Playing With Play Moods in Movement-Based Design

This paper examines how play practices and play moods can shape movement-based design, arguing that play is not merely a tool for generating design insights but a meaningful practice with intrinsic value. Building on Helle Skovbjerg's triad of play, which relates play media, play practices, and play moods, the authors propose that the generative phase of movement-based design can be understood as a playful practice of moods. The study is grounded in constructive design research and centres on two movement-based design workshops held at a Danish university, one involving students and playground company designers exploring outdoor playful fitness equipment, and another a hybrid workshop on movement-based STEAM-X learning games with participants both on-site and online.

Data were generated through video observation, self-recorded participant video sketches, and semi-structured online interviews with five participants, one from each observed group. The analysis, conducted through thematic analysis, identified play practices such as sliding and exceeding alongside the play moods of devotion and euphoria. These moods were associated with sustained engagement, improvisation, and the production of new meaning, with participants moving between exploration and repetition as the activity unfolded. The authors note that these categories are archetypes and that real play typically blends several moods.

The paper's principal recommendations are that designers treat play moods as an intrinsically motivating value that drives design processes toward spontaneity, exploration, and generation, and that they deliberately balance ludic structure with paideia-style openness. The authors acknowledge the limited scale of the empirical base, a point that frames their call for further research on how designers can actively work with play moods in play, game, and health design.