Makayla Tong

Communication Design Capstone Project

This Communication Design capstone project addresses the gap in resources for Chinese-Kiwi children that help them celebrate their cultural identity and diversity. The central idea of the project uses different lunchbox foods to reflect everyone’s diverse cultural backgrounds. The intended audience is 10-year-old Chinese-Kiwi children who feel torn between their Chinese and Kiwi values. The key methods employed are digital illustration and analogue game design as they support the creation of an accessible resource for children to understand cultural identity. To design practice, this project creates a game-based artefact that creates greater cultural understanding. Thus, sparking greater conversation and understanding to the ever-growing number of Chinese-Kiwi children living in New Zealand.

The outcomes of this project is a card game titled, 'Lunchbox Chefs,' that serves as the main medium of the project. Lunchbox Chefs encourages the celebration of cultural identity through play, food, and illustration. The two supporting activations of this project consist of an illustrated picture book titled, 'All Lunchboxes Are Different,' and an Instagram page for Lunchbox Chefs.