Brand Design, Environmental Design, Information Design, Interactive Design
The goal of my thesis project was to educate parents about the positive effects playing video games can have on their kids, connect parents to resources that will help them understand game content and inspire them to buy more games for their kids.
From surveying members of my target audience, I learned that shopping for video games can be a very intimidating experience for a lot of parents. Most of them avoid specialty stores and instead choose to shop at retail stores such as Best Buy or Target. To address this issue, I designed a retail space that would be found in a retail store like Best Buy or Target. This area organizes games by core learning skills so that parents can quickly and easily find games based on their positive benefits.
For these retail spaces I also designed engaging touchscreen displays that allows parents to learn more about any of the video games they are considering to buy for their kids. The bright colors and intuitive navigation also makes it easy for kids to browse games with their parents.
The majority of the parents I surveyed were either dissatisfied or unaware of the current ratings system, so I created a new ratings system that is easier for them to understand and incorporated them into a new package design for video games. The new system reads more like a nutrition label. It provides parents with the both the positive benefits of a game as well as a warning for any content that might be cause for their concern. It features relevant information from trusted sources such as Common Sense Media, The ESRB (Entertainment Software Ratings Board), and Metacritic to give parents the information they need to decide whether or not a game is right for their kids.