Game x

A simple card game that models diplomatic relations between countries with regard to nuclear weapons and disarmament.

Using the tools and methods of industrial design, how might we reinvigorate public interest and increase engagement around reducing the nuclear threat?

Scoping the problem

Initial assumptions

People don’ know much about nuclear weapons.
They don’t support nuclear weapon developments.
They don’t think nuclear weapons are a direct threat.
They don’t actively think about nuclear security.

User Research

We conducted research, surveys, interviews, and sensory experiments to give us a better sense of the public’s knowledge regarding the issue. We asked questions that explored that explored themes of power and fear on both a personal and global scale. On some users, we conducted a sensory experiment relative to to the theme of nuclear weapons prior to asking questions to see if it affected their answers.

Insights

Most know nuclear weapons exist, but do not know much about them.

Most fear them to some extent and think they are bad, but it doesn’t rank high on their list of fears.
Most feel that they are unnecessary in the long term, but necessary in the current context.
Most feel powerless to impact them because they see the issue this way: “as long as other people have nuclear weapons, [everyone, or we] should have them, too.”
Most believe that the only way to get rid of nuclear weapons completely would be if everyone got rid of them together.
Most have not been completely desensitized to representations of nuclear weapons (e.g., our audio sample). They can still be made to feel something with regard to nuclear weapons.