Washing hands better with a serious game

Welcoming a new team member in corona time, we also have to deal with it at 8D. Via video chat I speak with Carmen de Weerd, graduate student Experience Design at the Hogeschool van Arnhem en Nijmegen (HAN). Under the supervision of colleague Bas Altenburg, she is researching ways to use a serious game to promote knowledge of hand hygiene among children, a project in collaboration with the University of Twente and the University of Münster. Carmen: “I couldn’t wish for a better graduation project at this time. The relevance of the subject is obvious, especially for elementary school.’

Serious games as a medium for impact

The Experience Design specialization at HAN puts the experience and feeling of the end user at the center of the design process, with the possibility of specializing in serious games and gamifications. Carmen: ‘Serious gaming is a very nice medium with which you can map out big problems,’ she says. ‘The power lies in a lot of components that come together: there is interaction between the user and the product, the player actively engages with a particular subject. There is image, there is sound, there is action. As a result, a serious game can have a big impact on a lot of people, from young to old.’

A resounding example of this is the serious gaming project for people with Noncongenital Brain Injury (NAH) in which she collaborated. “We started talking to a woman who used to always go to the market in Didam. Because of her health problems, she could no longer do that. We talked about what she did there, what she heard and what you could do there. We translated that input into a game on the tablet that she could play at home. That way she was back in the Didam market for a while. It made her completely calm and happy.

‘A serious game in a lot of people – from young to old – trigger a lot.’

Targeted development

Within serious game development, the guiding and investigative role appeals most to Carmen. ‘I stumbled upon 8D when I was looking for a serious game company with a focus on design thinking, developing from the target audience,’ she explains. ‘The project on handsanitation was just getting underway and immediately appealed to me. I knew I wanted to contribute to a serious game and that I wanted to develop something for children. They can’t always easily express their opinions during tests; that’s why it’s even more important to ask exactly the right questions and listen carefully.’

The serious game about handsanitation will specifically target German children of elementary school age. During the course of the project, there will be cooperation with the University of Twente and the University of Münster.

‘Research by these universities has shown that although many elementary school children in Germany know why and how you should wash your hands, they do not apply it enough in practice,’ Carmen says. ‘With these findings, they knocked on 8D Games’ door. So there is a concrete demand for appealing, activating teaching material for this target group.’

‘At first I thought: everyone knows how to wash their hands, right? Naive, of course. This is all the more apparent with current developments.’

With her graduation project, Carmen wants to do her part in laying a good foundation for this serious game. ‘My graduation project involves not only literature study, but also target group research and prototyping. Of course, I will be talking to children themselves: what exactly do they already know? Are they familiar with the actions involved in a good handsanitation? And what are the differences between German and Dutch schools when it comes to this topic? The game must bring about a positive change in behavior, so we will also include models for behavior change.’

‘Just do and learn’ – even in times of corona

In the midst of a global pandemic, embarking on a graduate project on a hyper-topical topic. What’s that like? Carmen: “When I had my introductory meeting with Bas at 8D, we still shook hands. That was before the first measures. Meanwhile, I have had to think about external risks that I could never have imagined beforehand. I may well not be allowed to physically visit elementary schools for the time being. How do I Skype and test effectively with children between 8 and 10? I am now considering ways to do remote conversations, possibly in the form of an online teaching block in collaboration with the teacher.’

A future in the serious gaming industry obvious. ‘After graduation, I would like to work at a serious gaming company and possibly do another course in Graphic Design in Helsinki. I think that once you know certain models and rhetoric, you then learn the most by just doing and learning further based on those experiences.’

View the final completion of the graduation project here: Tina’s World of Hands

Featured image: Unsplash / Akanksha Srivastav

Research in the heart of society

At 8D, we support researchers in integrating a design approach into their work, from project design to creative product development and process supervision. This participatory methodologies help solve complex, human-centered issues and embed research results sustainably in society.