Project Play: Exploring the Concept of Play Through Pop-Up Experiences

Introduction

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In partnership with Kidspace Children’s Museum in Pasadena, this Designmatters and Product Design studio challenged transdisciplinary ArtCenter students to conceptualize and create an engaging age-appropriate museum play experience and a companion Pop-Up exhibit that would serve as educational outreach at community locations.

Students connected with Kidspace staff and experts and, along with field observations and research, gained deep insights about creating self-directed interactive experiences as they explored child development, culture and the nature of play through the lens of the design process.

About Kidspace

Founded in 1979 by members of the Caltech community and Junior League of Pasadena, Kidspace has a long history of developing innovative interdisciplinary experiences for children that bridge the arts, humanities and sciences. Located for many years at Pasadena’s McKinley School, Kidspace moved to its current home in Brookside Park in 2004.

Kidspace’s mission is to serve the needs and interests of children ages 1-10 through self-directed experiences that will inspire them to become joyful, active learners. As a nonprofit educational and cultural institution, Kidspace presents exhibits and programs that stimulate curiosity and motivate learning as well as encourage a child’s growth and overall development.

Each year, more than 378,000 guests visits Kidspace’s 3.5 acre campus that features an extensive outdoor learning environment as well as more than 40 hands-on exhibits, programs and monthly events. Since its inception, Kidspace has welcomed more than 5 million visitors.

Research and Project Development

To immerse themselves into the Kidspace environment, ArtCenter students spent the first three class sessions onsite, touring the space and connecting with staff and educational experts.

Incorporating the diversity of student’s majors, students were split into teams and focused their design attention on opportunities at specific museum experiences: Storyteller Studio, Nature Exchange, Imagination Workshop and the Outdoors.

Students were introduced to the social impact of different research methods, and how each method brings designers closer to influential insights that move their ideation toward more effective solutions. Research methods included: Observation, Interviewing Parents and Educators, Co-Design, and Secondary Sources.

During Observation, students paid close attention how parents and children interacted with museum exhibits and personnel. They noted what engaged the guests, how children played with each other onsite, what produced exciting interactions and how parents/educators could easily jump in with teachable moments.

For the next step, students interviewed parents to discover what aspects of the play experiences they think are most helpful and valuable. After asking parents why they bring their children to the museum, students also learned when parents typically interact with their children and when they step back and allow their children to discover (or play with others) on their own.

By Interviewing Educators, students examined the important role adults and facilitators have at Kidspace in addition to exploring specific nuanced discoveries such as: how certain motions and gestures can encourage children to manipulate the design, the benefits of open-ended play, and how expanding inclusivity opens access to all children.

For the Co-Design methodology segment, students conducted two sessions with two distinct groups: one group consisted of only younger children while the other encompassed kids of all ages. Students discovered favorite activities that crossed age limits, how parents seek multi-aged experiences since many families have more than one child, and how motor control abilities differ in various age groups. Teams also witnessed how ergonomically-designed exhibits are inviting to all guests.

Student teams also delved into the current research and theories of developmental psychology by reading relevant books, essays and articles. They investigated how the latest market trends could be incorporated into their designs.

Teams were concurrently ideating about a museum experience and how to distill that thinking into their Pop-Up exhibit. While presenting similar experiences targeting a kid audience, the Pop-Up also required supplemental resources for parents/educators. The companion exhibit needed to be flexible to move, easy to assemble and disassemble as well as lightweight. Sustainability also needed to be addressed with minimal waste and reusing resources whenever possible. Affordability was integral.

To inform this Pop-Up component, students interviewed other parents and children and observed behavior at local indoor and outdoor playgrounds, children’s book stores and other community locations.

Bringing their thinking into a workable reality, teams sketched out ideas and produced rough graphics. Storyboarding scenarios helped students visualize how their ideas would be used by parents and children. Mood boards provided students with a further design examination. Teams tested their initial design concepts onsite at the museum as well as in various community locations such as bus/train stops, schools and malls. 

Students were encouraged to broaden their design thinking to incorporate inclusion. ArtCenter graduate and current MA Candidate, Josh Halstead, addressed the class about inclusion design and challenging the students to closely examine common assumptions about the disabled community.

In addition to uncovering common prejudices, students learned how the built environment often rejects individuals with disabilities, and how discrimination still exists in the context of “ableism.” Students were encouraged to consider design that welcomes and what design locks others out. Halstead reinforced the need for the students to critically question their decisions and outcomes.

At the studio midterm, student teams revealed their initial concepts, outlining target learning opportunities and play-factor in addition to how their exhibits/experiences can be physically created. Comments and feedback from Kidspace staff gave teams motivation to refine their design thinking to move their projects forward.

Redefined Concepts, Full-Size Prototypes, Onsite Play Testing

Inspired by the midterm feedback, student teams further honed their concepts through co-design sessions with Kidspace staff and later crafted large-scale mockups for onsite field testing.

Additionally, student teams reexamined projected cost of their projects and, through research and reevaluations, discovered aspects that could be scaled down for affordability but still provide the same play value experience.

Teams presented their concepts to Kidspace staff and educators; this unique opportunity allowed students to draw upon their expertise and first-hand knowledge of how exhibits are typically used and experienced. Students showed how their concept would be actualized at Kidspace (costumes, cubes, small models and prototypes, etc.) and how it would translate to a Pop-Up version.

Students came prepared with a series of questions (“Is the play value high enough to catch and hold attention?” “What age group does this most appeal to?”) and often expert responses turned into lively discussions.

Staff was excited about the concepts and shared their enthusiasm with the students (“I have always through this would be an interesting topic to explore!” “You know what would be cool…”) as they honestly explained conceptual limitations and offered practical ways students could modify their concepts. (“I think this aspect would engage visitors more…”, “Here is why this would be hard to implement…” “You need to offer more direction. Kids need directions. You know what you can do…”).

Educators shared their insights on how certain exhibits have been received throughout the years at Kidspace. They encouraged teams to consider alterations and adaptations to their design-thinking, often simplifying elements into one streamlined presentation.

Armed with that information, teams refined their concepts, built full-size prototypes and returned to Kidspace for playtesting with actual museum guests.  Teams were spread around the museum. Some teams quickly realized a need, and made on-the-spot modifications (elevating a table, adjusting colored gels for better reflections, etc.) to accommodate youngsters. These simple fixes made some elements more obvious and helped clarify and define the features of the play experience.

Student observations confirmed and challenged their concepts (“They are not playing the way I envisioned,” “They are not using the items how we designed them”) and overall, the field testing was an eye-opening valuable experience.

Students continued to refine their Pop-Up traveling version by researching and visiting targeted community hubs, social institutions, non-profit organizations, schools, etc. Teams created Pop-Up prototypes – including some full scaled models – that would bring a similar play experiences to a more intimate gathering. The Pop-Up became an integral part of their storytelling scenario as a method to engage parent/adults and their children and encourage a visit to Kidspace to continue play exploration. Additional at-home digital resources for grownups were also typically folded into the design thinking.

Teams crafted an overall mission statement along their concept development with outlined value proposition and projected social impacts. Personas dovetail into storytelling scenarios and – because of their extensive testing – reflected real life interactions that teams observed.

Bringing their concepts closer to actuality, teams researched manufacturing options, material possibilities, safety testing and production planning. They considered how their exhibit could be marketed and distributed along with other issues including legal standards, intellectual property issues and advertising concerns when designing for children.

Finally, teams diagrammed manufacturing schematics and called out materials for their exhibition pieces with a focus on sustainable and recyclable options. They also provided a timeline for production and next steps that included a MVP phase – Minimum Viable Product – along with additional testing and a roll-out framework.