The PLEX Cards and its techniques as sources of inspiration when designing for playfulness

Playfulness can be observed in all areas of human activity. It is an attitude of making activities more enjoyable. Designing for playfulness involves creating objects that elicit a playful approach and provide enjoyable experiences. In this paper we introduce the design and evaluation of the PLEX Cards and its two related idea generation techniques. The cards were created to communicate the 22 categories of a Playful Experiences framework to designers and other stakeholders who wish to design for playfulness. We have evaluated the helpfulness of both the cards and their associated techniques in two studies. The results show that the PLEX Cards and its associated techniques are valuable sources of inspiration when designing for playfulness.