Iron Toys, Games and Hobby Products Design · 2020
The Curious Gastronaut Interactive Game
- A' Design Award 2020 Iron Winner in Toys, Games and Hobby Products Design
- Awarded April 15, 2020
- CLIENT: Nalisha Chouraria
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 16,228
- Verification code 9B04E2012A · Verify this award
About The Curious Gastronaut Interactive Game
The Curious Gastronaut is a card game that invites children and families to explore food through play. Following prompts on illustrated cards, players gather ingredients, combine them into bite-size edible experiments, name them and examine them with all five senses. Recipes and reactions are then rated and recorded. The game can be played with real food or purely through imagination, in solo, collaborative or competitive modes. No specific dishes are named, so players invent from the ground up. The compact box suits small hands and travel.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- Explore the exciting world of food using the imagination, bite-size edible experiments & all 5 senses. Play with real food or without, the goal is to discover flavours, textures & combos that are out of this world! It inspires children & our inner child to be brave & curious, reinvents how families eat & encourages playful exploration beyond the game. Uniquely, it makes no mention of food items, & encourages players to reimagine food & experiment from ground up rather than from existing recipes
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Packaging (Box with a slip on lid): 120 x 170 x 50mm, 55x Ingredient Cards: 96mm, 4x Book of Curious Recipes (12 pages): 110 x 160mm, 1x Gameplay Handbook (12 pages): 110 x 160mm, 1x Gastronaut's Guide Card (double-sided): 85 x 120mm
- Tags
- Children's Design, Play, Kids, Imagination, Creative, Game, Interactive, Food, Family, Education
- Production Technology
- The game manifested into a physical card game perfect for collaborative play with potential for digitisation. It infuses play with dining in a natural way without becoming a distraction. It is portable and perfectly sized for little hands. The prompts are whimsical & humorous, the visuals - gender neutral & simplistic but not childish, with the intention to stimulate the imagination and trigger joy & curiosity. It's open-endedness allows for multi use, endless interpretations & high playability
- Design Challenge
- The project required all-round skills in design, illustration, writing and knowledge in play, child culture, food education, etc which I was able to build and improve through research and playtesting. Inspiring ongoing exploration while also motivating busy adults to play were additional challenges, which I overcame by introducing features like unlocking and journey maps, and by simplifying the gameplay into short, simple sessions.
- Project Duration
- The project started in January 2015 in Gothenburg, Sweden and finished in January 2020 in Gold Coast, Australia. It was exhibited at HDK Academy for Design & Art in 2015 and was awarded best thesis project
- Operation Flow
- Following the prompts on beautifully illustrated cards, players use their imagination to gather ingredients, creatively combine them to create weird & wonderful bite-size edible experiments, name them & explore them together using all five senses. Finally, they rate and record their recipes & experiences. One can play with real food or imaginatively, with or without cooking and choose from solo, collaborative & competitive modes, to discover the exciting edible world on their own terms
- Research
- Using exploratory research, the objective was to foster healthy food relationships in children, through play. Methodologies include surveys & secondary source research. Data collected informed research tools, namely participatory experiments (observed workshops & self-reported trials). The results indicate that gamifying food is beneficial. Insight into the transformative nature of play suggests that it warrants further research. The effect overall is a whimsical food-exploration game
- Inspiration
- Kids can be suspicious of new food & often categorize it as 'yuck' even before trying it. Many foods remain unexplored & mealtimes are reduced to mundane chores. Kids use curiosity & play to explore the world so why not use it to explore the food world? The game is a culmination of my passion for food & specialisation in Children's Design. By bringing the benefits of play to the table, I wanted to inspire kids to be curious & take the first bite to possibly be rewarded with a surprising discovery
Colors of The Curious Gastronaut Interactive Game
Design Interview about The Curious Gastronaut Interactive Game
Kids can be suspicious of new foods & often categorize them as 'yuck' even before trying. As a result, many foods remain unexplored and mealtimes can turn unpleasant or foster negative relationships with food. Kids use curiosity & play to explore the world so why not use it to explore the food world? By bringing play to the table, I wanted to inspire curiosity, reinvent how families eat & encourages playful exploration beyond the game.
By bringing the endless benefits of play to the table, I wanted to inspire children and the inner child in every adult to be brave and inquisitvie to possibly be rewarded with a surprising discovery.
To make it accessible to as many schools and families as possible.
Five years. The project started in 2015 in Gothenburg, Sweden and finished in 2020 in Gold Coast, Australia.
Curious Gastronaut is a culmination of my passion for food and play & my specialisation in Children's Design. It started out as a thesis project in design school and turned into a passion project.
Using the power of play, I wanted to create excitement around food, encourage children and adults alike to step out of their comfort zone, and inspire them to be explorers of the world. I wanted to create a tool that children could use to create something of their own and be proud of.
The recommended age is 5 years and above. However, it is for all children and the inner child in all of us. It has been thoughtfully designed to maintain open-endedness and inclusivity.
Firstly, it encourages players to reimagine food & experiment from ground up rather than from existing recipes. Secondly, it's open-endedness allows for multi use, endless interpretations & high playability. Thirdly, it was designed to encourage play and exploration in everyday life, even beyond the game. Rather than creating something with the purpose of selling or to keep children occupied, it was important for me to create something with a high play value.
I liked the idea of exploring the gastronomical world like an astronaut explores space - with curiosity, excitement and an open mind. Hence, the name Curious Gastronaut.
Adobe Illustrator, Indesign & low-tech prototyping
It infuses play with dining in a natural way without becoming a distraction. The prompts on the cards are whimsical & humorous, the visuals - gender neutral & simplistic but not childish, with the intention to stimulate the imagination and trigger joy & curiosity. It's open-endedness allows for multi use, endless interpretations & high playability.
Although the project was solely designed by me, I met several play designers, pedagogists, educators, psychologists, parents and children, throughout the duration of the project without whom the project would not have been possible.
I used exploratory research. My methodologies included surveys & secondary source research. Data collected informed research tools, namely participatory experiments (observed workshops & self-reported trials).
The project was solely designed by me. However, it required all-round skills in design, illustration, writing and knowledge in play, child culture, food education, etc which I was able to build & improve through research & playtesting. Inspiring ongoing exploration while also motivating busy adults to play were additional challenges, which I overcame by introducing features like unlocking and journey maps, and by simplifying the gameplay into short, simple sessions. It took several iterations to make sure the players go from picking up the game to playing as soon as possible. Eco-friendly printing & manufacturing are goals I am currently working towards.
I was very passionate about the idea and saw how greatly it impacted so many families. Through the competition, I was hoping to achieve visibility so many more can benefit from it.
https://curiousgastronaut.com/