EMO+

In today's society, there's a clear increase in the number of people diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Alongside this trend, there's also a growing societal inclusion to understanding and embracing individuals within the autistic community. Especially for the friends and family of autistic adults, they're more likely to provide understanding, support, and encouragement to help them navigate social interactions more smoothly.

EMO+ is a set of board game designed to help autistic adults to better interpret other people’s emotions, which requires the involvement of both autistic individuals and people who around them. This tool can also can be used to ease frustration and reduce misunderstandings among individuals who think and communicate differently.

The essence of the design is to illustrate the framework of emotions, enabling autistic individuals to enhance communication through visual tools that deconstruct emotions. This facilitates a deeper understanding of emotional distinctions between themselves and their friends and family, while also encouraging them to embrace new perspectives.

There’re two parts of the game:
Part 1 is the warm-up session, where one user selects prompt cards from the card library representing various element (e.g. time, place) to create a story while the other places emotion cards (e.g. happy) on the story timeline to express emotions. Both users use emotion cards to communicate their emotional perceptions of the event, fostering understanding.

Part 2 features two sets of pieces, six movement cards, and item cards. It's for post-argument or conflict analysis, where players select starting positions representing their interpretations of the conflict. They navigate using movement cards, aiming to understand each other's thoughts, and win by reaching the opponent's position.