Skrens//
service design
Sports are, for many children and youth, an arena where they undergo significant development. This development encompasses social skills, proficiency, a sense of accomplishment, team spirit, motivation, and joy. Unfortunately, many children with disabilities miss out on this aspect of life due to the barriers associated with their impairments. Our hope and goal with this project are to provide everyone with the opportunity to experience a sense of belonging to sports.
Our solution was a redesign of the existing parasport event organized by NVWF. This event is designed for young participants and is intended to take place year-round, in collaboration with the skiing association 🏄🏽♀️⛷️. This extension of the season allows participants to engage in skiing throughout the year, testing the sport on water, land, and snow, as these sports share many techniques with significant transfer value. We also worked on improving communication to make it more accessible for everyone. The website has been refreshed, and posters have been created.
We have put a lot of effort into making the concept of an "experience" clear to all involved. During the event, NVWF are the experts, and we trust that they are best equipped to handle the logistics. However, we believe we can contributeby emphasizing that the experience of a parasport event begins long before the event itself. We want to use our expertise to expand the experience, making it evident to all involved that the service "parasport event" extends far beyond the hours spent at the venue. We have made small adjustments in various aspects of the experience, aiming to take small steps in the right direction. Our intention is not revolutionize how parasport events function today but to assist in making a positive change.
This project was largely about being able to put yourself in someone else's shoes. Understanding the daily life of a person with disabilities is challenging and impossible to be certain of. However, it taught me a lot about designing for others rather than for yourself, and about using the opportunity to talk to users and try to understand their needs.
My group for this project consisted of Andrea Gammelgård, Elias Eilertsen and Nikolai Yago Conde.Many thanks to NVWF and sports educators at Sunnaas Hospital for their fantastic support and input.