They did so even more often than expected. Another very strong aspect of KonneKt were the magnets. They really elicited interaction between children at opposite sides of the window. Once children got started with KonneKt, it was easy for them to make up different kinds of games.