Playfulness can be observed in our everyday lives as teasing, joking and puzzling, both in the real world and on social media. What does playfulness mean and how to apply it in the design of communication services?

My thesis tackles this issue by design research. The ‘artefact analysis’ method is used in order to understand current messaging practices in the campus of Aalto University. Hand-written notes, posters and graffiti are observed to analyze the elements that are present to make these messages visually attractive and fun. 21 playful elements such as storytelling, hidden surprise, drama, killing time, nonsense, self-expression, meaning play, out of reality, etc provide fruitful design inspirations.

As a result, there are three mobile services: ‘SloWalk’ for pairs to exercise together through a world travel game, ‘AaltoPeople’, an application which forecasts  popular events among the present attendees, and ‘Miss.Bean’, for intimate messaging between lovers with mobile play. My thesis describes the background study and my reflection during the conceptual design process.

Project: OtaSizzle

Partner: Helsinki Institute for Information Technology (HIIT)