2025 - Present
Designing a Playful XR Experience for Pediatric Care
A mobile extended reality (XR) concept game designed to help pediatric patients reframe stressful sensory experiences during medical procedures.
Overview
Turning a one-day design challenge into an ongoing hospital collaboration
Boil & Bubble began during a University of Michigan Design Jam in partnership with C.S. Mott Children's Hospital. The hospital presented students with a real pediatric-care challenge and asked teams to develop concepts that could improve the patient experience.
Our team proposed a playful XR experience using augmented reality that reframes stressful sensory cues during chronic medical procedures through a potion-making game. The hospital selected our concept to continue beyond the event, and we have since been refining the experience with the goal of developing it for future use.
My Contribution
Concept development
Experience strategy
User journey mapping
Interaction design
Screen sketches and flows
Al-assisted prototype iteration
Ongoing collaboration with the hospital team
The Impact
1st Place - Design Jam Winner
Selected as the top concept among 6-7 competing teams.
1st Place - Access, Belonging & Inclusion
Awarded top project in the thematic category at the UMSI's Design Innovation Expo.
Continuing with C.S. Mott Children's Hospital
Real stakeholder interest beyond the original event.
Problem & Context
Reframing an unpleasant smell through play
The hospital challenged us to explore how technology could make pediatric procedures feel less intimidating. One key sensory trigger was smell, which the hospital found difficult to address because clinical odors cannot be simply removed. These odors can become associated with fear, discomfort, and the procedure itself.
Our concept focused on changing that interpretation. Instead of asking children to ignore the smell, we explored how a game could reframe it as part of a playful potion-making experience.
A visit to the hospital helped us understand the environment where the experience would actually be used. The solution needed to work with limited movement, medical equipment, minimal setup, and ongoing clinician involvement.
How might we transform a clinical ordors into a playful cue that changes how children experience the procedure?
Design Opportunity
Reframing the environment instead of hiding it
Our concept centered on a simple idea: rather than asking children to ignore unpleasant odors, Boil & Bubble could give those smells a new meaning.
The experience turns the procedure into a playful potion-making journey. The game uses the environment to generate ingredients and prompts to create moments of discovery that allow the child to reinterpret the elements in their surroundings rather than remain a passive observer.
Design principles
Reframe, don’t just distract
Use the environment as material for play.
Give the child agency
Let them make choices and their imagination to take over.
Keep interaction lightweight
Minimize instruction and physical effort.
Design around the procedure
The game should fit into the clinical workflow,not compete with it.
Exploration & AI-Assisted Prototyping
Turning the concept into an interactive experience
We mapped the experience through user journeys, hand-drawn screens, and interaction flows, exploring how children could discover ingredients, make choices, and create a potion while the procedure takes place.
Rapid prototyping with AI
We used AI-assisted tools to quickly turn ideas into prototypes and explore different visual directions, interactions, and story sequences. Each iteration helped us communicate and demonstrate the concept to stakeholders while developing a more concrete vision for the final experience.
Where we are now
The core experience and interaction flow are defined, but the product is still in development. We are currently working toward a functional version with dedicated development and visual graphics.
Lessons
Designing for a real environments & experimenting with new ways of working
This project reinforced that an innovative idea only works if it fits the environment where it will actually be used. Visiting the hospital pushed me to design around stakeholders' needs, rather than treating the game as a one-size-fits all.
It also gave me an opportunity to explore AI as part of the design process. I used AI-assisted tools to rapidly brainstorm directions, visualize ideas, and iterate on prototypes, helping my team and I make concepts tangible and compare alternatives.
The experience taught me to treat AI design thinking partner for accelerating exploration and making iteration more accessible during the early stages of product development.
