The Curious Gastronaut Xogo de Cartas by Nalisha Chouraria is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2020 A' Design Award de Ferro in Deseño de Xoguetes, Xogos e Produtos de Lecer Competition Category.
FerroXoguete· 2020
The Curious Gastronaut Xogo de Cartas
Client: Nalisha Chouraria
A' Design Award de Ferro Winner in Xoguete Category
Verified Award Winner
Verify Award Status for #104621The Design
About The Curious Gastronaut Xogo de Cartas
O Curioso Gastronauta é un xogo de cartas que convida a nenos e familias a explorar a comida a través do xogo. Seguindo as indicacións das cartas ilustradas, os xogadores reúnen inguredientes, combínanos en pequenos experimentos comestibles, dálles nome e examínanos cos cinco sentidos. As receitas e as reaccións valóranse e rexístranse despois. O xogo pódese practicar con comida real ou de xeito puramente imaxinativo, en modalidade individual, colaborativa ou competitiva. Non se nomean pratos específicos, polo que os xogadores inventan desde cero. A caixa compacta é ideal para mans pequenas e para viaxar.
The Recognition
About the A' Design Award de Ferro
The Curious Gastronaut Xogo de Cartas gañou o A' Design Award de Ferro, un recoñecemento prestixioso outorgado a bos deseños que cumpren os requisitos profesionais e industriais esperados de creacións ben deseñadas. Os gañadores Ferro demostran a gran habilidade, a alta especialización, a comprensión experta e a capacidade creativa dos seus creadores. Espérase que The Curious Gastronaut Xogo de Cartas sexa unha creación moi apreciada, admirada e querida que é práctica e innovadora. Este deseño gañador do A' Design Award de Ferro integra as mellores prácticas do sector e ten características técnicas competentes ligadas ao saber facer e ao talento. The Curious Gastronaut Xogo de Cartas é respectado pola súa minuciosidade e está deseñado para proporcionar melloras na calidade de vida que axudan a facer do mundo un lugar mellor.
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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