Playful Design for Heritage

In this research, I am examining a playful design as an alternative strategic instrument for valorisation and promotion of cultural heritage. It combines different approaches, methods and design principles to make things more fun. The goal is to engage people with the heritage site and render their experience more memorable to ultimately increase the attractiveness of the heritage site.

Playful design is examined as the opposite to serious games, but it’s a liminal concept of gamification – interpreted as a design strategy that use game mechanics and elements in non-game context to enhance the involvement of the public in the experience of a product or service. Playful design and gamification have numerous applications across different disciplines and context for decades, and their use in the field of cultural heritage tourism is increasingly growing. This design strategy proved to be an efficient tool for improving visitor engagement, learning, and overall experience.

Within this framework, the research is developed in close collaboration with the manager of the cultural site in North Sardinia. It explores the development of interactive artifacts to enhance the site. The artefacts combine physical elements and digital multimedia content. Using smartphone or tablet, visitors will be able to interact with site information, and other interactive digital contents before, during or after their visit.

Conducted by Nađa Beretić, this work has been developed within the framework of the project e.INS-Ecosystem of Innovation for Next Generation Sardinia funded by the Italian Ministry for Research and Education (MUR) under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP). This project is developed around the need for the transfer of skills and technologies to entities that work in the field of cultural heritage promotion.