A lesson in children, design and play for the Innovation Studio, Politecnico di Milano, October 2014 Rachel Fincken

1. Design for the
Real Kids:
let them play!
Rachel Fincken
Innovation Studio
M.Sc. Product-Service-System Design
Politecnico di Milano
24th October 2014

2. The focus areas of my talk are:
children, design, and play
Children
when I talk about children, I refer
to the real kids and not those
described in market research data.
No numbers or percentages
Design
when I talk about design, I refer to
everyday objects, products,
interactions, and activities, not
designer goods for kids
Play
when I talk about play, I refer to a
serious design and learning process
- in other words, education

3. The title of my talk, Design for the
Real Kids is borrowed from the
highly distinguished designer,
educator, lecturer and writer Victor
Papanek, whose landmark book,
Design for the Real World, first
published in 1971, led the way
towards an age of morally and
environmentally responsible design
Moveable Playground Structure, as
featured in Papanek's book The Green
Imperative (1971) (IMAGE Victor J Papanek
Foundation)

4. So my goal today
is to offer some
insight…
…and help you innovate
for real kids!

5. Who am I
Rachel Fincken, Designer and Educator
MA Design, Strategy and Innovation
Brunel University, class of 1999
I have worked in the field of art and design
education in the UK and Italy for many
years, and as an independent UX
consultant for industry.

6. What I love (and do)
#01
I love contemporary design (and
“design thinking” let’s say) in
relation to education, literature
(storytelling), technology and
children.

7. In 2012 I set up a
workshop, called
Tweetkids
Tweetkids is a vision of design
education and English language
learning for children, whereby we
learn to think through playing
and making.
I think of tweetkids as a
playground, and it is designed for
infant (age 3 to 6) and primary
school (age 6 to 10) children.

8. A quick definition:
play-ground noun -ˌgraund
: a place where people go to do
enjoyable things
…and that’s exactly what we do!

9. What I love (and do)
#02
I love teaching (and education in
general).
I also teach Middle School children
(age 10 to 14)
My subject, which I teach in
English, is Art and Design.
We make all sorts of creative
projects, experimenting with
materials and processes.

10. Learning objectives and outcomes
21st century skills
Leadership
Digital literacy
Communication
Emotional intelligence
Entrepreneurship
Global citizenship
Problem-solving
Team-working
Design skills
Leadership
Digital literacy
Communication
Emotional intelligence
Entrepreneurship
Global citizenship
Problem-solving
Team-working

11. Four C’S
Learning and innovation skills’:
Critical thinking
Communication
Collaboration
Creativity

12. Real Kids Stories
age group profile
5-10

13. Mikado
A new tweetkids group and new
games to play. Pick-up sticks is the
English name, Mikado is the
traditional International version
(and also the name for a Japanese
Emperor…).
How to play: This is a game for
two or more players. The object of
the game is to pick up the most
sticks.
concept – game design, unusual,
fun materials

14. Printshop: bubble, wave,
zigzag
We rolled up our sleeves, and
prepared to print using lots of
lovely recycled packaging
materials: soft wavy foam, bubble
wrap and zigzag corrugated
cardboard. We learnt about the
shapes and materials and worked
with three colours: purple, blue
and yellow to create a variety of
patterns and effects.
concept - shape, recycled
packaging materials, colour

15. Spinning tops
How to make a paper spinner:
secure the first strip of paper
around the toothpick with glue and
then carefully wind the strip
around and around, then secure
with glue again. Try to give the roll
of paper a little ‘stem’. Keep
adding strips of coloured paper
(according to preference), until the
diameter of the spinning top is
about 4 cm wide. This takes quite a
while, so be patient!
concept - toy making with paper/
toothpicks/glue

16. Mini-flora
Instructions
Take two strips of paper of the
same length and width (about
25x1cm is fine), although you may
need a 40cm strip to make a full
circle or ‘roller’. A bi-coloured mini-flora
is quite stunning, so play with
different colours.
Turn and fold, alternating between
each leg of the L shape, so that
eventually you have no L left, but
a little ‘spring’.
You can join different springs
together to make circles, and what
we call ‘mini-flora’. They can also
be turned inside out.
concept – paper and colour play,
decoration

17. Soapbox
Making beautiful stones, and
learning about colour and light.
Let’s get geological with soap!
The soft soap is easy to cut and a
nice precious stone effect can be
made by carefully slicing corners of
the original piece. Once each piece
has been carved to make a
faceted surface, it glows and
sparkles just like a real gemstone
when held up to the light.
concept: colour, light, cutting/
manipulation skills

18. Snow granita
It’s snowing yet again! So let’s
make the most of it. After 24 hours
of beautifully thick, falling
snowflakes, it was time to play, but
this time indoors! The slushy snow
recipe is super fast and easy to
make with just 3 ingredients: snow,
lemon and sugar. Quantities can
be adjusted to taste.
concept: natural materials,
cooking, spontaniety

19. Floaters
Nautical adventure
Navigating waves with unusual
materials.
These are our beautiful little sailing
ships made from a 50 cent piece,
wine cork, 2 toothpicks, and
coloured paper triangles (for the
sails). We made lots more sailing
ships and did some serious testing
in the bathtub. The 50 cent piece
creates a perfect stem on which the
wine cork balances and floats.
concept: toy design, balance,
floating experiment

20. Real Kids Stories
age group profile
10-15

21. mini still life drawing, 1st year
visual encyclopedia

22. motion optics, 1st year
optical animation work

23. art lab wunderkammer (cabinet of curiosities),
2nd year
investigations and booklets about COLOUR

24. art lab wunderkammer (cabinet of curiosities),
2nd year
investigations and booklets about COLOUR

25. colour mapping, 2nd year
colour discovery, identification and classification
project

26. colour mapping, 2nd year
colour discovery, identification and classification project

27. colour mapping, 2nd year
colour discovery, identification and classification project

28. colour mapping, 2nd year
colour discovery, identification and classification project

29. colour mapping, 2nd year
colour discovery, identification and classification project

30. colour mapping, 2nd year
colour discovery, identification and classification project

31. colour mapping, 2nd year
colour discovery, identification and classification project

32. IdentitY Concepts
2nd year
cutouts applied to
glassware

33. faces, 3rd year
bruno munari workshop, face invention,
memory game design and construction

34. faces, 3rd year
bruno munari workshop, face invention,
memory game design and construction

35. typefaces from A to Z, 3rd year
character/lettering research

36. reflection symmetry, 3rd year
kaleidoscope research and production

37. reflection symmetry, 3rd year
kaleidoscope research and production

38. reflection symmetry, 3rd year
kaleidoscope research and production

39. reflection symmetry, 3rd year
kaleidoscope research and production

40. graphic design portraits, 3rd year
Milton Glaser research and production

41. Creative lab, years 1-3
wiry work

42. UX design research
considerations

43. EdU - PLAY model Tell stories
T
Involve
I
Motivate
Make M
M
Feedback
F
Communicate
C

44. Benchmark
B
EdU – Design Process
Social-history
S
Anthropology
A
Context
C

45. Social - history
PRINCIPLES Activities
Begin an immersive, interactive
experience, even in the research and
concept stage.
If you can’t do field research, put
yourself in the shoes of your user.
Give yourself some questions and
activities:
What kind of child were you?
How would you describe yourself at age
8-9, and at 11-12.
What did you like and dislike about key
moments of your childhood?
What were your favourite games and
toys?
Play a game or do an activity you did as a
child. Note down your feelings and
memories.

46. Anthropology
PRINCIPLES Activities
Design anthropology is a growing field
in both industry and academic studies.
All designers need a deep
understanding of users and exchange
systems.
Design is a relational process whereby
the more we know about the people we
are designing for, the more successful
we will be in meeting their needs.
Give yourself some questions and
activities:
Remind yourself of the gifts you received
on your Birthdays as a child
Visit exhibitions, bookshops, toy shops,
museums and libraries devoted to children
Choose a toy or object you were
particularly fond of as child and write/talk
about it.

47. Context
PRINCIPLES Activities
Remember that the “prime consumer”
of your product is not the child but
those people within the context of the
child’s life.
Don’t forget the influence and choices
of the people that play a vital part in a
child’s life.
Consider the various actors:
Parents
Mums
Dads
Brothers and sisters
Grandparents
Family relations
Friends and friendship
Boys and girls (together and apart)
Learning/play environments: school,
home, extra curricular activities, Birthday
parties
Specific educational and cultural “needs”

48. Benchmark
PRINCIPLES Activities
There are many actors in the design
education field, feeding the system with
ideas, projects and products.
Many of these work within digital realms
and represent important sources of
information.
Look at these and others to discover
what the competition are doing.
These groups influence the space for
which you are designing.
Search and discover reference points:
Meetupandmake | Tinkerlab
Babbledabble | Mindcraft
Institute of Play | The Imagination Tree
Funkymamas | Keri Smith
The Big Draw | Lotta Magazine
Mindshift | Make things do stuff
Make-to-learn | Timbuktu Labs
Mr Printables | VA Museum of Childhood
Me Books | Made by Joel | Maker Faires
Moma Kids | Tate Kids | Muba

49. However,
the most important thing TO REMEMBER is…
the best ideas and inventions come from children themselves, so
whatever your design intent,
ensure that 99% percent of your project opens up possibilities for
iteration and that children are given opportunities to design, make,
and above all
PLAY!

50. Thank you!
You can discover more or follow my
stories on:
www.tweetkids.net
https://twitter.com/tweetkidsplay
https://www.facebook.com/
tweetkidsplay
http://instagram.com/tweetkids
https://steller.co/tweetkids