The design development of a "Serious" board game – mediating the tension between playing the game and modelling experience for the purpose of gathering information.

As part of the SEED project a serious game was designed to help a service user group based in a Psychiatric Unit to influence the redesign of their hospital environment. This consultation tool can be adapted to suit diverse contexts and applications. The paper will examine the tension between designing a game that elicits pleasure and enjoyment from the participants and stimulates discussion and interaction which can supply useful information gathering when working with marginalised participants and those who have difficulty communicating their emotional responses in conventional consultation processes. We will demonstrate that the game format can be a useful tool to facilitate clearer communication between professionals and marginalised user groups, such as designers and mental health service users and present the design development of the game from the initial concept through to application in other healthcare contexts and projects