Role
Product Designer, Researcher
User Research, Stakeholder & Professional Interviews, Workshop Facilitation, Visualisation, Prototyping & Testing, Pitching
July 2023 - November 2023
This project shows excellent application of frameworks and models throughout, taking strategic design principles and grounding them in a practical application of research through design and participative methods.
The game has the potential to get climate conversations started amongst groups of students at UAL in a fun, inclusive and engaging way, with the possibility of inspiring action as you never know where conversations started by the game might lead.
Angeline should be very proud of her project, the progress from the proposal is evidence of a highly reflexive and reflective design practitioner - an excellent base from which to move forward with her career.
— Liz Beeson, UAL Associate Lecturer and Insight Consultant
Overview
Eco-Koselig is a cosy tabletop game that facilitates climate conversations through curiosity and care. Through creative collaboration techniques and meaningful question prompts, players can build upon each other’s knowledge and cultivate action plans based on individual and collective needs in a fun and safe setting.
This Final Major Project was self-managed over five months with monthly supervisor meetings. We were free to choose any design problem as long as the design solution was research-led and demonstrated how ambiguity was dealt with within the process.
This project was challenging as I had lost two months compiling research and planning for a new proposal. My original proposal involved AI ethics and was completely different from the project that came to be. For this reason, I knew I had to narrow my scope quickly and choose resources I had easy access to. This whole process pushed my skills to their limits, requiring me to apply everything I had learnt thus far from my MA course.
Background Context
Participating in future-making is a sign of healthy growth for youths. However, climate change has left many worried about the doubt and uncertainty it brings. This emotional impact, "eco-anxiety", has gained traction in recent years. However, there is little guidance on how it can be dealt with. Without acknowledging its significance, people may fail to address feelings of isolation and helplessness, resulting in unhealthy coping behaviours such as denial, apathy, and avoidance.
These conversations have been perceived to be inaccessible as there has not been enough diversity and relatability in media representation. As a result, many perceive their lack of expertise as a hindrance to engaging in these conversations, as youth are susceptible to peer pressure and fear being judged or having their concerns dismissed.
Play has often been used as a tool to encourage both mental and social well-being. For example, tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) have been utilised by marginalised groups to safely explore their identities and emotions through open dialogue and collaboration. Thus, I wanted to discover if I could use games to help youth explore their eco-experiences.
Climate change conversations have proved to reduce anxiety, but it is reported that while 90% of youth are concerned, only a third talk to their peers about it.
Design Framework
To practice human-centred design, my research journey was inductive, exploratory-led, and conducted through creative doing. I represented this participatory design process using the Zendesk Triple Diamond framework, known for its added iterative agile cycle.
Co-design is a collaborative, participatory approach that actively involves stakeholders in developing relevant, effective, and satisfying solutions. To achieve this, I:
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Intentionally involved target users in designing solutions. I facilitated co-creation workshops with groups organised by their Environmental Identity (EID) Scale scores to obtain a variety of combinations and interactions.
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Postponed design decisions until after gathering feedback. I quickly iterated and presented multiple ideas for target stakeholders to evaluate and provide feedback. The sessions also allowed them to generate their concepts and ideas in response.
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Synthesised feedback from target users into insights. To keep data analysis consistent throughout, a 'Rose, Thorn, Bud' analysis was used to produce insights quickly. These insights were then compared against the COM-B Model to develop product features that address the users' pain points within the capability, opportunity, and motivation categories.
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Developed solutions based on feedback. After analysing data collected from play-testing, I synthesised new design iterations to be tested. This iterative cycle was repeated to improve the game experience, ensuring that newer versions would be more streamlined and intuitive.
Problem Discovery
UAL was the perfect place to situate my research as they had recently implemented a Climate Action Plan in 2019. Declaring a 'climate emergency', the university had committed itself to pioneering the future of climate change education, making sustainability briefs compulsory in every course. They have also recently begun projects on addressing eco-emotions and encouraging engagement through their Climate Emergency Network (CEN), a community of staff and students concerned about the crisis and its effects.
Staff environment
After interviewing staff employed at UAL, I discovered that those who noticed the impact of sustainability education on staff and students' mental health attempted to address them within their responsibilities. However, as ecological emotions have only recently gained awareness, these efforts depend heavily on individual capabilities and intrinsic motivation.
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Added emotional burden and lack of resources. Without ecological and emotional literacy, it is challenging for staff to design course material that addresses eco-emotions. Staff may also find it too far removed from their usual teaching methods.
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Not universally supported throughout the institute. It is unfair to expect educators to be professionally trained in managing emotions. However, mental health services are also struggling with the same problem due to limited guidance.
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Opportunity for non-curriculum interventions. To be used for independent learning by students or be outsourced by staff for extra-curricular learning within the classroom. This would reduce the burden on staff while being able to address the mental well-being of students.
Case Study: 'Climate Emergency Interactive'
A current external intervention is the 'Climate Emergency Interactive' film. It is a teaching tool that prompts conversations and suggests political and creative actions students can do in the face of climate change. I was given access to training with other student climate advocates, who are being trained to use the film to generate discussion in classrooms.
However, many facilitators-to-be voiced their concerns about the over-generalisation and rigidity of the film's content, stating that it made climate change highly impersonal.
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Too factual, generic and inaccessible. As it was not as interactive as they thought it would be, the film does not address a plurality of experiences. The lack of choice to explore other narratives left students frustrated as they found the content unrelatable.
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Limited meaningful interactions led to quieter audiences. Since discussion topics had to follow the majority opinion, time limitations meant little space for in-depth exploration. It was observed that students became more reserved and less engaged when minority opinions were continuously held off.
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Facilitators need to remain unbiased and skilled. As the film was not suited to cater to every student's opinions and interests, it placed a massive burden on facilitators to address the complexities of climate change during discussions. Thus, self-facilitation is a crucial element for the solution.
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Film medium cannot be readily revised. While the film garnered many comments and suggested changes from students, it was stated by the organisers that it could not be easily changed in time for this year. Games were validated as an ideal medium for this context as they can be iterated efficiently.
Problem Validation
The feedback session provided an extended time for deeper inquiries of climate change concerns. Without prompting, all students stated they enjoyed these discussions more as they explored relatable and human-centred stories. Thus, the game content would need to:
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Have diversified content and allow for multiple narratives. Instead of having fixed content, the game would allow the audience to choose topics based on their knowledge and interest.
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Encourage lived experiences as the norm. Discussing personal experiences with others would allow for support and validation. This can make people feel less alone and isolated in their feelings, encouraging pro-active behaviour.
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Teach students how to have these conversations independently. As it was discovered that students responded best in organic discussions, the game should focus on creating an environmental structure that facilitates the development of students’ confidence and understanding.
Discussion Environment
I interviewed MA Design Management students about their experiences within “Design, Societies, and Cultures” to discover how to facilitate cross-cultural conversations around sensitive topics. This module explored the multi-faceted contexts that make design practice, including subjects of decolonisation and social justice. All students were encouraged to create personalised reflective journals informed by class trips and discussions.
Through this, I realised the game structure needed to:
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Help develop personal understanding and allow for creativity. The students particularly enjoyed having the option to use whatever medium and language to express themselves. By having the choice to stay true to their interests and values, they were motivated to reflect and grow as people.
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Guide feedback and encourage conversation flow. Students wanted better use of environmental cues to keep people on track and establish conversation norms and responses. A flexible structure is needed to cater to varying commitment levels, allowing for more challenging dialogue when necessary.
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Establish and enforce boundaries and expectations. To ease concerns and ensure everyone is on the same page, parameters must be established to handle unfamiliarity. Doing so would limit the impact and interference with people's relationships outside the conversations.
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Change up classroom format to build trust. A formal environment can keep people from loosening up and enjoying themselves. The game can create a casual atmosphere where barriers can be broken by employing icebreakers and removing high expectations and pressures.
Problem Reframing
To summarise, students enjoyed developing a personal understanding through their preferred creative and embodied activities, which was also a suggested coping strategy for eco-anxiety within climate change education literature.
Problem Statement
Youth's behaviour towards climate change is highly intersectional and dependent on their ecological values. Regarding climate conversations, personal experiences and emotions are not easily explored as youth fear being judged or dismissed by others. There is also a lack of diversity and representation of climate actions that are personalised to one’s identity, which can help young people develop strategies for managing their behavioural and emotional landscapes.
"How might we support young adults to explore their emotions and environmental identity in a fun and safe setting?"
Experimentation
Based on the game criteria I gathered from research, I identified elements from existing games and workshops to test within several co-creation workshops.
These workshops aimed to discover which combination of elements created a good balance between enjoyability, safety, relatability, and ease of use. Through this, I could observe student conversations to discover additional pain points I had missed from my other investigations.
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Findings
I found that conversations flowed freely between the students when they had first established safety using a group consensus. What was supposed to be 30 minutes evolved into an hour-long discussion as they enjoyed snacks and practised active listening with one another. As for the game elements:
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Safety tools created assurance and provided clear expectations. As worries were alleviated through inclusive discussion and support, students could freely explore plural perspectives and mindsets with empathy and curiosity.
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Question prompts helped them realise the interrelations between climate topics and personal identity. As well as developing emotional awareness within themselves, questions regarding lifestyle choices also allowed for a deeper understanding of the motivations behind their decisions.
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Speculative activities provided tangibility and self-expression. Students were given a choice between drawing or writing out futures they desired with the help of word prompts, which provided a space to realise their feelings. Discussing these futures allowed them to discover the similarities or differences between their values and beliefs about the world.
Suggestions
Besides verbal interactions, the students found themselves with nothing to do but wait their turn, which allowed them to get easily distracted without meaning to. As the elements had no narrative that connected them, the main suggestion was to develop more environment cues to remind players of the game mechanics while creating a cohesive experience.
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Reminders for safety tools use. While the safety tools worked upfront, students forgot about them during the sessions as emotions can get too overwhelming. Suggestions were for them to turn into cards where they could be 'played'.
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Better visuals for accessibility. With how the workshops were facilitated, too much information was given at the start of the sessions. Several of them had English as their second language, and they brought up confusing terminology as a deterrent to understanding and enjoying the game.
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More game components. A limitation of the workshop structure was that the students could not move at their own pace. A physical board to visualise game progression, playbooks to jot down insights, and a rules guide to provide clear expectations would elevate the experience to be more 'gamified'.
Development
After gathering this feedback, I chose five game components to be designed, developed and tested. I noticed the theme of childhood nostalgia was highlighted when I revisited previous stakeholder interviews, as students mentioned that the reflective journal brought them back to art classes in their adolescence. Thus, I drew inspiration from fantasy elements and storybooks so that I could capture and evoke childlike wonder.
Prototyping
Playtesting
I tested the prototype game with design students in a university setting and young healthcare and technology working professionals in a home setting. It was important for the process to involve non-designers to make the game as accessible as possible. This decision led me to replace the speculative activity with a goal-planning activity, as participants needed simple actions over grandiose visions for the future.
Utilising user journey maps, I gained insights into the emotional impact felt at different game stages and pinpointed issues I could consult professionals with. After three iterations, I knew I had an MVP when the participants left the session feeling excited about the plans they had drafted during the game, continuing to converse further among themselves through newly formed friendships and renewed confidence in their abilities.
Iteration #1: "A Discussion Framework"
Iteration #2: "A Gamified Academic Workshop"
Iteration #3: "A Fun, Engaging Game"
Final Product
In the end, I came up with ECO-KOSELIG, a cosy game that allows players to have climate conversations by cultivating an atmosphere of fun and joy.
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Accessible and easy to use. Through rapid iteration, game elements were tested and modified to ensure a safe and enjoyable experience for players of all skill levels.
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Prioritises psychological safety. Grounding the mechanics within care and collaborative practice enables players to support one another and bond through shared experiences.
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Produces tangible outputs. Through generating collective knowledge through inquiry, players can practice creativity and develop action plans organically.
Features
Like other facilitation frameworks out there, ECO-KOSELIG's framework enables players to host sessions that can achieve a variety of goals:
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Collaboration. With a combination of tools and mechanics, this game functions as a capacity-building tool for collaborative learning. Players choose group roles aligning with their unique skills to create new knowledge, reducing unwanted power dynamics while acknowledging the value that each player brings.
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Understanding. As the game concerns itself with improving players' social and emotional awareness, this route focuses on more in-depth question prompts that focus on personal experiences, values, and beliefs. Discovering different climate change perspectives can expand the notion of 'self' and 'identity', allowing players to see people as more than their thoughts, emotions, and circumstances.
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Decision-making. With differing opinions, it can be difficult for a group to agree on a specific direction. The 'value tally system' allows players to visualise decision-making through a fair series of votes, aligning the group's values and interests with items that come up during discussions.
Exploring Narratives
The bulk of the game revolves around diverse question prompts and the discussions they stimulate. ECO-KOSELIG's structure was inspired by Joanna Macy's framework, "The Work That Reconnects", and follows a past-present-future progression that encourages players to reflect on the experiences that shaped their current views, embrace their thoughts and feelings on sensitive subjects, and express their hopes for the future.
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Exploring Memories. Functioning as an ice-breaker activity, players get to explore their previous experiences with being out in nature, chat about growing up with climate change, and grapple with the pro-environmental choices they are willing to undertake. These prompts examine people's initial perceptions of sustainability, inquiring into how they came to think this way.
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Exploring Emotions. These prompts focus on the different eco-emotions and present an opportunity to learn and understand what they mean. Using questions developed by long-time climate psychologists, they aim to provide new perspectives on the climate crisis and its impact, showing that all feelings and emotions, positive or negative, are valid.
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Exploring Possibilities. Once enough content has been generated, players can use it as inspiration to speculate on actionable items they can achieve as an individual or as a group. As each playthrough consists of different people and topics, the plans generated from this portion can be endless!
Visualising Care
To increase physical interactions and explore non-verbal methods of communication, a care system exists in the form of 'care tokens' that players can use for different actions and reactions.
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Care Tokens. Players can use these tokens to encourage, support, and empower one another during discussions. These act as physical reminders to be aware of personal and group emotions when conversations get heated.
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Discussion Tallies. After each segment, players vote for the value and need that came up in conversation the most. These simplify decision-making and are also a great way to show that players are paying attention!
Inspiring Action
Players will come to realise that the emotions they feel often correlate to a specific need or want for the future. Once they have concluded their discussions and are made aware of this, they can begin planning activities according to these principles.
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Choosing Collective Value & Need. Based on the needs of 'Growth', 'Individualism', 'Safety', and 'Relationship', players can align their understanding of human values and needs to vote on what resonated with them during the discussions. Reaching a group consensus, the players will proceed with a collective goal worth acting upon as they navigate the desires of those present.
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Ideating Activities. Throughout the stages, players will demonstrate and embody their interests, skills, and personality types in their interactions within the game. Developing a shared understanding of each other enables players to brainstorm relevant ideas for the group to enact. After the seriousness of the discussions, this fun activity is a welcome treat!
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Creating Action Plans. Depending on the type of value and need chosen, the action plans may consist of goal setting, exposure to challenging experiences, or skills development. This encourages players to take concrete steps and incorporate changes that align with their values, leading to positive behavioural change.
Next Steps
During playtesting, I was able to validate the game's versatility for enabling conversations relating to identity and sensitive topics.
"It is a great framework for enabling difficult conversations. This can be used in occupational therapy to help walk people through their identity where they can explore what different identities mean for them and how their experiences differ from other people. Using this framework as a facilitation tool provides safety and gives them the freedom to contribute as much as they want, without them feeling forced to engage as they can skip ahead if they're not ready to talk about things."
— Participlant 11, Speech and Language Therapist
It was also identified as a good workplace or educational tool for sustainability engagement by playtesters who were working professionals.
"I really enjoyed getting to know other players and bonding over our shared love of nature. The ice-breaker activities were effective as we had a backdrop of shared understanding and appreciation to frame our conversation.
We also struck a good balance between acknowledging our worries and being able to channel those feelings into productive ideas. My favourite part was when we pulled all of our discussions together at the end to form a personalised action plan. We concluded on a constructive and empowered note.
I'd like to see a final product that's used as a springboard for group projects at schools and universities, or even workplaces as part of an Earth Day or Green Week initiative."
— Participlant 16, Software Engineer
With this knowledge, I pitched the game to UAL's Climate Emergency Network (CEN) to see if it could be a suitable addition to their collection of engagement tools. I presented its effectiveness over an online meeting and garnered positive interest in the product.
"I love the way that you've interpreted the distribution of power in group dynamics in a more thoughtful and poetic way, but what you’ve done really well is empowering people to feel like they can make a difference too. All of this is so brilliant and well thought out that I want to use it immediately. Where do I sign up and how can we get one? I'd love for you to come and do it with the network. It would be brilliant and it's also a lovely way of exploring these conversations."
— Abbi Fletcher, CEN Creative Projects and Campaign Manager
To ensure the game can be well integrated into UAL classrooms and student services, I developed an ecosystem map to demonstrate its potential in identifying student needs and leading them towards the next steps in their climate journey. In doing so, I aspire to develop a service that allows organisations to use this game framework to engage in difficult conversations for various purposes.
