Made to Order
Information design, storytelling, user experience, interactive narrative design
Made to Order is a game that explores intersections of Caste, Class and Gender in the context of Garment factory workers in Bangalore.
Video design (editing) at Fields of View
Context
The Garment manufacturing industry located in the city of Bangalore in India is the largest in the country. International brands such as H&M, Zara, Marks and Spencers, have their clothing manufactured in the city of Bangalore. The workers in these factories however suffer immense social inequalities in terms of migration, occupation, education, income, expenditure, food, water, housing, and remittances, based on their identities.
Although there is plenty of research on this topic, the research hardly ever reaches people who belong to upper and middle income socio-economic class. Hence creating a lack of empathy and a social divide between different section of the society.
So how can designers bridge this social divide and bring academic data-based research to life? How can one use design to demystify data and policy around social inequality in urban spaces?
Instead of passively reading a case study or a report, in a game, participants can experience what it is like to make daily decisions if one is hampered because of the constrictions placed by caste, class, and gender.
The game was designed for Gender Bender 2017, an event that brings together artistic projects on gender in Bangalore. The game has since been facilitated in a variety of other places.
Design Process
Define users
Urban upper middle class audience. The game is specifically designed for an audience that exercises or enjoys certain amount of privilege in society.
Ideate
Mindmapping
Brainstorming
Prototype
Paper prototypes
Create
Physical space multiplayer game
My role in the project involved brainstorming in team sessions to conceptualise game assets. Visual design and procuring the materials for all the game assets.
Content design for scenarios, narrative sheets and role cards and mathematical computation for the money distribution during the game play, was prepared by other researchers in the team.
I was also one of the game facilitators during game play sessions.
Game design
The game draws from real-life data, both qualitative and quantitative, which was collected from 36 slums across Bangalore in partnership with the slum dwellers.
The outcome was designed as a physical multi-player game, where players navigated through a given space (roughly a 10ftX10ft) by making decisions at different points. In making these decisions, the players grappled with how caste, class, and gender intersect with each other, and had a firsthand immersive experience of the conflicts and constraints these dimensions pose.
GAME ASSETS
ROLE CARDS
NARRATIVE SHEETS
SCENARIO CARDS
YES/NO CARDS
MONEY
CHANCE WHEEL
HURDLES
For more details on the game play, contact Fields of View