xi.

PLAY EXPERIMENT

HOW DO YOU TURN STRANGERS INTO FRIENDS?

In the Spring of 2023 at the Pratt Institute, I was selected to participate in a collaboration between Design School Kolding in Denmark and the Pratt in New York City to brainstorm design solutions based on the theme of play.

a.

BRIEF
Co-creating with another Danish designer 3,000 miles away, we overcame language and cultural barriers to ideate solutions using play. We settled on the connection between play and intimacy.

PROTOTYPE

Together we conceptualized and created a “Make a New Friend” box. This was a public installation showcased at both Pratt and DSK where individuals could anonymously claim halves of a box that allowed them to begin chatting with a stranger through small, playful hand-written notes.

INSTALLATION AND REVIEW
Over the course of a few weeks, these random pairs chatted about whatever topic they pleased as they cultivated intimacy with someone they otherwise may have never met. After those weeks were over, these pairs were revealed at a public event. While not all participants showed up, the pairs that did very quickly bonded as strangers suddenly found a new closeness in their secret conversation. My collaborator and I also collected survey data from all participants to find new adjustments on how this system could be improved in a second iteration.