PLAY IN A RETAIL SURROUNDING -a strategic approach to offering play as a service in the IKEA department stores

Abstract: What kind of play solutions could amuse and entertain children in a retail surrounding as the IKEA store? How can a playing experience for children in a retail surrounding as the IKEA store be designed to last during a desired ammount of time? And how can I use my collected experiences from my Master’s study at HDK when working with a sharp case? This was some of the initial questions framed in my project, in which I have developed ideas and proposals for new methods of how to create new kinds of play experiences for children inside the IKEA stores. By looking at play as a service towards children and use their perspective I have identified and defined play opportunities that already exists inside the store. This has led to a model of a working method used to make the play opportunities available to the children as well as a concept with multiple applications of the method. The project has been made with support from Inter IKEA Systems BV.