The Curious Gastronaut Картонска игра by Nalisha Chouraria

The Curious Gastronaut Картонска игра by Nalisha Chouraria is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2020 Железна награда A' Design Award in Дизајн на играчки, игри и хоби производи Competition Category.

ЖелезнаИграчка· 2020

The Curious Gastronaut Картонска игра

by Nalisha Chouraria

Client: Nalisha Chouraria

Железна награда A' Design Award Winner in Играчка Category

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The Design

About The Curious Gastronaut Картонска игра

„Љубопитниот Гастронаут" е картонска игра која ги поканува децата и семејствата да ја истражуваат храната преку игра. Следејќи ги упатствата на илустрираните картички, играчите собираат состојки, ги комбинираат во мали експерименти за јадење, им даваат имиња и ги испитуваат со сите пет сетила. Рецептите и реакциите потоа се оценуваат и се бележат. Играта може да се игра со вистинска храна или чисто преку имагинација, во самостоен, соработнички или натпреварувачки режим. Не се спомнуваат конкретни јадења, така што играчите измислуваат сè од почеток. Компактната кутија е погодна за мали раце и за патување.

The Recognition

About the Железна награда A' Design Award

The Curious Gastronaut Картонска игра е добитник на Железната награда A' Design Award, престижно признание што се доделува на добри дизајни што ги исполнуваат професионалните и индустриските барања очекувани од добро дизајнирани творби. Железните добитници ја покажуваат големата вештина, високата специјализација, стручното разбирање и креативниот капацитет на нивните творци. Се очекува The Curious Gastronaut Картонска игра да биде високо ценета, восхитувана и сакана творба што е практична и иновативна. Овој дизајн со Железна награда ги интегрира најдобрите индустриски практики и има компетентни технички карактеристики поврзани со знаење и талент. The Curious Gastronaut Картонска игра е почитуван за својата темелност и е дизајниран да го подобри квалитетот на животот и да помогне светот да стане подобро место.

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