The Curious Gastronaut Ta'aloga Kata by Nalisha Chouraria

The Curious Gastronaut Ta'aloga Kata by Nalisha Chouraria is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2020 A' Design Award Uʻamea in Mamanu Mea Ta'alo Competition Category.

UʻameaMea Ta'alo· 2020

The Curious Gastronaut Ta'aloga Kata

by Nalisha Chouraria

Client: Nalisha Chouraria

A' Design Award Uʻamea Winner in Mea Ta'alo Category

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Colors

The Design

About The Curious Gastronaut Ta'aloga Kata

O le Curious Gastronaut o se ta'aloga kata e valaau atu i tamaiti ma aiga e su'esu'e mea'ai e ala i le ta'alo. E mulimuli i faatonuga o iai i kata fa'aata, e aoina e le au ta'alo mea aofaki, tu'ufaatasia e fai ai ni fa'ata'ita'iga totogo e mafai lava ona 'ai, fa'aigoa ma su'esu'e i lagona uma e lima. O nei fua ma fa'aali'ega o le a fa'ailoga ma fa'amauina. E mafai ona ta'alo le ta'aloga i mea'ai moni po'o le fa'aaogaina o le manatunatu, e ta'aalo tofu, fa'atasi, po'o le fa'atauva'aina. E leai se ipu mea'ai fa'apitoa o ta'ua, o lea e mafai ai e le au ta'alo ona fatuina a latou lava mea mai le amataga. O le pusa lapotopoto o loo fetaui lelei mo lima laiti ma le femalaga'iga.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award Uʻamea

O le A' Design Award Uʻamea na manumalo ai The Curious Gastronaut Ta'aloga Kata, o se faamaoniga mamalu e tuuina atu i mamanu lelei e faataunuu ai manaʻoga faapolofesa ma pisinisi e faamoemoeina mai galuega ua mamanuina lelei. O ē manumalo i le Uʻamea e faaalia ai le tomai tele, le faapitoa maualuga, le malamalama o tagata poto ma le mafai fatufatuaʻi o ē na faia. E faamoemoeina The Curious Gastronaut Ta'aloga Kata e avea ma mea ua matuā vivii, mataʻina ma pelepelea e aogā ma fou. O lenei mamanu na manumalo i le A' Design Award Uʻamea e tuufaatasia ai faiga sili o le pisinisi ma e iai uiga faatekonolosi mafai ua fesoʻotaʻi ma le poto ma le taleni. Ona o lona faatuatuaina, e tatau ai The Curious Gastronaut Ta'aloga Kata ona faaaloalogia ma ua mamanuina e tuuina mai ai faaleleiga o le olaga e fesoasoani e faia ai e le lalolagi se nofoaga e sili atu ona lelei.

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