Advanced Play Design: Play as a Methodology for Creative Practice Research – The Australian Council of University Art and Design Schools

Play can be generative and collaborative but also provocative and disruptive, transgressing established ways of knowing, doing and thinking to open up new possibilities. Although there is emerging recognition of the capacity of play in learning and teaching in higher education contexts, scholars have noted that play-based methods remain underutilized and devalued in university settings. This paper presents a pedagogic methodology in which play is adopted in a studio-based postgraduate program to challenge conventional and standardized approaches in animation, games and interactivity and expand student’s creative practice in novel ways. Through a critical reflection on the aims, practice and impact of these playful methods, we highlight the importance of play in fostering community, experimentation and collaboration in creative practice research within higher education contexts.

About the author

Dr Matthew Riley is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Design at RMIT University. His creative practice and scholarship in experimental design, art practice and critical forms of play have been recognised in exhibitions, events and conferences in Japan, United Kingdom, Portugal, France, Austria, Finland and Hong Kong. With Uyen Nguyen and Max Piantoni, he is a co-founder of the experimental play design collective Yomeci Play and he is also a member of the Future Play Lab at RMIT University.

Uyen Nguyen (Yomeci Play) is a designer, researcher and educator whose creative practice develops sound-based works, public art, interactive installations, experimental games and urban play works. Her site-specific works have been shared in national and international venues, events and exhibitions. Uyen is a PhD candidate in the RMIT’s School of Design exploring the intersection of place-play-sound-people and a lecturer in RMIT’s Master of Animation, Games and Interactivity and Future Play Lab.