Communication Design |

Into the Unknown ➫

Blair Muxiang Yu

A experimental co-design project aims to establish connections and intergenerational knowledge exchange within Chinese families.

Project Idea

Bridging the internet language gap between the older and younger generations in China by establishing intergenerational knowledge.✉

Through making and exploring ideas last semester, I’ve gotten the thought of designing a community class where younger and older generations gather together, share knowledge and learn from each other. But the idea of a “class” confuses me. What does a class mean?
A class reminds me of mandatory homework, competitions and hierarchy. Because my targeted audiences are both younger and older generations, so I do think the class idea will create stress for some people, and decrease their interest to share and participate.
So how should I create an experience that is chill and engaging? That was the challenge that I was facing in the initial design stage. Back in February, I was chatting with my family about their vision of what this experience could look like. and it was perfect timing because it was. festival in China back in February, and my family was playing the Majiang game while chatting with me on the phone. So the idea of incorporating conversations into the majiang game come up in my head. I pitched this idea to my family and they all seem to like it.
The goal is to create a majiang set that represents our family’s history and values while creating a set of prompt cards that could be used during the Majiang game to spark conversations (these cards can also be used on their own or during other games and activities).