In 2016, I participated in Midburn (the Israeli Burning Man event).
My sister Dina, who is hard of hearing, was in charge of building an installation representing the deaf, and the "Talking Hands" camp.
"Talking Hands" camp posters
The installation was decided to be in the shape of a large head with a surprised facial expression, allowing the audience to "enter the deaf's head" through the open mouth (the entrance). The room inside the head was split into two by a wall, with a transparent window, allowing the visitors to see each other.
Installing the head on its final location, at the "playa"
The installation at daylight. Kira Weizman Shapira was responsible for the triangle-styled design
The installation at night
The installation, and my sister Dina, the project manager
I joined the team and took responsibility for the activity inside the installation, for which I designed and produced a voiceless communication game.
My Game Design Process
The players: Adults or children, who are curious and open to having an experience and learning from it. The game should work without the help of a moderator.
Experience goals: fun, challenge, success, communication.
Educational goal: I discussed the goal with other deaf and hard-of-hearing people from the camp, to clearly define it. It was very hard to agree on the goal, but eventually, we agreed that since studying sign language is already part of other activities offered by our camp, this game should just let the players deal with the challenge of conveying and understanding messages without the use of voice.
Creative thinking: The first thing that came to mind was the "charades" game, but it was important for me to keep the communication completely silent, while "charades" required the use of voice for guessing the message. I decided that the tasks should be set in advance, with possible answers ready for the players to choose from.
General Concept: I came up with a few versions for the game, like guessing known fairy tales,. But eventually I decided to base it completely on the visual domain and let players guess pictures. I selected some famous paintings, a few drawings made by camp members, and a few pictures that were deliberately selected to provoke the guessing players to ask questions (non-verbally) to identify the correct answer from a distractor.
Preparing the cards at home
Me, hanging the cards at the installation
Game-flow:
1. The players split and enter the installation.
2. They stand on different sides of the wall and see the wall is filled with pictures.
3. They also see an instructions poster (at each side):
4. Among the pictures, on each side, there is a clear card saying "Turn over to begin".
5. Turning over:
- one of the players sees a first picture they need to try and describe:
- the other player is directed to "try to guess which picture is described":
6. Each turned-over picture has another "try to explain the next picture" direction, thus the roles of the players switch on every turn (unless the turned-over picture is a distractor, in which case it has a red "x" on the other side, requiring the player to look for the correct card).
7. The game continues until one of the players discovers congratulating words on the other side of a picture (of course, the players may decide to stop and leave).
User-Testing:
I tested the game on camp members and decided to remove some distractors, to make the game slightly easier.
Result:
I spent a significant amount of time just sitting outside the entrance to the installation and watching players communicate. It was mainly active during the nights, as the days were too hot to walk around the "playa". Some visitors left after reading the instructions, probably not feeling ready for an active and structured game, but those who stayed - enjoyed and had many laughs together.
People's reaction on Facebook discussions (after the event):
"אני מאוד נהנתי במיצב שלך... בפעם הראשונה הבנתי באמת מה חווה אדם חרש"
"I really enjoyed your installation ... for the first time I really understood what a deaf person feels"
..."אני חושבת שהוא יצא מקסים ויצר אינטרקציות מדהימות! אני גם חושבת שזאת הייתה דרך גאונית להעביר את המסר של לדבר בלי מילים והייתי חוזרת לשם ברגע!"...
..."I think it came out wonderful and created amazing interactions! I also think it was a genius way to convey the message of speaking without words and I would go back there in a moment!"...
…"אחד הרגעים האדירים על הפלאיה היה לראות את אח של בן זוגי מנסה לסמל לי "ציור של פיקאסו" הצלחת ליצור חוויה מטורפת למי שהעז ונכנס למיצג"…
..."One of the great moments on the Playa was to see my partner’s brother trying to sign ‘a Picasso painting’ to me. You managed to create a crazy experience for those who dared to enter the installation"...
"היה נפלא ונהדר ומצחיק וכיף גדול תודה!!"
"It was wonderful and great and funny and great fun thanks!!"
"היה מדהים בפנים!"
"!It was amazing inside"
(If you have permission to the relevant Facebook group, you can read the discussions here and here).