Ellen Adams
MA/MSc Design For Health and Wellbeing
My practice centres itself on a person centred approach, utlising co-design methodology to develop new methods for communicating with stakeholders. With the aim to reveal different points of view for innovative social change.
During my final MA synthesis project, I worked with the Chrisite Hospital's Teenage and Young Adults Service to co-produce a 6 week play workshop for patients within their waiting space. Patients will have a range of symptoms from their cancer treatment but a key consideration was long waiting times and general fatgue. I therefore designed a workshop that aimed to improve skills during their time in the space as well as provide a light hearted change to their day to day. Each participant was asked to choose a verb card and a set of scrap materials, to inform the design of a game.
During the development of the project, I realised the ethical constraints meant that I was not allowed to photograph or collect any information that was deemed as 'research.' This flipped the project on its head, and started a line of inquiry into; how do I illustrate the transformative qualities of play within the workshops without the viewer seeing what happens within the space?
Through my own reflective lens, I developed a library of play in which I illustrated how people play, through the use of my own 'reflective toolkit.' Using the shapes created within the toolkit to physically reflect the words and interactions during the Christie workshops.
Following on from this study, I have began to combine both my skills in craft making with iterative design thinking approaches for facilitation and communication.
