>60 DESIGN CENTRE LAUNCHES A-HAH! INTERACTIVE MEMORY GAME AT 24TH CONFERENCE OF ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE INTERNATIONAL

Singapore - >60 Design Centre, Singapore's National Design Centre for Ageing, has designed a made-in-Singapore card game to help people suffering from dementia.
Singapore - >60 Design Centre, Singapore's National Design Centre for Ageing, has designed a made-in-Singapore card game to help people suffering from dementia.

28.04.2009 News

Singapore - >60 Design Centre, Singapore's National Design Centre for Ageing, has designed a made-in-Singapore card game to help people suffering from dementia. Known as A-HAH!, this card game was officially launched at the 24th Conference of Alzheimer's Disease International on 25-28 March 2009. The >60 Design Centre is supported by , a member of the Icograda Education Network.

A-HAH! is a non-language-biased, cross boundary card game specially designed for people with mild dementia and as an everyday tool for their caregivers at home and in dementia centres. Developed by >60 Design Centre in close collaboration with Alzheimer's Disease Association, Singapore (ADA) and The Ad Planet Group, the A-HAH! card games encourage active brain stimulation, social interaction and intergeneration bonding, which could reduce the risk of dementia in seniors.

This launch is particularly significant to the >60 Design Centre because it underlines the Temasek Design School's desire to grow a generation of socially responsible designers, whose work will impact lives and transform society. The school believes that beyond the skills, a good values system could bring the designer to the next level.

"One of our goals is to contribute to research and development of products and services that will make a difference in the lives of those affected by Alzheimer's and dementia now and for future generations. ADA is glad to have contributed to the making of A-HAH! card games, and this will be a great tool for caregivers all over the world," said Dr Ng Li Ling, Vice President of Alzheimer's Disease Association. A-HAH! was launched on an international platform with more than a thousand delegates from 65 countries. The A-HAH! game packs were proudly distributed to all conference delegates. Due to the wide dissemination of game packs during ADI 2009, A-HAH! has made its way to the United Kingdom, India, China, Hong Kong SAR, Nigeria, and many countries around the globe. 10, 000 new sets will be manufactured to help a greater number of elderly patients.

About Design & Research of A-HAH!
Universal design was the key in the Centre's design conceptualisation process. Inspiration for this project came from research studies that hinted at physical, leisure and cognitively stimulating activities having combined effects of reducing the onset of dementia.

The entire process from ideation, design conceptualisation, research and development, user testing (size of card, concept and colours) with a wide range of sample size, and the final prototype took three months. Initially the Center targeting for the launch of the game packs at the World Conference. The developers were fortunate to have the partnership of ADA and APG, the dementia patients and their caregivers who took part in the user tests. The journey was intense, the process meticulous but the spirit is fulfilled.


Above: Memoritz and Fruito, two sets of A-HAH card packs.

A-HAH! FRUITO
FRUITO is a set of 40 cards consisting of ten sets of fruits, each fruit formed by four cards. Each card is colour-coded with different colours to differentiate the fruits.

A-HAH! MEMORITZ
MEMORITZ is a set of 40 cards consisting of numbers from zero to nine and 20 image pairs of nostalgic objects in sets of four different colours.



For more information, please contact:

>60 Design Centre
21 Tampines Ave 1 Singapore 529757
T: +65 6780 6789
F: +65 6789 8237
E: info@greaterthan60.com
W: www.greaterthan60.com


About >60 Design Centre
>60 Design Centre (>60) was set up in January 2008 as Singapore's National Design Centre for Ageing. The Centre was officially opened by President Nathan on 27 June 2008. Supported by the Ministry of Community, Youth and Sports (MCYS) and Temasek Polytechnic, >60 was established with a vision to generate products and services that will enhance and improve the quality of life adopted by the baby boomers generation.
Singapore - >60 Design Centre, Singapore's National Design Centre for Ageing, has designed a made-in-Singapore card game to help people suffering from dementia.
Singapore - >60 Design Centre, Singapore's National Design Centre for Ageing, has designed a made-in-Singapore card game to help people suffering from dementia.

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