TY - UNPB
T1 - Play, Flow and Wonder
T2 - Reassessing the Notion of Optimal Experience
AU - Legaard, Jesper Falck
PY - 2022/12/13
Y1 - 2022/12/13
N2 - Since its introduction almost 50 years ago, the concept of ‘flow’ has been descriptive of optimal experiences, also in relation to play. However, the explorative nature of play leads to some discrepancies between flow and the optimal experience of play. In this paper the differences between flow and play are explored, leading to proposing the state of ‘wonder’ (directed at exploration) as an alternative to ‘flow’. From this perspective, the study further explores how we may design toys that enable meaningful experiences of play, identifying opportunities in designing for toys as the enablers of immersed experiences of wonder.
AB - Since its introduction almost 50 years ago, the concept of ‘flow’ has been descriptive of optimal experiences, also in relation to play. However, the explorative nature of play leads to some discrepancies between flow and the optimal experience of play. In this paper the differences between flow and play are explored, leading to proposing the state of ‘wonder’ (directed at exploration) as an alternative to ‘flow’. From this perspective, the study further explores how we may design toys that enable meaningful experiences of play, identifying opportunities in designing for toys as the enablers of immersed experiences of wonder.
KW - Play
KW - Flow
KW - wonder
KW - Design
U2 - doi: 10.20944/preprints202212.0251.v1
DO - doi: 10.20944/preprints202212.0251.v1
M3 - Preprint
BT - Play, Flow and Wonder
ER -