Dobberstenen
Project details
- Year
- 2024
- Programme
- Bachelor – Graphic Design
- Practices
- Social Practices
- Minor
- Powerplay
Dobberstenen is a method I developed to help children with a transgender parent talk about living loss, helping them navigate the parent’s transition.
In recent years, LHBTQI+ individuals are becoming more accepted, and therefore it seems safer to come out of the closet than it was 10 years ago. 2 years ago, my own father came out of the closet. She went into social transition almost immediately, meaning she went through life as a woman to the outside world. I live alone with my
father, so I was confronted daily with various emotions and thoughts. “Why didn’t you do this before?” “Did you even want me as your child?” “What should I call you now?” Not to mention not recognizing your own father anymore. I wanted to be happy and proud, to be a support, but mostly I felt alone, and ashamed.
This entailed living loss, loss that you carry with you all your life. A form of grief, where the person you are mourning is still in your life. This is an unheard of storyline, which was not yet explained on online channels, or in support groups. I felt alone at that time, no one really understood me. Which left me not talking about it, preferring to hide it away somewhere no one would ever find it.
To process grief and loss, you need to talk about your emotions and thoughts. Otherwise, the emotions will come back ten times as hard at a later time. You must feel through the emotions, accept them, and find your place in the new reality.
In this project, I searched for a conversational method that makes living loss to be talked about with a close friend or family member. With gamification, you make difficult topics more lighthearted, and easier to discuss. Therefore, I tested different gamification methods, and had interviews with both experiential experts as well as social designers, therapists and organizations that have a heart for this topic.
The Dobberstenen are dice that display icons of recovery, loss, objects and emotions. After rolling the dice, you associate the icons with a situation, emotion, thought or memory that you would like to share. There is one rule: there is no right or wrong. It’s all about opening your heart in a safe haven.
