A designkit prepared specifically for children can be inspirational toward the de- velopment of designs for and with children. CoC Playful Minds deals with involving children in design processes. Observations of a collaborative process at CoC Playful Minds raised the question: what can children contribute to a collaborative process
if they are expected to provide inspirational knowledge that can later be used in the development of children’s designs? While studies tend to focus on the collaborative part of such processes, no studies have yet been done on how to create the best framework for children with the aim of providing inspiration and knowledge for the designer.
Using a Practice Based Design Research approach, the design process examines how to create the best framework for these two criteria. The design kit is developed with inspiration from Participatory Design and Cultural Probes (1999). This thesis is in the study phase of the design process; a clear framework for a design concept that meets the design criteria is presented in the conclusion.
I think it is important to understand more specifically what it is that children can con- tribute to a design process so that both the designer and the child get something out of it. CoC Playful Minds engages children as co-creators on an equal footing with adults, and I believe it is worth investigating how children differentiate themselves from adults and use that knowledge to develop collaborative inspirational processes. The study therefore contributes to research questions that deal with children’s ability for reflection in creative processes, while developing a concrete product that uses this knowledge to develop a designkit; the interaction between the design kit and the children will potentially provide both knowledge and inspiration for IT designers. The most important points this thesis underlines are that children have a 1: 1 under- standing when developing ideas for a real design problem. The children develop ideas that are conceptually similar to existing products, but make them exceptionally suitable to their own individual needs. Therefore, the development must be aimed at creating a framework for imagination where the children do not necessarily only start from their everyday lives, but from their dreams and fantasy world.