Tears of Laughter
Tears of Laughter is a resource designed to encourage families affected by dementia to talk about and share the funny and random things their loved one with dementia does using storytelling prompt dice to help trigger these funny and nicer stories. After a story is shared, it is treasured in a family-shared journal, ultimately creating a personal journal of nicer memories during a tough time. This resource is somewhere to escape the darkness of dementia for a moment and is a space where a family can reflect on the lighter memories, rather than the darker ones.
The exhibition space is designed to mimic the environment my resource would be used, at a table and chairs. The seating reminds me of a care home/waiting rooms seating, a place where family affected by dementia are found very often when visiting a loved one who is declining from dementia
The abstract shape visual language was incorporated into the table’s design, encouraging people to try the resource by throwing the dice down the swirly shape
The storytelling prompt dice
The family-shared journal
A sleeve goes over the journal which has the box that contains the dice glued to it, keeping the resource together
A flip-through of real stories families affected by dementia documented in the journal when testing the resource
It was interesting to see how different people interpreted the stickers in many ways and all were able to put their personal stories across successfully
A mini story book containing real stories from a family affected by dementia
It’s important to remember that light can be found in the darkness of dementia.