Graduate Studies

Design for Health (MDes)

Lawrence Ly

Heart to Heart: A conversational game about aging-in-place

A toolkit designed to communicate the concept of aging-in-place and building participants’ empathy and understanding in order to develop coping skills, resilience and plans to face future challenges of aging

“How might we communicate different narratives to reveal the complexities of aging-in-place? My master's research project is an exploration of how we can talk about aging-in-place in a meaningful manner, using gamification to balance complexity and potential experiences. Players will encounter diverse challenges on aging and come up with ideas to cope with and overcome the challenges. In a nutshell, the game teaches players to use design thinking, user research and journey mapping through a game to help them increase their abilities to imagine possibilities for their own futures. It focuses on proactive thinking to prepare future plans that align with personal values, beliefs and circumstances, rather than reactive thinking to challenges after they’ve occurred. After the game is over, each player gets a reflection map with questions about the game, ideas and experiences. Each person is encouraged to write and reflect on their game experience and how much their thoughts on aging have changed.”