This paper introduces a creative approach aimed at empowering desk-bound occupational groups to address the issue of physical inactivity at workplaces. The approach involves a gamified toolkit called Workplace Vitality Mapping (WVM) (see Figure 1) designed to encourage self-reflection in sedentary contexts and foster the envision of physical vitality scenarios. This hybrid toolkit comprises two main components: A Card Game (on-site) for context reflection and a Co-design Canvas (Online) for co-designing vitality solutions. Through the card games, participants reflect on key sedentary contexts, contemplating their preferable physical vitality scenarios with relevant requirements. The co-design canvas facilitates the collaborative construction and discussion of vitality scenarios’ development. The perceptions and interactions of the proposed toolkit from the target group were studied and observed through a hybrid workshop, which demonstrated promising results in terms of promoting participants’ engagement experience in contextual reflections and deepening their systemic understanding to tackle the physical inactivity issue. As physical inactivity becomes an increasingly pressing concern, this approach offers a promising participatory way for gaining empathetic insights toward community-level solutions.
Sedentary behavior (SB) is prevalent in workplaces, putting office workers at an increased risk of severe health problems. To help designers and researchers gain a better understanding of office workers’ contextual concerns for physical inactivity (reducing SB and enhancing physical activity (PA)), we have proposed a conceptual framework ACTIVE4. This framework advises designers and researchers to consider four key factors that influence office workers’ physical inactivity: active mind, active behavior, active support, and active environment. We conducted three workshops (N=28 design students) to evaluate the framework. The participants found ACTIVE4 helpful in guiding them towards a more systematic understanding of the environmental influences and office workers’ personal needs for reducing physical inactivity. In future work, we will optimize the ACTIVE4 framework’s learning curve as suggested by participants and conduct an expert study to further discuss design opportunities and requirements for the ACTIVE4-related vitality toolkit.
