Laurea Magistrale in Product Service System Design A.a. 2018/2019 SERVICE DESIGN FOR A CHILDREN PLAY ZONE IN URBAN CHINa

Relatore Luca Fois Candidato Ao Shen 872030 ABSTRACT 3.1.4 Overloaded space 58 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 6 3.1.5 Drawbacks of current play zones 60 1.1 PROJECT BACKGROUND 7 3.1.6 What do they need? 62 1.2 SUMMARY 8 3.1.7 Play and learn 64 1.3 MARKET BACKGROUND 11 3.1.8 Do parents play together? 66 1.4 PLAY 12 3.1.9 Play and purchase behaviors 68 1.4.1 Definition of play 12 3.2 NEEDS PYRAMID 72 1.4.2 Play of children 14 3.3 PERSONAS 74 1.5 PLAY ZONE 15 3.4 AS-IS JOURNEY MAP 78 3.5 DESIGN OPPORTUNITY 81 CHAPTER 2 EXPLORATION 16 3.6 CASE STUDY 83 2.1 WHY PLAY ZONE IS SO POPULAR IN CHINA? 17 3.7 IDEATION 92 2.2 FROM THE PLAY ZONE TO THE WHOLE SOCIETY BEHIND 20 3.8 DESIGN OUTPUT RECOMMENDATION 98 2.2.1 Political factor 22 2.2.2 Economical factor 26 CHAPTER 4 DESIGN 104 2.2.3 Social aspects 30 4.1 SERVICE INTRODUCTION 106 2.3 ECOLOGY SYSTEM OF CHINESE CHILDHOOD 35 4.2 SERVICE OFFERING MAP 106 2.4 COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS FROM THE THEORIES 38 4.3 SERVICE ECOLOGY MAP 108 2.5 RESEARCH METHODS 40 4.4 JOURNEY MAP TO-BE 110 2.5.1 Interview 40 4.5 STORYBOARD 112 2.5.2 Observation 44 4.6 SERVICE BLUEPRINT 115 2.5.3 Collage 45 4.7 CONTENT DESIGN 118 Table 2.5.4 Persona 46 4.8 VI DESIGN 126 2.5.5 User Journey 46 4.9 TOUCHPOINT DESIGN 130 2.5.6 Insight statement 47 4.10 PROTOTYPE TEST 134 2.5.7 “How might we...?” 47 CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION 135 of CHAPTER 3 DEFINE 48 5.1 STRENGTHENS 136 3.1 INTERVIEW INSIGHTS 51 5.2 LIMITATIONS 136 3.1.1 Safety & Security must come first 52 3.1.2 Wellness is the deal breaker 54 APPENDIX 137 3.1.3 Unavoidable conflict 56 REFERENCES 140 Contents FIGURES 147 2 3 Abstract Italian

This thesis is based on a project I conducted for a company called EBH (“Energizing Questa tesi è basata su un progetto che ho realizzato per una l’azienda EBH (Energizing baby happiness”) located in China. The company planned to set up a business consisting Baby Happiness) situata in Cina. Questa società ha basato il suo modello di business sui of entertainment services for kids from 2 up to 10 years old in urban commercial spaces servizi di intrattenimento per bambini da 2 a 10 anni di età, situati in spazi commerciali (e.g. shopping malls, cinemas, supermarkets, residential areas, etc.). The company aims urbani (es. centri commerciali, cinema, supermercati, aree residenziali, ecc.). L’azienda si to provide indoor playground spaces to support child entertainment and early childhood propone di fornire aree di gioco al coperto destinate sia all’intrattenimento per l’infanzia development. che all’educazione e allo sviluppo del bambino.

The background of this industry is steadily growing due to the increasing urbanization in Questo settore è in costante crescita a causa del crescente processo di urbanizzazione China, and due to the lack of proper outdoor spaces for the public in densely populated della Cina e della mancanza di spazi esterni adeguati per il pubblico in aree urbane urban areas. The existing indoor entertainment services on the market are very densamente popolate. I servizi di intrattenimento al coperto esistenti sul mercato homogeneous and few of them consider further childhood development or customer sono molto omogenei tra loro e pochi di essi considerano lo sviluppo dell’infanzia o la relationship management, therefore the opportunity to improve the industry is tangible. gestione delle relazioni con i clienti, di conseguenza l’opportunità di migliorare il settore è tangibile. This project started with both theoretical and empirical research, and then field research to better understand the local market as well as the stakeholders (e.g. kids, Questo progetto è iniziato con la ricerca sia teorica che empirica, a cui ha fatto seguito parents, managers of the space, etc.). Service design methods have been used to la ricerca sul campo per capire meglio il mercato locale e gli stakeholder (es. bambini, analyze the insights elicited during the research in order to find potential opportunity genitori, manager del servizio, ecc.). Successivamente, sono stati utilizzati metodi di areas and define new business ideas. Based on the outcomes of this phase the “Safety- design del servizio per analizzare le informazioni acquisite durante la ricerca al fine di Joy-Growth” design concept model was created, including a strategy plan in three steps: individuare potenziali aree di opportunità e definire nuove idee di business. I risultati design for basis, design for play, and design for future. Together with the company team così individuati hanno permesso la definizione del modello di concept design “Safety- I decided to further design on the “design for play” topic. Joy-Growth”,che cinlude un piano strategico in tre passi: design di base, il design per This thesis illustrates the process and methodology that I followed to define the service il gioco e il design per il futuro. In accordo con il team aziendale ho quindi deciso di called “Play together”, including a description of its preliminary design and prototype. concentrarmi sull’aspetto di “design per il gioco”.

Questa tesi illustra il processo e la metodologia che ho seguito per definire il servizio chiamato “Play together”, e comprende una descrizione del design preliminare e del Keywords: Service design, Play zone, Children, Urban China prototipo che ho realizzato.

Keywords: Design di servizi, Giochi, Bambini, Cina urbana

4 5 Chapter 1 1.1 Project background

This project was firstly conceived from it with their WeChat2 APP allows the a personal interest in designing things kid to play the kiddie ride for free. The Introduction to play with, an interest that has been company makes the profit from targeting cultivated over the last seven years in advertising to the parents who follow various forms and through different the EBH Official Account3 through parts of my previous career. Four years WeChat. In their service system and of working experience of a toy designer business model, the kiddie ride is not made me understand better the world only a traditional plaything for play, but of a kid. While the product designer a touchpoint and entry of information position I covered for an amusement and data. This allows the company to theme park also allowed me to understand how often each type of understand that recreation is not only a kiddie ride has been played and the need of children but of everyone. preference of the users geographically in order to adjust the distribution. Mr. Cao In 2018 I got in touch with an said that their company is planning to do entrepreneur specialized in children more than just kiddie rides: they want to product industry. As a co-founder, Mr. build a smart entertainment center (in Cao would like to make a forward step this thesis I will use the word “play zone” to get into the industry of indoor family instead of “family entertainment center”) entertainment centers. His company empowered by new technology. And the “EBH (Abbreviation of Energizing further goal is to build an “EBH kingdom”, baby happiness)” established a smart a whole children business chain, with recreation platform for infants and kids their own Cultural and creative industry based on the innovative concept of in terms of play zones and products for “Internet + IoT” (Internet of Things). The children. The company’s vision is to let main product and service is the “sharing the children enjoy more convenient, safe kiddie ride1 ” allow parents to activate and interesting childhood.

1 Kiddie rides: is a coin-operated amusement ride for young children. When activated by a coin, a kiddie ride entertains the rider multi-purpose messaging, social media and mobile payment app. with motion, sounds and music, and some feature flashing lights, Described as one of the world’s most powerful apps by Forbes, pedals, and some with screens. Commonly they appear in amuse- it is also known as China’s “app for everything” and a “super app” ment parks, arcades, malls, hotel game rooms, outside supermar- because of its wide range of functions and platforms. 6 kets and discount department stores. 7 3 Official Account: a special account for publishing content and 2 WeChat: (Chinese: 微信;literally: ‘micro-message’) is a Chinese building dynamic services that run within WeChat. I started my project in October 2019 by conducting the academic and empirical research, then I 1.2 Summary synthesized them into a consolidated theory and 9 researched insights (Figure 1 on page 9). The ideation phase followed, with some support from my designer friends and the company team. After that, one play zone design concept structure has been created, and it will be applied as the development principle of the EBH Kingdom (Name of the play zone). Finally, a service called “EBH Play together” was designed and implemented as one the most important design opportunity area.

Figure 1 The development process of this project

8 9 The service of play zone “EBH Play together” is a service system for the visiting children and their parents who want to enjoy themselves, it is based on a WeChat Official Account and wearable devices, offers parents-children games, motivate and reward system, growth information to show 1.3 Market background what the children have achieved from playing, and care taken function for the parents to entertain and monitor their kids. Here “Play together” not just stands for letting the parents and children play together, it also signifies that to make all the stakeholders (staff, volunteer, etc) engage together.

The concept is different from other play zones where the parents either have to play with the children all the time or stay outside and watch the kids play alone, this service provides a wide range of participation level for the parents, furthermore, it records the development and growth Today in China, one of the focused areas around children is early development. The data of children for their parents to know better. It is also helpful for the play zone to have an idea education system is a particularly competitive field already, where public institutions and when updating and upgrading sustainably thanks to the data and technology. The motivation part policies often have the final say in shaping the service that is actually delivered to the of service is an additional bridge to other cooperative counterparts and business. children. Besides that, there’s a deeper and more lively layer, which is comprised of people, spaces, actions, and everyday experiences. The technology, information, toys, APP platforms, and other cultural products related to parenting are now affecting the daily life of millions of households. However, most of these things are created by the business elite in favor of commercial purposes. Some of them promote the new theories of childhood and parenting, this creates a “there is no other choice but only this way” atmosphere to the parents by playing with the capital game. When it comes to the way parents deal with information and knowledge about how to raise their kid, the 68% of the parents are under stress and lost in different commercialized choices and marketing tricks especially during the period before middle school (SmartStudy, 2018). I have asked myself what could be the contribution of a product and service designer in this picture. How could my capacities cater to the needs of parents and their children, and really make a difference in what they experience every day? Consequently, this is how my journey unfolds: eyes and mind look around at the whole society, but feet and hands are solidly grounded into reality.

In order to understand the project and the market deeper, I decided to know the starting point of it: Play, the basic need and right of children, but a common practice for mankind and many other creatures in our world.

10 11 1.4 Play 1.4.1 Definition of play In Hinduism, “play” is an essential part of movement between and among of cosmology. This creative activity them”.(Gordon, 2010) What is “play”? Play is ancient defined play as a range of voluntary, of the Divine is called Lila, the play and original. Play is a significant intrinsically motivated activities of God, and the world is seen as the phenomenon of culture but older than done for recreational pleasure and stage of the divine play (Capra, 1975). culture. This is because “Animal have enjoyment (Garvey, 1990). not waited for man to teach them their As an extraordinary director and play (Huizinga, 1980).” Play appears In Chinese language, play writes “玩”, philosophy scholar, Gwen Gordon everywhere, children play, puppies (Figure 2) which means “to play with, pointed out in the western worldview, play. “Play” is a basic element of our to appreciate, to enjoy”, if we look the concepts of play are circumscribed behavior and life. Piaget Jean says back to the origin of this character, around those activities that lie outside “the many theories of play expounded we can see the character illustrates a of “ordinary” life. That is because the in the past are clear proof that the person who is playing with some jades, mechanism rational worldview has phenomenon is difficult to understand in the ancient time, jade is something been always battling with in between (Piaget, 1999).” unusual, precious. chaos and orders, rational and pre- In this thesis, I scope down the rational. So she redefined play in definition into seminal text of “play” order to make the definition include (an activity). Johan Huizinga defined the playfulness, consciousness, and “play” as “a free activity standing quite in the minds of complex organisms. consciously outside ‘ordinary’ life; “Play is the voluntary movement Play is not serious but absorbs the across boundaries, opening with player intensely and utterly; Play is a total absorption into a highly non-profit activity without material flexible field, releasing tension in interest; Play proceeds within its ways that are pleasurable, exposing own proper boundaries of time and players to the unexpected, and space according to fixed rules and in making transformation possible. an orderly manner; Play promotes Transformations occur as frames the formation of social groupings bisociate and the parts and the (Huizinga, 1980).” whole interpenetrate, increasing the differentiation of the part, the From a scientific point of view, integration of the whole, and the psychologist Catherine Garvey Figure 2 The evolution of Chinese character: “play” (Chaziwang, 2018) range, coordination, and spontaneity

12 13 1.4.2 The Play of Children

For children and young people, meaningfulness and value (Mullick, Play is said to be a result of the 2013). Shannon Fandler acknowledges children’s biological, neurological, and that play deprivation may have lifelong kinesiological1 functions that enable the mental health effects, like anxiety and Figure 3 An exmaple image of play zone in China, from Chuangyongtz young child to act (Mullick, 2013) play is depression (Fandler, 2016). essential to the healthy development– 1.5 Play zone/Family not only their physical development but In conclusion, the benefits of play for entertainment center their social and cognitive development children lies in three aspects through too. United Nations High Commission biological, neurological, and kinesiology on Human Rights claimed that play functions. In children’s own perspective, is a fundamental right of every child they may see play at a different view According to Wikipedia (Wikipedia, caters to sub-regional markets of larger (UNICEF, 1989). There are many in comparison with adults. Dr. Rachel Family Entertainment center, 2019), metropolitan areas. It is usually small reasons why children play. Through play, summarized play is pleasurable, “Family entertainment center (often compared to full-scale amusement children learn about and attempt to intrinsically motivated, process-oriented, abbreviated FEC, are sometimes called parks, with fewer attractions, a lower understand their world, experiences, and freely chosen and actively engaged family amusement centers, play zones, per-person per-hour cost to consumers self. When the child achieves success in (White, 2012). When play, children family fun centers, or simply fun centers) than a traditional amusement park, and the player role, it means that the child choose what to do, how to do and who is a small amusement park marketed not usually major tourist attractions, experiences feelings associated with to be with. Children define their play in towards families with small children to but sustained by an area customer base. productivity, satisfactory quality of life, six important factors: Child choice, social teenagers, and often entirely indoors Many are locally owned and operated, play, planned activities, engagement, or associated with a larger operation although there are a number of chains 1 Kinesiology: is the scientific study of human or non-human body movement. such as a theme park. Play zone usually and franchises in the field. Kinesiology addresses physiological, biomechanical, and psychological dynamic active plan and free time (Barnett, 2013). principles and mechanisms of movement.

14 15 Chapter 2 EXPLORATION

2.1 Why play zone is so popular in China?

Figure 4 The image of a play zone in a shoppingmall of Yichang, China. By Ao Shen 16 17 After the research and study about play zones in China, I categorized the types of play zone by the scale of it. There are mainly four scales of play zones: individual plaything, large playground, theme park, and business complex . Individual plaything means the toy, usually with electronic machinery function that can be placed alone in public space such as the lobby of shopping center. For example, the most common ones are kiddie rides, arcade games, mini-carousel. Large playground is a play zone Figure 5 The images of a play zone in a shoppingmall of Yichang, China. By Ao Shen often located at the interior shopping mall and next to other children services. It is about 150-500m. Theme park to micro one. From the societal point of view, the first factor to consider is the usually is considered as an advanced form of play zone. It density of population. In China metropolitan habitation constructs the crowded has its own theme and story world, sometimes it features city, large population provides the labors of economy development but also a with some cartoon characters and its brand identity. The cause of lack of public resources, and consequently, the space per person in the last one is the largest size of business among the fours. city is shortened. Take “KidsWant1 ” as an example. It is an famous and successful children products and service chain, its shop Another factor to consider is the urbanization that directly comes from the averagely takes 5,000m and contains play area and stores, government’s strategic decisions. These two factors work together to make the early education center etc. scale of a city larger and the density of population higher. On the other hand, the urban plan and the construction of modern residential buildings more or less have The study of analytics is the first step before I set up narrowed down the public space including the play area or ground for children. the goal of the project. Desk research proceeds to know deeply the background from a macro perspective The third factor to consider is the pollution of the environment that limits the opportunities for the kid to have outdoor activities in the natural environment. 1 Kidswant Children Products Co.,Ltd retail maternal and child products. It was formerly known as Kid King Children’s Products (China) Co., Ltd. and changed its name to Kidswant Under the above situation, the indoor for-profit play zone becomes the most Children Products Co.,Ltd in May, 2016. The company was founded in 2012 and is based in Nanjing, China. convenient choice for most of the families. On the other hand, it also becomes an opportunity to attract more families to the shopping centers. The children’s demand leads parents and grandparents to visit the shopping center repetitively and consume more. Therefore, nowadays in China, children’s areas can cover a whole floor: children’s business is becoming mandatory and crucial. Moreover, the shopping centers consider it as a promising way to compete against the 18 e-commerce business. 19 Figure 6 A corner of a bookshop in Shenzhen, China. Photo taken by Ao Shen

To design a play space understanding the market for children actually is to growth or decline, business provide a space not only position, potential and in physical but also an direction for operations. environment with a playful Francis J. Aguilar who atmosphere and wonderful gives the first concept of experiences. In a higher ETPS in 1967, discussed dimension, it also provides the environmental factors a mental and emotional affecting a business. He gave “space” for the children to them the acronym “ETPS” immerse into. This requires to indicate the “Economic, the engagement and efforts Technical, Political, and of the whole family, industry, Social” factors (Aguilar, and society. Started with 1967). In the following the word “zone”, I had a three sections I mainly deeper dive into the context discuss the political, social, of children play in this and economical factors, nation, to observe the whole while the technology factor generations of childhood, to is discussed within each empathy the relationships section. Since my purpose is among all stakeholders. to focus more on the design aspect not the technique Research tools used in aspect, and the company this section is the “PEST EBH has its own technology Analysis”. It is a widely used focus, I did not put an research method to scan especially research on this 2.2 From the play zone to whole society the business environment. part. It is as strategic method for “All toys and games are culture artifacts: their roots and the meaning are found in every human culture, from the origins to today.” (CILAB, 2015)

20 21 probably lead another baby boom in the and Georgieff, K. announced the first 2.2.1. Political factor future. 1000 days of life “is a unique period of opportunity when the foundations “Early Childhood Development, or of optimum health, growth, and ECD, is about the ‘whole child’ – the neurodevelopment across the lifespan physical, social, emotional, cognitive are established (Cusick & Georgieff, In China, it is a must to consider the DIVISION, 2017). thinking and language progression of 2015).” Carol Bellamy (Bellamy, 2001), unique controversial “Family planning each young individual.” (UNICEF, 2017) the Executive Director of United policy” ran by the government. It begun After a policy change of the Chinese Global evidence indicates that early Nations Children’s Fund argued that in 1979 and was officially phased out government in late 2013, most Chinese childhood education plays a critical “The time of early childhood should in 2015 (Kane & Choi, 1999). In 2016, provinces further relaxed the policy in role in the growth and development merit the highest-priority attention China switched from the one-child to 2014 by allowing families to have two of an individual child. As I mentioned when responsible governments are the second-child policy, it released the children if one of the parents is an only at the very beginning, one main making decisions about laws, policies, demand of families who want more child (Wang, Gu, & Cai, 2016). Since the reason why Chinese parents get lost programmes, and money.” than one kid. According to the data of revision of the one-child policy, millions and under pressure is that there are “National Bureau of statistics”, 2010- of women have become eligible to have too many choices for their babies In China, the education ministry raised 2015 the birth rate stays about 5‰. It a second child (Philipps, 2015). In 2016, but they don’t have an authoritative up the policy “Start the pre-education showed that the population of children China changed its rules to allow as one to follow. Consider the Chinese from zero” (Gu, 2019)in 2000. Since is growing steadily. many as two children. But many couples society is hierarchy traditionally and then, the concept of pre-school weren’t convinced that two children deeply and the citizens trust the education extended from 3-6 years to However, even if the birth rate is were better than one. Now there are authority in a relatively high level 0-6 years. There is still no official law to getting lower but the population is indications that China is about to go (Taylor, 1989). So the fact that parents regulate the market and service of early growing due to the death rate being further about release the limits. This always firstly choose to ask help from development for 0-3 year’s old children. stable. From 2010 to 2017, the death official organizations (NWCCW, But there was some initial actions and rate kept around 7 ‰. And the death 2015). Consequently, the direction movements. For example, Shanghai amount was lower than the birth rate. and guideline from officials has to be has published the policy and regulation Based on the data and prediction considered if one children business about early childhood education in from the United Nations (Figure 7), want to align with. 2005 (Chen & Ding, 2014). It is the the number of children will have a first regulation made by government steady reduction while the elderly will The early childhood education started officials to promote and guide the keep growing for a decade (UNITED from the developed countries in the early education area. Later on in 2011, NATIONS DESA / POPULATION U.S and Europe in the 60s. Cusick, S. Chinese government has cooperated Figure 7 China’s shiflting demopgraphics

22 23 with UNICEF published the “Developmental Milestone for Children 0-6 Years”, (UNICEF, 2012)

As far as now, the education system has placed Early childhood education for 3-6 year’s old children into the pre-school education, and be administered by “Basic Education Department of Ministry of Education of China”. The government also published the “The Regulations of Kindergarten” but there is still a lack of the specific law towards the preschool education.

Therefore, I forward my attention to the government side, the Ministry of Education released “The Guidelines on Early Childhood Education (for children 3-6 year’s old), in an effort to curb the growing practice of young children being educated in a way that pushes them beyond what children at their age should learn. The main core goal is to develop the four aspects of a child: morality, intellect, fitness and aesthetic (Figure 8).

The government of China is committed to early childhood development. Since the landmark decision by the government of China in 2010 to dramatically expand early childhood education, the country has witnessed a dramatic increase in the number of children aged 3-6 attending kindergartens, from just 45 percent in Figure 8 The four aspects to develop from “Early Childhood Education Guideline”, scheme created by 2009 to 70.5 percent by 2014.” (UNICEF, 2017) Ao Shen

China is also exploring the emerging international focus on the importance of integrated services for 0-3-year-old children. UNICEF works with The Ministry of Education, National Working Committee on Children and Women (NWCCW), All China Women’s Federation (ACWF) and China National Children’s Center (CNCC) to provide increased access to high quality ECD services for the most disadvantaged young children in China.” (UNICEF, 2017)

Figure 9 The five approches to develop directions from “Early Childhood Guideline”, scheme created by Ao Shen 24 25 2.2.2. Economical factor

Figure 12 Prediction numbers of Chinese family with children, illustration by Ao Shen In general, the economy of children be affected much by e-commerce. Vice business is positive. The trend of versa, the children business can bring children product industry is booming customers to the shopping centers as and expanding. According to the well as other physical stores targets research of (RET, 2015)in 42 Chinese adults. The Figure 11 illustrates the cities, the space of children business stay of the family at the children’s has increased two times in 10 years recreation play zones. (Figure 10). Figure 10 The trends of the are of children business “iResearch”, a Chinese consult and inside the shopping centers in China, illustration by Ao Shen The reason is not just because the research firm, has published the data release of birth restrict policy, but also about the prediction of the Chinese a natural result caused by the strong family with children (iResearch impact of online shopping that has Consulting Group, 2017). It shows rapidly grown in the past few years. the number of families with children Figure 11 The everage time spending of the family Even though the number of online may increase to 286 hundred millions at the children’s play zone, illustration by Ao Shen children and maternity products population (Figure 12). That will trading reached 500 billion in one year positively bring more users and (RET, 2015). The business of Children consumers of children products. service based on experience will not

26 27 and negatively affected the physical As a summary I made with the study on stores. Children’s Play zone became top of other scholars and researchers, a new opportunity that can divert the four characteristics of new retail in Retail and O2O1 1. Online to offline: is a phrase that is used in digital marketing to describe systems en- more families who can be the potential China showed as below: ticing consumers within a digital environment to make purchases of goods or services customers from the online store to the 1. The customer becomes the core from physical businesses. physical one. Recently it is very trendy to center of the whole retail scenario rather discuss “O2O” (from Online to Offline). than product-centered as before. Retail is an important part of Economy, argued that children in the perceptual 2. Technology plays an essential role in also because it is closely connected stage (ages 3–7) are egocentric and Physical retail is a new word that born New Retail. Data becomes the basis and with the play zone in the shopping will make more purchase requests than with the appearance of online shopping. support of the company strategy. New malls. The traditional shopping mall is children in a higher developmental Sun (Sun, 2017) has his theory about Retail is a business based on the analysis set up for “shopping”, but nowadays we stage. Consequently, parents will yield how the value has been created key and management of data, it needs a are in the era of “Experience economy”, more frequently to a child’s purchase process should integrate the online and delicate operation and marketing. And so how to associate the recreational requests when expressed as appeals offline retail platforms. He mentioned the technology is the fuel to empower service for children with the traditional rather than observations or demands. that the value is created by the producer the New Retail, the innovation of retail space is another topic I would like They also pointed out that the success through developing and producing, and technology and popularization of to research. of the children’s experiences with the then it is delivered by the online platform information actualize the capacity of 6- to 12-Year-Olds spread is based on and offline store. In the end, the value is new retail and the “Internet of Things”. “McKinsey insights” has released their the implementation of the three pillars: actualized at the customer side in terms 3.Service becomes the deal breaker of finding of the pattern of customer enhancing their cognitive development, of the function and experience that has competition. The core process of new behaviors of the Chinese mainstream improving their social development, been provided. The O2O process mainly retail actually is the service, providing consumers, the result is that they will and contributing to their own works on the delivering procedure good experience is the key factor to continue to be pragmatic despite their entertainment. They also suggested through business flow, information flow, satisfy customers. growing wealth. They will set greater several vectors for purchasing material flow and money flow. The online emphasis on a product’s appeal to their experience, such as: to make the child and offline platform should cooperate by In conclusion, there are several trends in sense of individuality. They will become appropriates products through his/ integrating the resource, technology and the future of the new retail era in China. increasingly brand-loyal and change the her direct experience; to make the money. Firstly, the innovation of product and way how they shopping, spend less time educational experience allows children service is speeding up. Secondly, the in physical stores and embrace new to discover new products; to help him/ Yan (Yan, 2018) defined the new retail is scenario of consummation will be more channels.(McKinsey & Company, 2012) her grow as a consumer; to provide the whole activities that provide product multidimensional and diverse. Thirdly, pleasure and feelings. and service to the final customers with the industry chain will be flatter and Regardless of the general trends, the an innovative retail format by using the efficient. Lastly, the chain of business will children’s behaviors are also under my Another unavoidable topic is cashless new internet technology. be more regionalized variable and brand observation. Ebster and her colleagues and e-commerce in China. The rapid identity will be more important. (Claus, Wagner, & Neumueller, 2009) progress of e-commerce strongly

28 29 effects that urbanization caused to imaginative. However, recent toys children’s play (Figure 13). According and games become very digital and to her study, urban children have attractive but creates more passive 2.2.3. Social aspects fewer types of game and playthings to playing from the kid. For example, play with. The reduction of traditional children tend to like to watch the games and toys are clearly vanishing in cartoon for a long time but the whole modern life. Usually, these traditional story and plot are already produced games associated with natural material by the cartoon company. The toys with In this section, I mainly studied relative Urbanization and face to face opportunities provide electric light and sound features are sociocultural factors. Starting with the more interactive and social trainings. already designed by the toy company, demography along with the history The data shows that the resident Another factor to consider is that the creativity that children can build up of modernization, then I researched population in urban areas has reached children nowadays have less spare the shape or function on their own is the evolvement of Chinese people’s 810 million in 2017. Urbanization ratio time to play due to their busy lifestyle. lost. lifestyles, cultures and values. I went hit 58.52%, by increasing 1 percentage Moreover, the reduction of play pals through these local conventions at dif- point (almost 16.4 millions) each year is also obvious. Even though the The effects on children play are ferent levels: from the historical aspect from 17.9% in 1978 (NBSChina, 2018). population of urban cities is growing, because of the development of of government policy, from the family neighbors communicate with each production and informatization of childhood culture to the education sys- Urbanization influences Chinese other less than before also due to society. Thus, the value and lifestyle of tem. I tried to understand the conven- citizens’ lifestyle a lot. See through the the residential areas design. People people changed. tions and illustrated the conditions in a transformation of childhood and play, who lived in the countryside used full picture. urbanization has played a significant to know each other more easily and part. Pan (Pan, 2011) has analyzed the communicate and interact more, but the city inhabitation households are isolated by the high buildings and lack human relationships. Moreover, due to the one-child policy during the last decades, these generation of children has less sibling to play with. Another fact to consider is that toys and games are becoming more digital and commercial. In the past, games and

toys were relatively more handmade Figure 13 Scheme of transformation of child play and and passive, and allowed children to games in urban China. Created by Ao Shen referred to play actively and be more creative and the insights from Pan (Pan,2011)

30 31 the generation of young parents with Another transform is that the better education level start to realize traditional culture related to ethics, the importance of early development. such as Trimetric Classic1 and Di Lastly, as the government’s strategy of Zi Gui2(Confucius texts) has been “reform and opening up” has boomed widely picked up in early childhood up the socialist market economy, the development by family and institutions. early development is commercialized This phenomenon shows the recent and marketized. Parents’ anxiety comes Chinese ethical mindset focuses more from a variety of choices from different on equality, democracy, and respect of parenting methods and mindsets. And personality, while the society starts to the reasons behind are the change of recheck the value of traditional Chinese family structure and division of labor, culture such as Confucius. the development of neuroscience and technology, and also because of In conclusion, summing up the theory the growth of competition related to and historical findings from Dr. Chen the social class differentiating. Under Xuejin (Chen X., 2018) and Philippe this background, toys, iPad, books etc. Ariès (Ariès, 1960), the responsibility become the substitute of busy working of parenting passed from communism An illustration created by Ao Shen shows a Chinese urban family goes to the flower market during the parents, while taking kids to go to the community to individual family, Spring Festivel. play zones in the shopping center is then partly exceeded from family considered as a behave of responsible to nations and markets. It actually parents. There is also a big contradiction is the transformation followed by between children’s happy growth and the development of social economy. future carrier. Parents are struggling Culture transformation leads to the Chinese childhood culture if they should let children have more structure of parenting into an era of spare time to play or spend more time on “fragment”. The market somehow played According to my research, Chinese parenting culture is transforming. Firstly, scientific parenting extra after-school lessons, because the a role to integrate those fragments. mindset is forming and spreading. Since the main group of parents is born around the 80s to atmosphere of modern society suggests 90s, they are better educated and open-minded, they actively seek and learn information about that what you are doing now decides 1 Three Character Classic, Trimetric Classic or Sanzi Jing is one of parenting. It leads to the adjustment of the cooperation within family members on parenting. the Chinese classic texts. It was probably written in the 13th cen- who you will be in future. Meanwhile, the tury and attributed to Wang Yinglin (1223–1296) during the Song An interesting phenomenon comes out called “Pre-figurative culture” (Mead, 1970) means parent, on one hand, takes care of the dynasty. the young generation teach their parents how to parenting the grandsons. This is due to the quality of their children’s daily life, on the 2 Di Zi Gui (Standards for being a Good Pupil and Child) was written busy lifestyle of people who live in the city and has less time to be with their next generation in the Qing Dynasty during the reign of the Kangxi Emperor (r. other hand, get exhausted by spending 1661-1722) by Li Yuxiu. The book is based on the ancient teaching depend a lot on the help from their own parents (the grand generation) or babysitters. The third of the Chinese philosopher Confucius that emphasizes the basic huge time, energy and emotion on it. requisites for being a good person and guidelines for living in har- aspect is the education of child shifts to an earlier period. Due to the development of society, mony with others.

32 33 The government shall take more responsibility to guide and standardize of parenting and early education. Furthermore, it is also essential for the officials to create the proper policy 2.3 Ecology system of Chinese childhood to support the individual family and integrate the resource of all layers of the society, in order to meet the various demand of individual family and children. In order to figure out the relations among each stakeholder and how they affect each other, I created the ecological system map (Figure 15 on page 37) of childhood in China based on the “Ecological system theory” of Urie Bronfenbrenner (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). However, it is not easy to define a system within such a big topic, but based on the existed theory and my personal experience, I managed to find out this special case of China, how the policy and mainstream social idea effect on individual family members. For example, China has a modern hierarchy society and people have a strong mindset rooted by Confucian thought and other related philosophies. Other aspects are also important to be considered are demography, sociology, technology, and economy. I studied the historical Figure 14 A grandpa holding a grandson. Photo by sklei and social aspects in terms of the dense population and fierce (Pexels) competition in China. Those findings are able to give the map more sense.

34 35 The microsystem is made of child and family, peers, and institution. The exosystem consists of the due-income family situation, urbanization, digitalization. And the mesosystem is how the microsystem interacte with mesosystem. The macrosystem is based on the nation size in terms of history and related policies, social attitude toward childhood.

Figure 15 Ecology system of Chinese childhood by Ao Shen

36 37 2.4 Comprehensive analysis from the theories

After all my desk research, I try to find out the consensus Social play among all these acknowledges. The thoughts that have Play has many functions, creating social bonds or letting off steam. In modern society, something in common no matter they are in Europe or in play with peers is an essential part of children’s mental development. The skills require China, consider the to or from, will help me to get start- for a simple team-game or the experience gained through interpersonal communication ed. The following key factors are the universal issues I can later be used to settle down dispute or workplace challenges. have found through all the studies. Early development There is another tricky topic about the purpose of play. As Huizinga (Huizinga, 1980) lists Space to play less free space but getting that play is “an activity connected with no material interest”, that means that value is lost There is a growing more commercial and once society’s narrowly focus on using play to prepare children for their adulthood. But it concern for the loss of professional space to is true that play can do good for their future in various aspects. space in China, not just play in. Meanwhile, many physical, but conceptual parents have less time and sentimental. It’s a to play with the kids and Customer experience of the new retail Since going to play zone is becoming a routine of lots of families. The experience of contradiction to say if the also have a good reason customers or users plays a key part, thus the customers are the parents or grandparents children are having more for limiting child-directed but the users are mainly kids and part of parents. It is a delicate job to make the service “space” or less, physically play out of dangers “children-centered” or “parent-centered” or balanced in between. Another fact is that they are losing the natural sensationalized media or play zone itself is a business co-marketing with the shopping center or others. Therefore, space but getting more structured indoor study the cooperation capacity and limitation possibility should be considered both. artificial space, having schedule.

38 39 2.5 Methodology Figure 17 Interview Figure 18 An interview of the of with Song, author with five pparents in manager, Yichang Yichang, China.

Figure 16 Ideation workshop by Ao Shen

This chapter introduces all the design methodologies I had chosen for the quality research during the two months from October to November 2018 I participated in the project. The research methodology included: un- The Name list of interviewees 1 derstanding the project context based on the materials Families in Beijing capital, recognized as a tier 1 city ; the latter, from the company, user research, insights development, Jing’s Family, Li’s Family, Zhao’s Family, my hometown, is a represented tier 3 city. It is preliminary design opportunities, case studies, concept Ji’s Family, Yan’s Family. understood that treating China as one market model development, design, and prototype. The follow- is simply not feasible: consumers from different Families in Yichang regions and cities have vastly different income ing figure illustrates the specific research methods and Liu’s Family, Hu’s Family, T. Liu’s Family, time arrangement of my involvement in the parts of the Liu’s Family, Meng’s Family. levels, behaviors, and trends. The city size is project. directly associated with the economic status 6 Families in other cities and has a big influence on the citizen’s income 2.5.1.Interview B. Hu@Zhongshan, C. Liu@ and purchase power as well as the parenting Shenzhen, L. Wang@Shenzhen, culture. With the help of the ecological system map, I figured W. Shen@Xi’an, J. Xu@Chengdu, Y. Ke@Kunming, L.W, Zhang@ out the stakeholders to talk with. Also, the overlap Wuhan. mapping allowed me to grab the key factors to focus on during my research. Designer from playzone industry After discussing with the internal stakeholders, my Wu @Allkids 1 Tier 1: Many economists, consultants and businesses classify cities in China based on the tier system. They frequently refer to the tier system in, for exam- thesis mentor and the company, I chose two Chinese ple, devising marketing strategy, as it is understood that treating China as one 2 Shoopingmall Managers market is simply not feasible: consumers from different regions and cities have cities as the main location for the field research and Song @Yichang Guomao Shoppingmall. vastly different income levels, behaviors, and trends. Cities in different tiers Chen @Yichang Guomao Shoppingmall also differ greatly in population size, infrastructure, and the level of sophistica- interviews: Beijing and Yichang. The former is China’s tion in products and services.

40 41 Interviews really are the crux of the inspiration phase. Human-centered not very talkative with whom for the first time to meet, and being observed and design is about getting to the people you’re designing for and hearing questioned sometimes will make participants uncomfortable. But after breaking from them in their own words. I have been able to learn a lot about a the ice, moms usually became very generous when talking about their children. person’s mindset, behavior, and lifestyle by talking with them in their living Another “snowball-like” phenomenon is that once you gained the trust from the environment. I got in touch with several parents through my personal and participates, they start to bring more referral person or facts into this context. For professional networks and in the end I managed to interviewed 16 families. example, one mom in Beijing told me she could introduce some of her friends if I There are 10 families were located in Beijing and Yichang, and participated want to get to know more families. This was quite effective since references and to face to face contextual interviews. Due to the time limitation, the other interpersonal relations are a critical means of gaining access to information and 5 families, located in 5 other cities all over China were interviewed by earning trust. So here I highlight some useful tips I consider important to conduct telephone. effective interviews in China:

Conducting a research in Beijing had its own difficulties. Finding out 5 1. Make it informal. People, no matter the nationality or personality, are more relevant interviewees and finishing the tasks within one week is a challenge comfortable to communicate in an informal conversation. This applies to every itself. Some unfortunate happenings, some small accidents did not stop me aspect of the interview: the place to choose, the tone of voice, the tool you use. from getting to know some truly interesting factor and nice people. A rather I tried to set up an easy and simple atmosphere to make people relax. They challenge in Yichang was to try to abstract from my preconceptions and did not have to answer every question if they did not want to. Every detail and be as objective as possible: because I was back to a familiar environment, information was confidential and anonymous. 2. Ask specific question. usually my home town, it is possible to carrying assumptions that were based on hard for people to answer generic questions such as: “how is something like”. It previous experiences. This lens of personal experience and what I thought is difficult to answer such a general or big topic which may need one essay to I knew influenced what I focused on, sometimes hindering me to see explain, also the general questions would not help the participate to remember important facts. Getting relevant information from the people I didn’t know the specific and detail experience. I tried therefore to address specific topics and and engaging with them as a curious and empathetic friend for the first time quantify the experience and answers, driving interviewee to refer to real-life was one of the most important thing I had to prepare. In my opinion, the examples or specific situations. 3. Share my opinion too. I always share some of semi-structured interview was the best method of enabling dialogue and my own opinion or information I knew to chat with the interviewees even though I deep engagement with participants while retaining focus on my topic. My do not have child, but I shared the news I have read and some previous experience main method was in-depth interviewing of entrepreneurs and customers when I was a toy designer. This facilitated the conversation and made interview using closed and open-ended questions. Also some small conversation and more similar to a chit chat not a one direction questioning. interview method have been also useful because in China, a lot of people is

42 43 Figure 19 Observation: Two kids are playing at a toy store in Shuiyuecheng shoppingmall, Yichang,China. by Ao Shen

2.5.3 Collage

Collage is the game-like way to communicate with the kids and some of the younger toddlers. I prepared 50 various kinds of photos of different play zones and things for each kid to put them in three categories: their favorite ones, their disliked ones and their neutral ones. With this little game, I managed to know the preference of each kid and I realized their individual preferences.

2.5.2 Observation

There’s no better way to understand the people you’re designing for than by immersing yourself in their lives and communities, especially when your targets are the young kids who are not able to fully express themselves. So I got a chance to go to the shopping center with my friend Meng N. alone with her son and her son’s cousin. I accompanied them for the whole evening. I went with them across almost the whole building of the shopping mall, played with the kids at different facilities and play zone, and we let the kids to make a decision about where they want to enter. In the end, we entered the Children’s picture bookshop, every toy store and entertainment center, we played kiddie ride and some other arcade games machine, at in the end, we had dinner together in a restaurant.

Figure 20 A boy is doing the collage game. 44 Yichang,China. 45 Photo by Ao Shen 2.5.4 Persona 2.5.6 Insight statement

Based on the interviews conducted, I created personas to define most common Once I had a chance to download my learnings, I identified several key themes: parents situations and needs. I summarized the persona by two types of parents I analyzed all the interviews, records, and other learnings and the key patterns according to their willingness to play with the kids, and I also considered their started to emerge. I picked up the compelling insights I heard again and again, attitudes toward the play and growths of their children. consistent problems the parents faced, and what I feel significant or surprised me. By using the post-its, I moved the most compelling, common, and inspiring quotes, stories, or ideas to a new board and sort them into categories. In the end, I came up with several top findings. Each finding has been given a catchy title in order to make sure they are impressive enough.

2.5.5 Customer Journey map 2.5.7 “How might we...?”

Through interviews and observations, the original user journey was abstracted The next step was to reframe those insights as generative questions. In this from to the user activities. The families’ behavior, touchpoint, emotion, frustration, procedure I invited my colleague to join me in order to obtain abundant dimension and design opportunity were shown step by step, layer by layer. The current of views. The photo #xx shows the frame I created at the end of this session; it also journey comes from the daily routines elicited during the interviews and it also gives us the principle of the business vision of a play zone. I used the “How Might includes some possible extra activities to show the whole process and potential We…?” format because it suggests that a solution is possible and because they opportunities. offer the chance to answer them in a variety of ways. It gives me the perfect frame for innovative thinking.

46 47 Chapter 3

This section focuses on the analysis for the desk research phase, DEFINE includes the analysis of market data and the qualitative analysis of interviews and observations, followed by downloading from the top findings, and the ideation phases.

48 Figure 22 The cluster of insights. Photo by Ao Shen

3.1 Insights from interviews

After having downloaded the insights, I used post-it to mark all the interesting learnings and then I got a huge number of notes, photos, impressions, and quotes… It was time to start making sense of them. I therefore captured my ideas, stories and hunches on post-its, and ordered them on a big wall. Once finished, I was ready to find themes. I took a good long look across my interviews, analogous inspiration, and other learnings. Several patterns emerged and the compelling insights appeared again and again. Then I created the frameworks of insights. Since the insights are bound to change and sometimes overlaps, I used “top findings” to define those insights, it’s a good way to cluster the insights without losing the solid and specific findings.

50 51 Figure 21 The key quotes and notes from interviewees. Photo by Ao Shen My son was pushed by the other kid and fell down from a high platform./ 我没注意的时候，儿子被人从很高的 地方推下去了，腿摔伤了。 —— SZ01

3.1.1 Safety & Security must come first My friend’s twin once ran away from the play zone by themselves and the parents even didn’t notice that./一次 我朋友的双胞胎孩子从游乐园里面自 己 跑 到 外 面 去 了 。 ——XA01 Almost every parent agreed that the most material and strong pillar, associated with Figure 23 A photo of an interviewee Dad and daughter in Beijing. important thing is safety. This indirectly their own surveillance are needed. shows the expectation of the current play zones is not considered high. The basic According to the communication with the need is still waiting for being fulfilled. manager of the shopping mall, currently, I won’t let my kid get out of my sight there is no official rules or requirements when he is playing inside the play The need in terms of different levels of towards the children play zones. The only I think the staff must be able to do zone./我绝对不会让我孩子离开我的 concern about the kids’ safety, such as applied formal standard is due to the fire first aid, I experienced once a kid 视 线 not getting injured, or being kidnapped. safety concern. got choked in an early development ——BJ02 Parents require each element of the play center while no one could do the zones should meet any standard if there first aid./工作人员必须得培训学会如 * The quotes are from the original record of the is. So everyone expects their kid can gain 何急救。 intervieews, they are translated into English with some physical progress to their body, ——BJ01 the original Chinese sentence after. at least the play environment shouldn’t The number and letter such as BJ01 stands bring risk to the kids’ wellness. Softened for the resource comes from the first family in Beijing.

BJ: Beijing SZ: Shenzhen YC:Yichang CD: Chengdu XA:Xi’anz WH:Wuhan

52 53 I always check if the play zones(or shopping mall) have air purify system before bring my daughter there./在 带孩子去之前，我一定会去看这些商 家是否安装了新风系统。 ——BJ01

3.1.2 Wellness is the deal Even though there are tags showing breaker “Disinfected” , it’s hard to believe they really did that everyday. There Figure 24 A photo of an interviewee mom and son in Beijing. is the Hand sanitizer but no body is forced to use it before enter./虽然到 处都会贴“已消毒”都标签但是感觉大 部分商家只是做做样子。免洗洗手液 I feel ball pit is quite dirty./我觉得海 The second most mentioned topic is inside the shopping center with density of 都会提供但是并没有强制性地要求使 洋球池特别脏。 wellness, in terms of hygiene, fresh air people. 用。 ——BJ02 and other aspects. Most parents consider ——QM01 the play zones are so crowded that Secondly, parents have a low trust in kids can easily get infected by closely the hygiene condition. On one hand, the There are some parents feed the touch with other peers. And the parents other parents and kids’ bad behavior kids so that the floor get dirty, even especially who are from Beijing concerns may bring hygiene risk, on the other though it is required that eating and more about the fresh air. They prefer hand, they noticed that play zones lack of drinking is not allowed inside the to bring kids to the interior play zones surveillance and clean work. play zone./工虽然不允许在园区内饮 somehow due to the outdoor air pollution 食，但是还是有家长不守规矩在里面 situation. Therefore, they need to make 给小孩喂吃的，残渣掉在地上弄得很 sure that the indoor play zones have an 脏。 air purify system. On the contrary, the ——SZ01 parents coming from other cities think the air is better outdoor rather than

54 55 There are always some parents There are a lot of naughty kids, also involve into the fight between kids. many naughty parents. /熊孩子多， Some even help their kid to occupy 熊家长更多。 or fight for the toys. /很多大人甚至 ——YC05 参与小孩打架，抢玩具占位置。 ——SZ01

3.1.3 Unavoidable Conflict? I would bring my daughter to I think kids fight for plaything is quite somewhere else if I saw the majority normal./ 我 觉 得 小 孩 子 抢 玩 具 很 正 常 kids who playing here are elder than ——BJ02 her. /如果我发现全场孩子都偏大我 就不会带我女儿进去玩了。 ——YC01

The play zone is an environment in which kids and parents can both enter. It’s The parents have a different opinion on no doubt that conflicts might happen how to deal with conflicts. Some try to because people play and interact in a avoid and reduce the happen of conflict common shared space. One natural carefully, some just let the kid learn to My concern is that my son is too instinct of toddlers is to play with the solve the problem themselves, some little but very active, it happens a elder peer, and each individual has others even participate in the fighting to lot he pushes or hits other peers different behavior. Kids also like to help their own child, finally some choose as his way of expression. I’m afraid simulate others. So fighting for the to depend on the staff to manage the it causes the conflict with other same plaything or position is quite conflict. parents. /我儿子比较好动不太会表 common, and the situation usually gets 达，经常会动手，我特别担心的罪其 more complex if the place is crowded or 他家长。 overloaded during the rush hours. ——SZ02

56 57 3.1.4 Overloaded space

The play zone should be like the “Forbidden palace Museum” to limit the amounts of visitors. /需要像故宫 一样限流 ——BJ03

I prefer to bring my son to the playzone inside KFC because there is less people./我喜欢带孩子去KFC的 玩 乐 设 施 因 为 人 少 。 ——YC01 Finally, overload is almost a universal problem in China. In Beijing, the situation is The play zone as a profit everywhere is over crowded, the counterpart usually allow as resource in any play zone is not many customers as they have to enough during the weekend./在北京 enter into the place. Some high 所有地方都人多爆满，超标营业。 grade entertainment business ——BJ04 may control the volume or the high entrance fee may automatically filter some of the customers. However, overload is still a big problem which every parent has to tolerate.

58 59 3.1.5 Drawbacks of current play zones Too few seats for parents to sit I dislike the space that is full of ar- outside./家长基本上没有坐的地方。 cade games machine, quite noisy. / ——SZ01 不喜欢电子游戏机多的地方，很吵很 乌烟瘴气的感觉。 ——YC03

The Forgotten Parents after they opened for several months. Parents are not always treated as The environment becomes dirty customers even though they are the and the facilities get old. Lacking in ones who pay. They don’t usually have maintenance and proper management a place to sit and chill, and most of the of the structure are the common Nowadays the toys or products fell times, they have to accompany their problems in customers’ eyes. Even to provide the opportunity for kids kids. when there is specific staff, it is not to create compare to the toy and The facilities easily get dirty and old sufficient. Not to mention the upgrade game in my childhood./ 目前市面上 without any update or maintain. It It’s all the same! of the plaything or arrangement of 的玩具和玩了设施都缺乏让孩子创造 seems like a one time investment, I’d Most of the play zones have no big events: only big brands seems to take it 的空间。 like to run a business like that too. / difference in terms of the content into account. ——SZ02 感觉这是个暴利行业，开业之后就什 except the price. 么都不管了，我也想开一个。 Arcade games: Love-Hate ——QM01 Not for the advanced player relationship The playthings inside the play zone are The arcade games are the most quite boring and too simple in parents’ disfavored games according to the eyes. They demand a higher level parents, but kids -especially boys- love I don’t like the claw machines of creativity. Most of the elder kids them very much. They make the most very much. It frustrates the player (elementary school) seldom go to these profit compared to the other playthings because you spend a lot of time and kind of play zones anymore. according to the information I got from money but you rarely achieve any. / the children area manager of Yichang 夹娃娃机这类游乐机让孩子很有挫败 An unattended wonderland that International Trade Building Group 感。我不喜欢。 never changes Co., Ltd. ——BJ04 Most of the play zones did a bad job

Figure 25 A photo of an interviewee family with two kids.

60 61 3.1.6 What do they need? The current play zones are generally It’s better to have more playthings Kids get bored very quickly. It’s looked tacky and immature. I will that can encourage kids to play crucial to create a good atmosphere decently choose if the play zone has cooperatively in a team. Current to make them excited and happy better material and decoration etc. plaything and toys are mostly focus to play. /小孩子很容易对一个事 Nowadays too many business runner on single player and result in the 物感到厌倦的。所以我觉得制造 just close or run away after opening. fighting. / 最好能有更多都游乐设施 一个开心玩乐的氛围来让他们感 / 失市面上大部分游乐园看上去很土 来引导孩子跟其他小朋友一起合作玩 到兴奋和快乐比玩什么更重要。 气很不上档次。我会选择起码看上去 乐。目前更多都是独立玩乐的设备， ——ZS01 The parents illustrated the perfect 材料和设计档次高一点的。而且现在 经常会引发小朋友的争抢。 play zone in their mind. I summarized the main characters of the perfect 很多游乐园开业没多久就跑路。 ——CD01 ——QM01 place. A good play zone should be an My kid won’t play at here anymore atmosphere maker. It is important that once he gets older because he will the atmosphere is inviting and provides prefer something complex. Now the a joyful condition for children to enjoy. playthings are too childish./我小孩长 Secondly, surveillance or supervision, My ideal play zone is with safe 大一点就不会来这玩了，他会去玩更 can give the parents the idea that their I once visited a amusement park facilities and enclosed with staff 复杂一些的项目了。 children are taken care by the play zone. ran by a Taiwanese company, the supervised. So I can totally get rid ——QM01 Moreover, an ideal play zone should experience is impressive because of taking care of my kid. /我理想 always have somebody to organize they have staff take care of 中的乐园最好是设施能安全地保证 extra activities that attract and engage everything and guide you from the 孩子在里面玩。这样我就解脱了。 children to play more. That requires entry to the exit. I felt so relieved. / ——BJ02 The item inside the play zone itself not only proper staff but also a specific 我曾经去过一家台湾品牌游乐园 。 should be unique or identical and attention to theme and space of the 整个体验经历非常好，他们从头到尾 with some innovation. /游乐设施最 play zone, usually it associated with 都有专门的员工带队安排所有的玩乐 the visual identity and branding of the 好是比较有原创性、启发性和创新性 活动我基本上不用动脑子去操心任何 play zone. Some of the parents also 的。 mentioned extra achievement like to 事情。 ——SZ02 let the children do role play and career ——WH01 experience in order to learn what is teamwork and become creative. Lastly, extra services like food and drinks are welcome.

62 63 • Often the It (playing in the play zone) edutainment stuffs helps her to communicate are not fun. Most with other people. I don’t of the time he just want my daughter to be plays aimlessly. 一 too shy or Introverted, it 般寓教于乐的东 will not be good for her 西都不好玩，好 to have a relationship or 玩的都是傻玩。 3.1.7 Play and learn marriage in future. 希 ——BJ03 望女儿能活泼外向， 对未来婚恋有好处。 or school For the parents I interviewed “learn” or Most parents bring their kids to play zones just for ——BJ04 “study” at first are always associated with academic their kids just for play and have fun, some of them meaning or school related activities. However, don’t expect to learn anything from playing, but only after I tried to broaden their thoughts and I asked body physical aspects. Some of them even doubt them what they expect their kids to achieve by on education through play, as just a gimmick for playing in a play zone, they mention motor abilities, business. communication, moral learnings, courage, etc. In • I feel it is very But all of the parents consider add-ons as the cherry It’s OK for just let my kid this aspect the play zone is considered as a real field good to have this on the top of the cake: it’s better to have it, but not a to have fun, studying is to practice and learn. The kids can learn to interact career experience big deal if there is not. something should be done with peers and how to play, from physical exercise center for kids. at school./ 学习是学校的 to mental cognition and have an initial contact with People like our For the parents I interviewed “learn” or “study” at 事 儿 ， 玩 得 开 心 就 好 了 。 the society and the world outside their home. generation, most of first are always associated with academic meaning ——BJ01 them doesn’t know about their future career when they need to decide the major for university. / 我觉得职业体验中心 I think it’s welcome to 特别好，我们大人很 have some educational 多人小时候都不知道 meaning. On top of just 自己将来想做什么。 playing. /如果能学到 ——BJ03 点 什 么 当 然 更 好 了 。 ——ZS01

64 65 3.1.8 Do parents play together? My daughter usually plays My son is fond of the I always get in and play by herself, I just watch build blocks but I am with my daughter, I like her or scroll on my mobile not good at it. /我儿子 to play and make photos I also questioned how parents perceive phone. /我一般看着我女 喜欢玩积木但是我不是 and videos to record the playing with their kids. The attitudes are 儿玩或者我自己玩手机。 很擅长这类型的东西。 moments./ 我总是进去（ totally various, but I identified three main ——CD01 ——BJ02 游乐区）跟她一起玩然后 kinds of attitudes as showed below: 拍照记录孩子快乐的瞬间 ——BJ04

I can play with my child for a while but I can’t do it too long. It’s very tiring and exhausting. /我能陪他玩一会但是 没法一直玩，太累了。 ——BJ02

Not at all I’d like to, but… Absolutely!

Some of the parents don’t Part of them like to play A number of parents love enjoy playing with their together with the kids, but and enjoy playing together kid at all, they usually feel they are too tired to play and accompany with their exhausted but have to play for a long time and usually kids and they consider it’s with their child anyway since the kid is too energetic. an important part of the he or she is too young to Another main reason is the parenting. play alone. A lot of parents adult usually don’t have the consider the play zone as a same interest with their way to let the kid play alone children, for example some Figure 26 Parents play mobilephone outside a or with other kids so they dads do not like role-playing play zone in CBD Mall, Yichang,China. can get relief from taking of princess or some mom care of the kid. are not good at building and assembling blocks.

66 67 He has only three Every child likes to play Little girls usually like minutes passionate with and follow the hand craft, my son toward any kind of toys. other elder kid, and each doesn’t like it and cannot /他（儿子）对任何玩具和 elder kid doesn’t like to s t a y s ti l l f o r a l o n g ti m e. 3.1.9 Play and purchase behaviors 事物只有三分钟的热情。 play with younger one. / 一般小女孩文静些喜欢 ——QM01 / 几乎每个小孩都想跟比 手工作坊之类的活动，我 他/她大都孩子一起玩， 儿子好动坐不住。 但是往往大孩子不待见跟 ——SZ01 During the observations and interviews, I Individual differences 比自己小的小孩一起玩。 also learnt quite a lot about the preference Individual differences ——QM01 of choice that kids make and the purchasing signifies in every aspect: patterns of their parents. Some keywords the children with different emerged during the analysis of the gender, with different interviews are summarized here in order age and personality have to keep them in mind during the concept different preferences. He likes role play a design phase. It is not appropriate to lot, he always plays speculate something like policeman, delivery “All children like this …”. man and superhero. / 他（儿子）很喜欢角色 扮演，经常在家要我和他 Fickle Screen addicted Role play 一起玩送快递的游戏。还 It’s difficult for the Every kid is easily Role play is to pretend to 会扮演英雄。 kids to be keen on only hooked by screen be someone else, especially ——SZ01 one kind of plaything, entertainment in as part of learning a and their preference general. Screen new skill (Cambridge is mostly very fickle. entertainment Dictionary, 2018). Most of includes mobile phone the kids like to pretend to games, arcade games, be an adult or some surreal watching cartoons on roles such as superhero. TV or tablet, etc. This kind of play can largely cultivate the imagination Figure 27 The children looking at and creativity capacity of the toys in a shop at Shuiyuecheng Shopping Mall, Yichang, China. Photo the kids. By Ao Shen

68 69 I spent money mainly I wouldn’t take my child I prefer to pay to let my on playing when he was to the place where I don’t child play at the play zone younger, now I mainly like, even he like it. / 我不 rather than go to the spent on food and snacks 会带孩子去我不喜欢的商家 free public playground, and shopping for him. /孩 和场所，即便是孩子喜欢。 because it seems better Adults are the boss! Trust brand 子小时候主要是花钱给他进 ——YC01 managed and safer if it This title simply tells the Parents take care about 去游乐园玩。当他大一点了 charges. / 我更倾向于带孩 truth that parents make the grade or reputation 有了自己消费的需求，钱更 子去付费的游乐场所，相比 decisions on where to of the play zone. They 多花在给他买吃喝和其他购 较公共免费场所，这些地方 go and whether to pay will judge if the price 物消费上。 起码有所管理，卫生安全条 or not. There are quite a worth with the quality — — B J 0 3 件也更有保障。 few numbers of parents level. Parents get the ——CD01 are totally following their recommendation of children’s opinion but products for children most parents told me they through different would not satisfy every channels, but when it is requirement from their the moment to pay they children. For example, prefer to do it through even the kid always asks the well-known and for the toy in the shop, the trusted platforms they parents would not buy it are familiar with. every time.

Figure 28 The boy in “observation section”. Food & Drinks are Every time we go out to Photo by Ao Shen Toy wins mandatory play he asks for toys and Children rarely have any Most of the parents eat outside. This cost is as interest in clothes, they agree that it is mandatory much as the price we pay mostly instead attracted to consume on food and f o r t h e p l a y z o n e ti c k e t . I buy toys at the store by toys displayed inside drinks before or after 每次带他出去玩，一定要买 because you can freely the shopping center. played at the zones. 小玩具和吃喝的。这些费用 I block all this kind of t r y t h e m b e f o r e p a y . 差不多跟单纯去游乐场的花 promotion notifications /我一般会选择在实体店给 销一样多了。 or messages./我都会屏蔽 孩子买玩具，因为你可以让 ——BJ02 这 些 垃 圾 广 告 短 信 。 孩子在店里试玩一下。 ——CD01 z ——BJ04

70 71 3.2 Needs pyramid

Different prespective

Suspendisse ornare felis eget lacus interdum, sit amet molestie erat rutrum. Vestibulum ante ipsum In order to frame the good job of them, and primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia. insights, I tried to cluster also the expectation of them and find the the majority of parents relationships among all still stays at a low level. the user needs. After The middle part of the analysis phase, I the pyramid, in pink discovered that the and yellow, shows the relation is not linear and emotional needs: usually, I could see a mainstream they are related to the demand through these condition of facilities and insights. Therefore, I the quality of service ordered them based provided by the play on the priority pyramid zone. The top green of demand. Figure 29 part is the higher level shows the relation of of expectation: in most the needs and I referred of the cases, parents the Maslow’s theory of would not require it as a Needs” (Maslow, 1943) must, but like the cherry to arrange them. The on top of the cake, they bottom of the pyramid in would not refuse it, so red shows the mandatory I considered them as a needs: these are the nice-to have. Moreover, most physiological and this part of demand fundamental needs can be an opportunity of the customers. It to make the play zone reflected that the current unique and competitive. market did not do a

Figure 29 The Needs pyramid

72 73 Chen (Figure 31) is a married mom who works in the weekdays and takes care of her 6 years’ old son with her husband. She feels tired after work and knows it’s important to spend time with the child. She prefers the play zone because her son likes it and she can relief herself for a while. She works at an NGO office about environment, therefore, she cares about the eco-system. She believes the parents must to provide their children with the best opportunities. From the products to educations, she prefers imported branded products, concerns much about the quality of products.

Figure 30 The family photo of Bo Hu’s family.

3.3 Persona Reviewing the data of the user The second category is made of research, I defined three personas. parents with more enthusiasm while Firstly I determined two main kinds of playing with children. Not only they parents based on the attitude toward don’t consider that playing is tiring, play and engagement. but they are more likely to involve into children’s activity and some of them are The first category consists of parents directly engaged in suggesting games with less enthusiasm buy more anxiety or activities and proactively help with when taking care of their children. They other children or parents. are usually exhausted by the busy pace of work and life, and would like to have Finally, I summarized the general more personal time for themselves category for children themselves. They instead of spending most of their time usually they live in urban area of China, on taking care of the children. For and who have grown up within the fast this reason, they show less interest to developing era face the rapidly change spend time and effort on playing with of society and various kinds of pressure children. Their emergent need of them from, peers, family, institutions and is to find an ideal service to trust where society. The detail and the description Figure 31 Persona 1 they can leave their children without will be showen at each persona. Chen the Exhausted concern. 74 75 Xiaobo (Figure 32) works at a GYM in Beijing. He likes doing sports with his daughter, Baobao (Figure 33) is a 4 years’ old boy, he likes to go out to play. Usually, he plays with his and he believes the happiness is the most important thing for the kid. cousin. He goes to kindergarten from Monday to Friday. His favorite toy is car toys. He likes any He doesn’t arrange any extra after-school lessons or training course for her. He likes to kinds of vehicles. He loves pretending to play as a superhero or soldier. accompany and play with his daughter.

Figure 32 Persona 2 Xiaobo the Guardian Figure 33 Persona 3 Dad Baobao the Vivacious

76 77 Figure 34 As-is Customer Journey Map 3.4 As-Is Journey map

The following journey map (Figure 34) added a “physical distance” visual element. is created based on the daily routines of Thanks to this enhancement, compared to the interviewed families. The timeline is a traditional journey map, it is possible to divided into user activities order: pre- illustrate the factor of space and distance playing, playing and after playing. In order to between parents and kids. showcase the most significant differences between the as-is and the to-be journeys I

78 79 3.5 Design opportunity

The design opportunity generation started by looking at the insight statements that I have created in the previous phase. I tried to rephrase them as “How might we…?” questions. This “How Might We…?” exercise generated a number of possible answers and became a Launchpad for my brainstorms in the next step.

In the end of the “How might we…?” phase, I came up with several design opportunities. Then, in order to both narrow the field and keep the opportunities, I categorized the opportunities into three big groups as figure 32 shows.

The three groups are: Group of Safety, Group of Joy, Group of Growth. These three design opportunity areas are listed by priority: “Safety” is a must, “Joy” should be present, while “Growth” is nice to have.

Figure 35 also shows the three opportunity areas and how they overlap each other. Each area contains several ideas and some ideas could belong to more opportunity areas. This arrangement of all the opportunity areas tells that there is no strict border to divide the different area, and they somehow work together and affect each other.

Figure 35 Scheme of Design oppertunity

80 81 Figure 36 Line Friends store Figure 37 Kid activity of Med Club Figure 38 “Allkids” education product Figure 39 Starbuck mobile pay

“Case study is an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon in depth and within its real- life context, especially when the boundaries between phenomenon and 3.6 Case study context are not After the design clearly evident.” opportunities were (Yin, 2013) acquired, I created 4 case studies illustrated below. Figure 40 Line Friends store, photo from Linefriends.com

82 83 Case 1 LINE FRIENDS Play center

Figure 41 Line Friends Store, photo Figure 42 Line Friends Store, Line Friends as employees is a very popular service by Linefriends.com photo by Linefriends.com of a the fictional Line that provides kinds of food Corporation. and parties, it also will involve some experience WHERE: Asia Pacific lessons cooperated with other services in the HOW: future and all interiors “Line Friends” has made are designed with Line a big success through Friends cartoon characters. their strong capacity of Similarly, food packages developing Intellectual and other products sold in Property. Their business the shop are all related to WHAT: Tokyo of Naver are shown as crossed over from the retail the Line Friends cartoons. Line is a freeware app for instant Corporation. Line stickers within to licensing, and content Comparably to what Disney communications on electronic features a Sticker the application. production. has done before, they keep devices, largely used in several Shop where They include In 2016, Line Friends play adding new characters into Asian countries. It is also a users are able to Brown, Cony, center opened in Beijing, this brand family and they platform providing various services purchase virtual Sally and other it covers 1055m2 and give each character a unique including Line Pay, a digital wallet; stickers depicting nine characters. integrates both dining and personality in order to try Line Today, news stream; Line original and well- Two anime series, retail services. The play to attract more consumers TV, video on demand; Line Manga known characters: LINE OFFLINE and center consisted of party and bring some emotional and Line Webtoon, digital comics Line Friends LINE TOWN, were room, play center, shop, connections. distribution. The service is operated are featured produced in 2013, and café. The Party Room by Line Corporation, a subsidiary in characters that picturing the

84 85 Case 2 Club Med

Figure 43 “MedClub” Children Figure 44 “MedClub” Children as a form of payment; this is activities, photo by KellyLa activities, photo by KellyLa not required anymore.

It has two special services for young kids. There are Petit club & mini club, international G.O (Club Med staff are called “GOs”, or Gentils Organisateurs) will take care of the children and arrange activities of them. WHAT exotic locations single package. Club Med is a private around the world. This includes The G.O. all have experience company headquartered (Wikipedia, lodging, food, use of babysitting and are in France, specializing ClubMed, n.d.) of facilities, sports trained for first aid and CPR in premium all-inclusive activities, games, every 6 months. In ClubMed holidays. The company Where Global and shows. Certain they provide spaces and is primarily owned by items such as activities for kids from 4 Fosun Group and either HOW premium alcoholic months to 17 years old. wholly owns or operates Each resort beverages over seventy premium provides a list previously all-inclusive resort of services and required the use villages in a number of activities in one of beads or tickets

86 87 Case 3 Allkids Culture And Education Solution

Figure 45 “Allkids” education Figure 46 “Allkids” education Where China product, photo by yitong.com product, photo by yitong.com HOW AllKids is an Integrated service provider, its services include: management service, textbooks, education equipment, teachers training, and online education products. In conclusion, it provides WHAT also a cultural and has established a whole solution system Wuhan Allkids culture creative enterprise 17 regional to the kindergarten with and education Co., innovating training centers early childhood education. Ltd(‘Allkids’) specializes in education in many major And the development in the provision of technics, product cities. 2010, it guideline of their services equipment and materials design, network runs an Education is based on the government to kindergartens, training, and Equipment R&D document: Early Learning which includes playing, education Center that is a and Development Guideline learning, sports, nursing, service. “Allkids” partnership with (China, 2015). home-kindergarten headquartered in China Education educating and network Wuhan, with over Ministry. training material. It is 600 employees,

88 89 Case 4 Starbucks loyalty program

the development of the 14 with the introduction of Figure 47 Starbucks reward Figure 48 Starbucks reward program, photo by starbucks. program, photo by starbucks.com technology. a credit reward program. com From 2014 until now, WHERE Global Starbuck used an “order online, get in store” strategy HOW From 2001 to 09, to bring more customers to Starbuck established “Gift the store. With this internal cards” among frequent system innovation, from customers and cultivated the Gift card to its App a loyalty system, and then and then to the Stores, it Starbuck transferred card successfully renovated the users to digital platform selling system. “Starbuck APP” from 09 to Figure 49 Staruck’s deigital WHAT onto Rewards, innovation flywheel from ThoughtWorks Starbucks spent 15 years Personalization, principle to focus on its customer loyalty Payment, Ordering on “customer- system establishing, the concept of centered” in order nowadays, it arrives “Flywheel (Shown to build a customer at another summit in the figure 45)” loyalty system. through digitalization. means these four It continually In 2016, Starbucks cores will bring implemented released the strategy of interesting result and renovated Digital Flywheel (Xiong, in the future. the product 2017), it places the Starbucks used and service customer experience the simplest together with

90 91 3.7 Ideation Topic 1: Safety

“Safe and sound” can represent the essential needs of the parents. Their children have to be taken care and are always expected to be in a safe and reliable environment, away from injuries or diseases. The opportunity can be approached from two ways: How to lower down the risk and what to react when an emergency happens. “Good management and maintenance” are mandatory for safety and hygiene. In general, how might we keep the whole service well In the Ideation phase, I shared what I have managed? Everything should be in perfect order, for example, there should learned with my team at EBH, and made sense always be someone taking charge of any unexpected situation, and staff should of a number of data, and identified opportunities be “ubiquitous” to monitor and supervise. Furthermore, keep updating and for design. Also taking into account these inputs, upgrading the play zone is also demanded as a higher level requirement. Most I generated new ideas with one of my classmates of the play zones cannot maintain freshness and safety standards after several during a brainstorming session, with the intention years without good maintenance. And children get bored with the facilities and of prioritizing them and keep only the most playthings that never changed. interesting and meaningful ones. As a matter of fact, the most promising ideas became tangible by Idea 1: Profile. To build a profile for each facility and staff, to let the user know building rough prototypes that I then shared with the difficulty level and suitable age grade etc., in order to clarify the risk and the same participants to the field research that I challenge of each play items. previously interviewed to get their feedback. Then I kept iterating, refining, and building until I was Idea 2: Staff training. Establish the training and motivating system of staff, ready to get the solution out. encourage them and set up specialized position such as first aid and early development specialist. Below is the list of each idea we made through the simple brainstorm workshop. All the ideas have Idea 3: Newbie orientation. A game-like event happens frequently to involve been then summarized and clustered into 3 main children, the guide will show the basic rules and compulsory safety regulations. topics: Safety, Joy, Growth. This event can attract children to learn how to play safely in a smarter way because each child likes game rather than preaching. The teaching program can also associate with the IP character with clips animations, children can finish task practically and get reward online.

Idea 4: Transparency. Screens and social media are the two main channels used to promote the cleaning and working conditions. They will immediately broadcast the content of daily cleaning work, maintaining, and examination.

92 93 Parents are also invited to visit the cleaning process. This is to make the “behind the scene” open Topic 2:Joy to the public and gain the confidence from the parents. “Design for children” means put children as the center of the service to make them happy. Idea 5: Flexible Human Resource. To make the play zone well managed, it needs its human Traditional plaything and toys are targeting parents who pay the bill and somehow overlooked resources to be flexible due to the customer flow being highly dependent on the time of the day the needs of kids. However, other aspects also need to be considered, such as brand identity and season of the year. It is recommended to have more staff on duty during the holiday and and other design principles such as how to create a sustainable environment and business weekends, giving staff day offs during the weekdays. model, or how to make the play zone an inclusive place. The word “play together” focuses more on customer engagement and business cooperate. Engagement is a very significant part of the Idea 6: Diverse Human Resource. Another idea to deal with the peak period is to involve customer experience when cooperation is indispensable for running a business. Below these ideas volunteer work. The students and retired elderly both can take part-time jobs. Especially the talk about how to make the parents play together with the children also how to make the other lonely elderly who like to gather with kids. stakeholders “play” together inside the service.

Idea 7: Right to know. For the loyal customers who already paid for the membership, the play Idea 8: Modularized blocks. To modularized play zone into standard modules. It is a way to lower zone can immediately show the numbers of children inside the play zone to help them to make an the cost of manufacturing, and also an easy way to adjust the module into different cities. informed decision before the arrival. It’s also a way to control the overload during peak time. Idea 9: Active play. Play zone should provide less Passive play, more active and imaginative play. It is also a good way to reduce the cost of facilitating.

Idea 10: Green Play zone. Try to use more sustainable material and environment-friendly design for the play zone. This will help the business grow healthy and also win the trust of the market and customers.

Idea 11: Inclusive Play zone. As inclusive design has always been overlooked in most of the place, it is a good touch for good service. How to make the play zone be friendly to the alternative groups and non-mainstream groups such as disabled children, and minorities, foreigner children.

Idea 12: Updating visuals sustainably. Usually, the play zone becomes obsolete and needs to be updated and replaced after several years. The physical parts of the space are very pricy and need a lot of labor hours to renovate. This is a concept talks about how we can update the visual part of the play zone with new technology. For example, if we use AR or projector to create some of the visual elements of the play zone, then the updating would be much easier by just changing it digitally.

94 95 Topic 3: Growth Idea 13: Play with new tech. Similar to the concept above mentioned, it is the same approach to think about how we can use more new technology to create different ways of play. This can cost Being able to achieve more than just playing and have fun is welcomed by parents. This is also a less and easier to be updated. On the other hand, the digital way avoids a lot of physical material very important aspect of being more competitive and further develop the business. The goal has and pollution. to be very forward-looking and bring the customer a unique value compared to the other play zones. Idea 14: Collaboration for more. There are plentiful ways to create diversity of the entertainment inside the play zone with an economical way. For example, in order to provide more Idea 19: Beat the Beast. It is a game named “Beat the Beast”. It asks parents and children to find plaything and facilities, “product placement” is an affordable way to think, in order to establish the “beast” projected by the AR technology that randomly appears everywhere inside the play a mini-market inside the play zone for children to role-play, we name if after a real sponsor zone. The family needs to chase it and press on it in order to “kick it out”. supermarket. In conclusion, naming facilities and equipment’s after brand and company who have given large donations and sponsorship is a sustainable way to provide more playthings and when Idea 20 Play Good Habit. An idea about how to form a Good habit through play: Some games updating them. and plans to educate and play with, such as close the tap, and to know which food is healthy.

Idea 15: Business cooperation. Take event as an example, we can have cooperation with a Idea 21 Kid band. This idea is about using a wearable device, like wrist band to records the sports Chocolate company to hold a workshop for the customers’ family. It is also a win-win activity data and the tasks children have done. The parents can know the record of the achievement of which the company can promote their brand while the play zone providing more events and children. choices. Idea 22 Play culture. An Idea about: how to integrate into the games and facilities with cultural Idea 16: Family task. The idea is about giving some tasks and missions to the parents, they can elements, namely, geographical customs, architectures, languages, and dialects; how to use these co-play with the kids inside the play zone. The wearable device is for the children to receive some cultural elements to create unique product and service in China to compete with those who just information and the mobile phone definitely is the perfect touchpoint for adults. duplicate the imported culture.

Idea 17: Corner for Parents. It is an idea for parents who do not want to play but like to rest Idea 22 Play skills. This idea is to using play to make the children get to know some life skills. For aside, they can have a place with books and product displayed to surf online and shopping. example, a game to cook with parents.

Idea 18: Loyalty Program. It is an activity to encourage parents to post their kids playing inside Idea 23 Play good. Open for free the play zone for the low incoming families, people with the play zone through the hottest social media in China: WeChat, Weibo1, TikTok2. After have disabilities, orphans, etc. This could be more economically sustainable during low season. done that, parents will be rewarded by some credit which can used for discount coupon for next purchase of ticket.

1 SinaWeibo (新浪微博) is a Chinese microblogging (weibo) website and one of the biggest social media platforms in China. 2 TikTok, also known as Douyin (Chinese: 抖音; literally: ‘vibrating sound’) in China, is a media app for creating and sharing short videos. the media app was launched as Douyin in China in September 2016 and introduced to the overseas market as TikTok one year later.[6] It is a leading short video platform in Asia, United States, and other parts of the world. In 2018, the application gained popularity and became the most downloaded app in the U.S. in October 2018.

96 97 3.8 Design output recommendation

After reviewing all the 23 ideas with the company team and my Professor and after having created additional case studies and conducted further desk research, the preliminary design opportunities have been developed. In this section, I first introduce the overall definition of this design concept (figure 46), it consists of the 3 main goals: safety, joy, and growth. We named the play zone as “EBH Kingdom”. The 3 main goals can be subdivided into 5 approaches: safe and sound, well managed, play happily, play together, learn with play. Finally, relevant design outcome suggestions are illustrated as a reference for the project team in the subsequent design process.

Design concept model (Figure 50) shows the principle of the service that the EBH Kingdom has to provide. It is a whole service and product system to fulfill the 3 main goals (safety, joy, growth) that EBH Kingdom wants to offer to the customers. In this design concept model, each goal consists of one or two opportunities. The Safe and sound area includes Facility, risk prevention, staff training, and emergency respond. The management area includes how the company should deal with management and maintenance. “Play happily” and “play together” mainly focus on how to make the children play happily while the other stakeholders can also be involved in a nice way. The last part “Learn with play” is about how we can make children achieve something more through play and recreation.

Figure 50 Scheme of Design concept model

98 The overall design concept model consists of many different areas and requires a big amount of Finally, it was decided to use different techniques and approaches for different work and time to put them into practice. In order to actualize the implementation and match the design opportunity areas. In the end, I highlighted six design outcomes as suggested agenda of the company, I also created a timeline to emphasize the priority and the core mission in the list below: platforms, playbook, cultural products, activity, business plan, of each period (Figure 51). In this timeline, the plan of the development is divided into three organization. I chose digital and physical platforms, tangible product and intangible periods, the initial period is called “design for basis” and starts from 2019 and finished before services for different approaches and make them integrate with each other. 2010 when the first play zone will open. In this period of time the company has to figure out all the basic part of the service: branding, safety, management, and so on. The second period is “Design for play”, in this phase the work should emphasize on how to create interactive plaything and inclusive environment, how to make everyone play happily all together. The following period is called “Design for future”, it is the phase in which the focus should be on how to make the business lifecycle longer, how to make the children grow with the play zone and how to make the Platform business grow sustainably. Platform means the touchpoint that is mainly for parents to interact with the play zone service together with the children; it also means the touchpoint for the kid to interact with the toys and the whole play zone, it also can track the history and records of play for the parents.

Playbook Playbook with toolkits is the conclusion of the regulations and guidelines for the users; the conduct code of employees and staffs; the instructions and guideline for the manager about how to manage and operate a play zone.

Cultural product Cultural products refer to intangible products such as story world with cartoon characters that related to the theme of the play zone. They consist of very important parts of the brand identity and brand culture. The whole story world will also link to the play facilities, games, events of the play zone. In the future, it is also possible to develop some tangible products related to cartoons if there is enough big market.

Activity Activity refers to all the workshops and events design for orientation, customer engagement, play with early development and so on. This requires facilitators, specialists staff such as the teacher and trainer. Figure 51 Development timeline

100 101 Business plan Business plan focuses more on the business revenue. This plan has to find out the way how to make the revenue of play zone less dependent on the tickets income only. It discusses the plan of business cooperation and product placement, marketing, sponsorship and so on.

Organization The last identified design outcome is the organization, such as a community with frequently customers, or cooperation with external charity organizations. The important aspect to focus on is how to collaborate with the third party, which could include both non-profit or profit organizations. The challenge here is how to borrow the power from other services to create a perfect customer experience. It is also about how to bring more social value to the commercial play zone.

102 103 Chapter 4 DEsign

After completing the design concept model, I communicated with the company’s project team and selected the priority direction based on feasibility and overall project schedule. Main picture Finally, the design direction of “play together” was selected, with the goal to design to let children and parents interact with each other easily.

The design content of this stage includes the service offering map, the system map, the user journey map to-be, the system map, the service blueprint, the content of the game, and the touchpoint design and prototype to be used for user testing.

104 105 4.1 Design for playing together

After giving the concept a proper name and description, we finalized the concept and we decided to call it, “EBH Play together”.

It is a service for children and their parents who go to the EBH play zone, it is based on WeChat Official Account to provide services, missions and games that interact with the play zone facilities for the children and parents to play together. Differently from other play zones where the parents have to accompany the children all the time or stay outside and watching the kids playing alone, this service provides a wide range of participation for the parents, furthermore, the service contains customized games and missions and can record the development and growth data of children for their parents. Is also help the operator side of the play zone to upgrade the play zone with updated fun and pleasure field sustainably via technology. The motivation part of service is also a bridge to other cooperative counterparts and business.

4.2 Service Offering map

The service offering map (Figure 52) illustrates the five offerings provided by my concept design “EBH Play Together”. The core offerings are the spaces and scenes to play in and the interactive games to play with. The motivational reward program, the achievements pyramid, and the prerogative to target and therefore take care of adults instead of children only are the supplements of the service.

Figure 52 Service offering map of “Play together“

106 107 4.3 Service ecology map

The service ecology map (Figure 53) describes the technical organization: different stakeholders involved, their mutual links and the flows of materials, energy, information, and money through the system. In this map, the core relationship is the one in between the “EBH Play zone” and the “Target”. My play zone concept “play together” mainly actualized through these flows. The aim of the service is the interaction play among parents, play zone and the children. The reward program involves third party services and product supplier. Additionally, I also put the “capital” group, it represents the funding and investigating partners which are important for EBH company as their business model is based on that. EBH R&D and product supplier such as manufactory sides are also considered because how the internal structure of the company is in EBH. Lastly, the marketing part and the non-profit counterpart are involved as these two are considered as part of public relationships.

All the access points to the new system of services conceived were represented through this visualization, that includes every possible journey through the offering.

Figure 53 Service ecology map of “Play together“

108 109 4.4 Journey Map To-Be

Figure 54 Jounery map to-be of “Play together“

Based on the user classification, I designed the journey map to-be (Figure 54) to take into account in different phases, all the changes has been highlighted in a dashed circle showing customers my concept and I included the different scenarios, to show the different needs and services changing facial expressions. An additional step “Stay connected” has also been created because of available for them. The core change happens at the playing phase: the physical distance has it is importance to keep customers engaged and create loyalty and for business purposes.business been shortened by the service “play together” since the parents can choose tasks to play with purposes. the children. On the other hand, the children’s play and growth condition has been recorded and organized by the growth system, the parents can have a clear picture of the status of their kids. The customers emotional level has been improved both for the children and the parents

110 111 4.5 Storyboard 5 6 The storyboards (Figure 55, Figure 56, Figure 57) show visually how this service works and it has also been a very useful tool for me to use for the preliminary test, in which I used the storyboard to show and describe the concept to the company and some of the parents in order to collect their feedbacks. In the storyboard, one family went to the EBH play zone and used the “EBH play together service” through WeChat official account. And then, the parent chose one game to co-play with their son and gained some reward. The mom noticed what the kid achieved after today’s play. She also enjoyed herself when the kid was completing the task.

1 2 7 8

3 4 9 10

Figure 55 Storyboard of “Play together“ Figure 56 Storyboard of “Play together“

112 113 4.6 Service Blueprint

11 12

“The blueprint is a diagram visualizes the relationships between different service components — people, props (physical or digital evidence), and processes — that are directly tied to touchpoints in a specific customer journey.” (Gibbons, 2017)

I made the blueprint (Figure 58) in order to showcase all the complex processes and small functions that my concept “PLAY together” provides through the whole journey map. The blueprint shows how the 13 14 customer interacts with different touchpoints, and also what manpower and facilities or functions are needed behind the scenes for each step.

15 16

Figure 57 Storyboard of “Play together“

114 115 Figure 58 Service Blueprint of “Play together“

116 117 4.7 Content design

In order to make my design more solid and tangible. I designed several games and activities in order to place them inside my play zone concept “Play together”. These games are: “Sandbox”, for the younger baby under 3 years old; “Carrot adventure”, a task game to let children older than 3 years old to have an adventure role play game; “Save the shark”, for the young kids and the parents to play together with AR1 technology; “Secret base”, for elder children to team play.

1 AR: Augmented Reality is an interactive experience of a real-world environment where the objects that reside in the real-world are “augmented” by computer-generated perceptual information, sometimes across multiple sensory modalities, including visual, auditory, haptic, somatosensory, and olfactory. Game: Sand box

Age: 0+ Location: Sand area

How to play: It is free to start at any time, perfectly fits kids under 3 years old. The parents can get the instructions from the WeChat Official Account and guide the children to play with some easy steps and tasks such as filling the sand and moving it, looking for the treasure under the sand, etc.

What to achieve: Fine motor skills like Grab, Hold, Pour, Pick, Fill; Flexibility; Sense of textures

118 119 Name: Carrot Adventure Name: Save the Shark

Age: 3+ Location: Naughty Castle Age: 2+ Location: Ball pit

How to play: It can be found inside the menu of WeChat Official account. Parents can choose this How to play: It is played automatically every 2 hours, uses AR tech to project the game scene task and co-play with their children. The children need to climb the castle and then go to the mini on the wall at the ball pit. The children need to throw the ball onto the claws to save the shark. supermarket to “buy” a carrot in a role-play scenario. This game lets the children learn knowledge The game lasts 45 sec to 1 minute and has no attendees’ limitation. The WeChat Official account about animal, nature, the basis of numbers, and calculation. It also let the children experience the notifies the parents before the game starts. Parents can let their kids to prepare and participate. shopping process and social skills. What to achieve:Physical development; Imagination and creativity; Teamwork; Hand- What to achieve: Physical development; Imagination and creativity; Social and emotional eye coordination; Timing; Social consciousness; Awareness about the zenvironment. development; Language and communication skills; Thinking, learning and problem solving abilities.

120 121 I also designed some activities for the “stay connected” step of the customer journey to be. It is also part of the reward system since parents can choose to redeem Name: Secret Base some benefit such as toys and free entry of activity. Even though it is not the core part of the service, but it shows how the EBH play zone plays together with other Age: 3+ Location: Block area counterparts.

How to play: This game is a team play game, it gives the task that requires children to cooperate I talked with several interviewees and summarized the most voted activities that and use the block to build some typical architecture, such as the Chinese pagoda, and the Tower parents like, then I discussed with the EBH company about the cost and feasibility. Eiffel, the Egypt Pyramid. Finally, six initial activities have been suggested: Healthy food workshop, Life skill camp, Music camp, Dram theater, Artisan market, ABC games. Each of the activities What to achieve: Team work; Geography knowledge; Physical skills; Architecture; Culture. is cooperated with some potential business partners and aims to let children have fun but also learn for their early development in terms of different aspects.

122 123 Artisan market Healthy Food Workshop Art Education company Food company sponsor

It provides space and opportunity for children This activity promotes a healthy diet and to show their own handcraft talent. They can teaches kids and parents how to make healthy exchange and trade their artworks as a “Real breakfast. Can cooperate with the food open market”. This helps children to exchange company, children restaurant. It is held during experience and talents to each other, and also the weekends, and also can have seasonal food practice on handing working. workshop of traditional food like dumplings and rice ball.

Life skills Camp Mini Drama Theater Volunteer/ Elderly Early Education company

This workshop teaches children some basic life It gives children a simple lesson to play a short skills such as how to dress up and how to tie drama together, and train them on how to the shoelace through a game-like way. Some perform in front of the others, helps them to simple housework can be taught by volunteers gain some basic communication capacity and and “empty nesters”. the appreciation with art.

Music forum ABC game Art Education company Language Education company

It gives children a simple lesson and activity It develops speech, communication and to sing together and train them on how to presentation skills. It provides Simple perform in front of the others. It also helps knowledge of languages. the kids to gain some basic music capacity and learn to appreciate music and art.

124 125 4.8 Visual identity design

In order to establish the visual identity of the EBH play zone, I designed a signature style guide for the company to use as a reference. The purpose is to give a general idea of visuals to them to follow. The visual system showed in Figure 59, Figure 60, Figure 61 consists of the symbol and logotype, the color, the signature composition, the signage, the story characters. The characters are created based on the new coming kiddie ride toys the company is developing.

Figure 59 EBH Kingdom 126 Signature style guide 127 Figure 60 EBH Kingdom Figure 61 EBH Kingdom 128 Signature style guide Signature style guide 129 4.9 Touchpoint design

This section describes the design of the digital platform and product for the users. Regarding the digital platform, I have chosen WeChat, because it is widely used in China. The WeChat official account can function as a software application, it is enough to scan the QR code without having to download any software, which saves parents time and reduce the cost of use.

The attached Figure 62, Figure 63, Figure 64 show some interfaces of the main functions of my concept “EBH play together”. From the WeChat official account, the user can sync the children’s band with the account, can pay from the WeChat Pay, can choose different games to let the children play inside the play zone, can check the personal profile to know the play data and growth status of their children, can interact more to gain reward.

Figure 62 EBH Kingdom WeChat Official Account Navigation

130 131 Home page Sync with the band 3 minutes tutorial Game sample Safety function Function menu

Game menu Scan the QR code Home page Baby profile Growth status pyramid Activity page

Figure 63 EBH Kingdom WeChat Official Account Interface Figure 64 EBH Kingdom WeChat Official Account Interface 132 133 4.10 Prototype test Chapter 5 conclusion In this project, I made two kinds of user tests. One I call it “Say-test”, that is I illustrated the whole concept to the user with a storyboard. Then I listen to their This project lasted about six months and it involved several activities, including: desk research, thoughts and feedbacks toward the whole concept. user research, insights development, preliminary design opportunities, case studies, design concept development, and design development.

In the “say test”, I have received many feedbacks from the parents. Most of the Through the understanding and analysis of the development of play zone in China, the parents thought positively to the concept of “play together”. I received about 12 development and trend analysis of service design in the children play zone industry, and the comments and suggestion about the service. Most of the comments are about user data gained in the user research, the pain points of the whole play process is understood. the safety part, parents want more function on the band or inside the play zone to make sure the kid is safe or under the supervision. Some of the comments The needs of children and their families from different levels were clarified and a design model are related to which kind of game their children would like to play. Some other was established. The overall concept for the next generation of play zones, “EBH Play together”, comments related to the reward program, they let me know what kinds of gifts was designed and illustrated at a different level of details through different traditional service and reward they and the kids would like to have. The final design I made has design deliverables, including a customer’s journey to-be, a prototype and a visual identity already included some of their comments. system that has been shared with EBH company waiting for implementation. The EBH company also had a very positive assessment of this work, and they appreciated the service The second test I call it “Do-test”. It means to let the user do a real test with the design methodologies adopted during the project execution. As a small company, they did not prototype. I made a WeChat official account prototype by Adobe XD. The user have any systematic method about research and development procedures so that the design can their mobile phone and try the service. Unfortunately, at the time of writing, method I shared with them have been considered very interesting and useful for their business. the first play zone has not still been opened so we didn’t have a chance yet to try it They said to be satisfied also with the design concept model, as they thought that “Safety, Joy in a real context. Therefore, I created some illustrations to replace the real photo and Growth” could also be the principle and vision of the whole business about children play of the play zone which has not been established yet. The company has got all the zone in the future. However, they do have concerns about the cost of all the services I designed. materials and is expecting to start the tests it in May 2019. We are still working on it and try to find the most economical way to fulfill it.

134 135 5.1 Strengthens Appendix

The advantage of this thesis is that this work contains very concrete user research results achieved through the inclusion of diverse target groups and a complete service design approach. The insights and local context were deeply studied and analyzed. Furthermore, the analysis is based on solid research with a wide range of samples. The findings I got Interview questions from the research are not just facial facts but thorough views: The customers’ and users’ behaviors have been translated into the social level, and presented in a systematic logic. How old are you? What do you do? How many children do you have? How old are they/is he/she?

How often do you/ your children go to the indoor play zone? 5.2 Limitations How much time you/your child spend on the indoor play zone? At what time you/your children usually go to the indoor play zone? I did this project as my final thesis individually, which is different from my experience in the previous academic program studies. As many of the design activities benefits from WHERE is your (your child’s) first choice to play? Why? team work and different point of views on the same topic generally brings better ideas, WHAT is your (your child’s) first choice to play? Why? sometimes I felt it was not easy to work alone on such a project without the support of a design team. Secondly, working with a company has its drawbacks too, being the company Do you pay for the play zone or you choose the free ones? business-oriented rather than being user-centered as I am as a designer, therefore there How much do you usually spend on it? has been times we were not on the same page. Aspects such as potential revenue or technical feasibility were clearly a priority for the company, but in the early design phase I At the place, do you often play alone or with others? Why? needed to be able to think freely and “diverge”. Lastly, because of the limited time available Do you like to play with peers or parents? Why? and of the big effort it requires, the samples I chose and the interviewees I conducted may still represent a small part of the Chinese market and it might be useful to explore further What do you like about the current indoor play zone? different target of potential users. What you don’t like about it? Another limitation is that I mostly worked remotely, except for two weeks of field research Which are your favorite playthings, why? and interviews in China. This somehow created some difficulties since I was away from the market and context for most of the project. zWhat is your concern about the indoor play zone? Do you think learning should be together with play?

136 137 The reason why you bring your child to the indoor playg zone? Question for expertise If you also play with your children, do you enjoy it, why? Anything else you want to achieve from playing? Please describe yourself and your job. What’s the difference between playing at home and playing in the play zone? How do you define “Play” of children? Any special experience, good and bad, about indoor play zone? How do you think the status of play zone industry in China? Any idea if we want to make the play zone more innovative?

Expense Fro expertise in play zone industry Do you also consume when your children are playing at the ground? How do you perceive the play zones in urban China? What do you do when your children are playing? What do you think is the best part of it? Other facilities? Bathroom, locker, power socket, Wi-Fi, Bar? Anything need to be improve? Is there any trend in this industry? Early Education and envelopment Do you believe that children can learn from play? What’s your most difficult part of your work? What do you think your kid achieved from play? What do you wish your kid can achieve through play? Play zone operator/owner

Agenda table How is the relationship between the shopping center and the manager who in to record the daily routine of the interviee’s family charge of the play zones? What’s the important aspect to attract kid to come? How does the staff work here? Any trouble with the children or parents when they are playing? What’s the most popular attractions at your place, why? Any problem that you need to solve during your work?

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142 143 Figures

Yan, X. (2018). The logic and pattern of development of New Retail. Social Sci- Figure 1 The development process of this project ence Front, 7, pp. 257-261. Figure 2 The evolution of Chinese character: “play” (Chaziwang, 2018) Yin, R. K. (2013). Case Study Research: Design and Methods (5th ed.). Thousand Figure 3 An exmaple image of play zone in China, from Chuangyongtz Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. Figure 4 The image of a play zone in a shoppingmall of Yichang, China. By Ao Shen Figure 5 The image of a play zone in a shoppingmall of Yichang, China. By Ao Shen Figure 6 A corner of a bookshop in Shenzhen, China. Photo taken by Ao Shen Figure 7 China’s shiflting demopgraphics Figure 8 The four aspects to develop from “Early Childhood Education Guideline”, scheme creat- ed by Ao Shen Figure 9 The five approches to develop directions from “Early Childhood Guideline”, scheme created by Ao Shen Figure 10 The trends of the are of children business inside the shopping centers in Shanghai, illustration by Ao Shen Figure 11 The everage time spending of the family at the children’s play zone, illustration by Ao Shen Figure 12 Prediction numbers of Chinese family with children, illustration by Ao Shen Figure 13 Scheme of transformation of child play and games in urban China. Created by Ao Shen referred to the insights from Pan (Pan,2011) Figure 14 A grandpa holding a grandson. Photo by sklei (Pexels) Figure 15 Ecology system of Chinese childhood by Ao Shen Figure 16 Ideation workshop by Ao Shen Figure 17 An interview of with Song, the manager of kids area in Yichang Mall Figure 18 An interview of the author with five pparents in Yichang, China. Figure 19 Observation: Two kids are playing at a toy store in Shuiyuecheng shoppingmall, Yichang,China. by Ao Shen Figure 20 A boy is doing the collage game. Yichang,China. Photo by Ao Shen Figure 21 The key quotes and notes from interviewees. Photo by Ao Shen Figure 22 The cluster of insights. Photo by Ao Shen Figure 23 A photo of an interviewee Dad and daughter in Beijing. Figure 24 A photo of an interviewee mom and son in Beijing. Figure 25 A photo of an interviewee family with two kids.

144 145 Figure 26 Parents play mobilephone outside a play zone in CBD Mall, Yichang,China. Figure 59 EBH Kingdom Signature style guide Figure 27 The children looking at the toys in a shop at Shuiyuecheng Shopping Mall, Yichang, Figure 60 EBH Kingdom Signature style guide China. Photo By Ao Shen Figure 61 EBH Kingdom Signature style guide Figure 28 The boy in “observation section”. Photo by Ao Shen Figure 62 EBH Kingdom WeChat Official Account Navigation Figure 29 The Needs pyramid Figure 63 EBH Kingdom WeChat Official Account Interface Figure 30 The family photo of Bo Hu’s family. Figure 64 EBH Kingdom WeChat Official Account Interface Figure 31 Persona 1 Chen the Exhausted Figure 32 Persona 2 Xiaobo the Guardian Dad Figure 33 Persona 3 Baobao the Vivacious Figure 34 As-is Customer Journey Map Figure 35 Scheme of Design oppertunity Figure 36 Line Friends store Figure 37 Kid activity of Med Club Figure 38 “Allkids” education product Figure 39 Starbuck mobile pay Figure 40 Line Friends store, photo from Linefriends.com Figure 41 Line Friends Store, photo by Linefriends.com Figure 42 Line Friends Store, photo by Linefriends.com Figure 43 “MedClub” Children activities, photo by KellyLa Figure 44 “MedClub” Children activities, photo by KellyLa Figure 45 “Allkids” education product, photo by yitong.com Figure 46 “Allkids” education product, photo by yitong.com Figure 47 Starbucks reward program, photo by starbucks.com Figure 48 Starbucks reward program, photo by starbucks.com Figure 49 Staruck’s deigital flywheel from ThoughtWorks Figure 50 Scheme of Design concept model Figure 51 Development timeline Figure 52 Service offering map of “Play together“ Figure 53 Service ecology map of “Play together“ Figure 54 Jounery map to-be of “Play together“ Figure 55 Storyboard of “Play together“ Figure 56 Storyboard of “Play together“ Figure 57 Storyboard of “Play together“ Figure 58 Service Blueprint of “Play together“

146 147 148