Collaboration Design - Task 1 / Empathy Map & Problem Statement

26.9.2025 - 24.10.2025 (Week 1 - Week 5)
Chong Hui Yi / 0363195
Collaboration Design / BDCM
Task 1 / Empathy Map & Problem Statement

TABLE OF CONTENT

1. Instructions

2. Task 1

3. Feedback

4. Reflection

INSTRUCTIONS

Task 1: Empathy Map & Problem Statement

Instruction

Select a project from the provided list and schedule an interview with a chosen expert.
Prepare a questionnaire to help define the problem to be investigated.
Understand the target audience, their needs, issues, and context.
Conduct site visits or research to gather relevant data and insights.
Analyse the collected data to develop a clear problem statement, supported by findings and conclusions.

Progression

Research & Playtesting

In Week 1, we were briefed on Task 1. Our client for this project is the group from the previous Game Studies module, who designed a board game.

Our task: to redesign the visual direction of their game.

To begin, we needed to conduct some research, interviews, and create an empathy map to better understand the users’ needs before starting the design process.

Our group consists of six members:

Ho Winnie (Group Leader)
Lin Si Yan
Chong Hui Yi (me)
Ng Kar Yee
Lew Guo Ying
Melvin Yung

We had two game options to choose from: “Sugar High” and “The Gluconomy”. First, we looked through the physical components of both games to understand their design. After reviewing them, we decided to work on “The Gluconomy” because we felt it had more potential for improvement. Its overall visual system felt inconsistent and incomplete. (Fig. 1.0).

Fig. 1.0 The Gluconomy (game board, power cards, stock market cards, and instruction book.)

Since the creator couldn’t attend class that week, so we read through the game manual and tried playing it ourselves. During the play session, we discovered several unclear rules and confusing parts within the gameplay.

In Week 2, we analysed the pain points in more detail based on our previous gameplay experience and the photos we took. We also did additional research to support our findings. Since the game is related to the biological process of glucose converting into ATP, I took some time to revisit and understand this topic again, which reminded me of what I had learned back in secondary school.

Client Meeting & User Insights

In Week 3, we finally managed to arrange a meeting with The Gluconomy creators, who are also our clients. The goal was to better understand the game’s background and their expectations for the redesign. They mentioned that they wanted to maintain a strong connection between biology and economy, as both elements are equally important. Their target audience is mainly university students, and they hope for a more playful and cute visual direction.

Later, we interviewed one NUS Bioscience student and one Taylor’s Design student to get their opinions on the game’s visuals. Since the physical game cards had already been taken back, we could only show them pictures and explain the gameplay during the interview.

From their responses and our earlier playtesting, we summarised our findings and created an empathy map to better understand the players’ thoughts, frustrations, and expectations when engaging with the game. This helped us clearly identify the key pain points to focus on during the redesign process.

Visual Direction

Based on these insights, we decided to refresh the art direction. The game combines elements of biology and economy, but we didn’t want it to feel too serious or complicated. Instead, we aimed to make it more pastel, friendly, and playful, something that looks more inviting and engaging for players. We then created a moodboard (Fig. 2.0) to guide the overall tone and visual direction.

Fig. 2.0 Moodboard

Next, we explored several font combinations and finally decided on the first option on the left in Fig. 3.0. The heading uses Your Doodle Font, while the body text uses Naturalist Font. The overall handwritten style gives the design a more casual, approachable, and fun feeling.

Fig. 3.0 Font pairing exploration

Fig. 3.1 Final heading & body fonts.

Since the original game was designed for six players, it required six different colours. We decided to use six pastel tones to match the friendly and playful visual direction.

Fig. 4.0 Colour Palette

Final Outcome

Fig. 5.0 Presentation Slide - Task 1: Empathy Map & Problem Statement

FEEDBACK

Week 5:

Broaden the user persona by including a more diverse range of participants for greater accuracy.
Keep the moodboard focused with only relevant references.
Reduce text on slides so the audience can focus on the presentation.
Share findings with similar theme groups to compare insights.

REFLECTION

This task gave me a better understanding of the importance of research before starting any design work. Since we were progressing with Task 1 and Task 2 at the same time, my main focus was on the visual direction and art elements of The Gluconomy. Even though I was less involved in the early research stage, I still learned a lot from our group discussions and playtesting.

We only had one week to access the physical Gluconomy game, which made it quite challenging to explore the gameplay in depth. However, playing the game during that time allowed us to experience it firsthand and identify its main pain points such as the visual clutter, unclear tokens, and inconsistent design. These insights helped us form a clearer idea of how to improve the game visually.

Through this task, I realised how essential it is to understand user needs and problems before moving into design. Research and empathy mapping are not just formal steps as they guide the whole creative direction and ensure that the final outcome truly improves the user experience.

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Chong Hui Yi (0363195)