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The Curious Gastronaut Juego de cartas by Nalisha Chouraria

The Curious Gastronaut Juego de cartas by Nalisha Chouraria is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2020 A' Design Award de Hierro in Diseño de Juguetes, Juegos y Productos de Hobby Competition Category.


HierroJuguete· 2020

The Curious Gastronaut Juego de cartas

by Nalisha Chouraria

Client: Nalisha Chouraria

A' Design Award de Hierro Winner in Juguete Category

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The Design

About The Curious Gastronaut Juego de cartas

The Curious Gastronaut es un juego de cartas que invita a niños y familias a explorar la comida a través del juego. Siguiendo las indicaciones de las cartas ilustradas, los jugadores reúnen ingredientes, los combinan en pequeños experimentos comestibles, les ponen nombre y los examinan con los cinco sentidos. Después, las recetas y las reacciones se valoran y se registran. El juego puede jugarse con comida real o puramente con la imaginación, en modo individual, colaborativo o competitivo. No se menciona ningún plato concreto, de modo que los jugadores inventan desde cero. La caja compacta se adapta a manos pequeñas y resulta ideal para viajar.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award de Hierro

The Curious Gastronaut Juego de cartas ha ganado el A' Design Award de Hierro, un reconocimiento prestigioso concedido a buenos diseños que cumplen los requisitos profesionales e industriales que se esperan de creaciones bien diseñadas. Los ganadores de Hierro demuestran gran habilidad, alta especialización, comprensión experta y capacidad creativa de sus creadores. Se espera que The Curious Gastronaut Juego de cartas sea una creación muy apreciada, admirada y querida, práctica e innovadora. Este diseño ganador del A' Design Award de Hierro integra las mejores prácticas del sector y tiene características técnicas competentes unidas a conocimiento práctico y talento. The Curious Gastronaut Juego de cartas es respetado por su minuciosidad y está concebido para aportar mejoras en la calidad de vida que ayudan a hacer del mundo un lugar mejor.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

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.
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
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

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