Exploring the Playfulness of Tools for Co-Designing Smart Connected Devices
Andreas Bischof, Kevin Lefeuvre, Albrecht Kurze, Michael Storz, Sören Totzauer, Arne Berger · 2016
In this paper we compare two tools for co-designing smart connected devices on their playfulness. First littleBits, a commercially available tool and Loaded Dice, a self developed tool, are introduced. Second frameworks for comparing the playfulness of such tools are briefly reviewed. We then report on co-design sessions we conducted with blind and visually impaired students and compare those sessions on the playfulness of the two tools. It is shown how tools that engage in playful exploration sustain successful co-design sessions, while tools with a lower level of playfulness constrain such co-design sessions to an extent where more functional and less imaginative design concepts are produced.