Bridging the gap between children and tabletop designers

Abstract

This paper presents a case study of the design lifecycle of games involving tangible interaction toys handled on an active surface tabletop. The games are oriented to 3--6 year old children, so special care has been taken in the methods used to involve them in a child-centered design lifecycle. The iterative nature of this design paradigm was supported by frequent test sessions where data relating to usability and fun was captured and analyzed in order to guide successive design iterations until a finished product was achieved. The aim is to guide designers intending to involve children in similar tabletop game creation projects. Details are given of how data collected from test sessions with children revealed usability problems and helped to create, evolve and improve the games.