​An Interactive Narrative Experience.

In a collaboration with Sam Anderson and Saber Zhang, our concept focused on redesigning the experience of UCSF's check in process to feel more like a narrative. ​While our brief didn't specify, we decided to focus on a children's hospital and designing something playful for children. Thus, we were starting to do a lot of research in the UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Emergency Department. We were also discovering new and novel ways of looking at a hospital through the lens of a child, as well as the dedication that the hospital gave to their pediatric department.

UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital

UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital's Bear Force One Helicopter

Process: Brainstorming

We got together and started body storming, acting out how we wanted our concept to go forward. We each quickly ideated and jotted down all our ideas, and the idea of a portable animal came about. We wanted the core concept of making the hospital check in progress to be made for children, not for the parents or the adults. As children, we wanted them to have a memento of their journey, of their courage, so we came up with the idea of a sticker or a travel passport. Then we were testing what sorts of things children might say or do, or what we wanted the doctors or the nurses to learn from the travel companion we dubbed 'Doctor Chicken'.

Sam's visualization of our whiteboard bodystorming concept.

My system mapping of Doctor Chicken's user flow.

​​Who is Doctor Chicken?

Doctor Chicken ​is a stuffed animal with a Google Home (or other voice responding device) inside of it. The child is provided with a passport and the chicken, and embarks on a wonderful adventure in the waiting room. Doctor Chicken then guides the child around the room as their parents check them in. The room houses 'stations' where they meet animals and have a stamping station. As they wait they're traveling the world, stamping their passport, and talking to Doctor Chicken.

I started to code in Dialogflow in order to get the chicken to respond to voice commands. These prompts would gather some preliminary information before a doctor comes and sees the child, as well as accommodating the child (such as the favorite color translating to colored sheets or colored decor). In order to make the product a bit more realistic, I also incorporated clips such as chicken noises and bamboo being crushed.

Experience Doctor Chicken:  https://bit.ly/2Er1FHe

A dialogflow example of our sea lion code.