play360 x NYU Game Center
At its core, the project develops a strong visual language that blends clarity and purpose with contemporary design and brand coherence.
Client: play360
Category: Game Design, Editorial Design
A curriculum integrated sourcebook developed for play360 to empower educators in transforming global playgrounds into dynamic, research backed landscapes for cognitive and social learning.
I co-authored and designed the Play360 Game Encyclopedia, a living sourcebook of games specifically engineered for the play makers.
Every game in the collection is designed to be:
Curriculum Aligned: Bridging play with language, math, and science.
Skill-Oriented: Targeting the 21st Century Literacies; Creativity, Collaboration, Communication, and Critical Thinking.
Accessible: Using minimal materials and simple rules to ensure any student, regardless of age or location, can participate.
What does the client want?
While playgrounds provide the physical space for movement, teachers often face hurdles in connecting outdoor play with indoor academic goals. Working with Play360, a non-profit dedicated to building playful learning spaces in underserved communities worldwide, our research team identified a need for a bridge between the playground structure and the classroom curriculum.
The Research: Traditional Games & Curricular Alignment
My role involved bridging the gap between historical play and modern pedagogy. As a team, we integrated our research, for me it was my research into traditional Turkish and Irish playground games, adapting these cultural heritage pieces into modern curricular frameworks.
Curricular Integration: Each game was categorised by its learning outcomes, ranging from early literacy and mathematics to social-emotional skills like communication and collaboration.
Cultural Versatility: We ensured the games were "low-barrier," meaning they could be played in diverse geographic contexts using only locally available materials or the playground's own features.
The Design: Visual Literacy & Universal Access
Designing for a global audience meant prioritising visual communication over text-heavy instructions.
Universal Iconography: We developed a system of visual cues and diagrams to explain rules and setups, ensuring the encyclopedia is accessible to users regardless of their primary language or literacy level.
Inclusive Colour Systems: Following my standard workflow, the encyclopedia utilises an accessibility-first colour palette, optimised for various types of color blindness, printing availability and use to ensure clarity for all educators.
