Ô Ăn Quan is a traditional Vietnamese children’s game usually played outdoors, with a simple board drawn on the ground and pebbles used as pieces. While the game is widely loved, it is largely inaccessible to children with visual impairments, who often feel excluded from such social play.

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For this project, I worked with a children’s home in Ho Chi Minh City that supports children with physical disabilities, including visual impairment. The aim was to redesign Ô Ăn Quan to be more inclusive, allowing visually impaired children to play alongside their peers.

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The design process centred on empathy, user testing, and co-creation. Since I did not share the same lived experience as the users, I relied on close collaboration, professional consultation, iterative prototyping, and direct feedback from the children. Both digital drawings and physical models were developed through multiple iterations.

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The final design features:

• Tactile numbers and braille markers for easy navigation of the board.

• A slanted base to prevent pieces from rolling away.

• Raised side walls to separate game areas and make pieces easier to locate.

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This project was both challenging and deeply rewarding, strengthening my ability to design inclusively, apply empathetic research methods, and translate user needs into tangible solutions.