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The Curious Gastronaut Kortspill by Nalisha Chouraria

The Curious Gastronaut Kortspill by Nalisha Chouraria is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2020 A' Design Award i Jern in Design av Leker, Spill og Hobbyprodukter Competition Category.


JernLeke· 2020

The Curious Gastronaut Kortspill

by Nalisha Chouraria

Client: Nalisha Chouraria

A' Design Award i Jern Winner in Leke Category

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Verified Award Winner

Verify Award Status for #104621

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The Design

About The Curious Gastronaut Kortspill

Den Nysgjerrige Gastronauten er et kortspill som inviterer barn og familier til å utforske mat gjennom lek. Ved å følge instruksjoner på illustrerte kort samler spillerne ingredienser, kombinerer dem til små spiselige eksperimenter, gir dem navn og undersøker dem med alle fem sanser. Oppskrifter og reaksjoner blir deretter vurdert og notert. Spillet kan spilles med ekte mat eller rent gjennom fantasien, alene, i samarbeid eller som konkurranse. Ingen bestemte retter er navngitt, slik at spillerne finner opp sine egne fra grunnen av. Den kompakte boksen passer for små hender og er lett å ta med på reise.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award i Jern

The Curious Gastronaut Kortspill er vinner av A' Design Award i Jern, en prestisjefylt anerkjennelse som tildeles gode design som oppfyller de profesjonelle og industrielle kravene man forventer av veldesignede skaperverk. Jernvinnere viser stor dyktighet, høy spesialisering, ekspertforståelse og kreativ kapasitet hos skaperne. The Curious Gastronaut Kortspill forventes å være et høyt ansett, beundret og verdsatt skaperverk som er praktisk og nyskapende. Dette designet, som har vunnet A' Design Award i Jern, integrerer bransjens beste praksis og har kompetente tekniske egenskaper knyttet til kunnskap og talent. The Curious Gastronaut Kortspill respekteres for sin grundighet og er utformet for å gi forbedringer i livskvalitet som bidrar til å gjøre verden til et bedre sted.

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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