Patient Zero
Save your country. Save the world. The concept for this simulation was developed at the Harvard Kennedy School by Christopher Robichaud to help students understand what it is like to be a leader in times of true chaos.
Beginning in August 2019, our team began working closely with the author, and a roster of design partners, to transform the paper-based version into what turned out to be an eerily topical digital experience.
My Role:
Creative Director
Responsibilities:
• Prototyping
• Visual Design
• Sound Design
• Video Editing
• Casting Talent
• Script writing
• Motion Design
• Animation
• Technical Integration
• Acceptance Testing
Professor Robichaud debriefing the Patient Zero simulation with his class at the Harvard Kennedy School
My mission for this project:
To envision and execute an exceptional digital educational experience that met students' and educators’ evolving consumer media sensibilities.
To develop new capabilities within our Higher Education business unit enabling our simulations to feel deeply immersive and more inclusive.
Start screen animation conveys the cinematic, gaming experience that awaits students
I conducted the RFP process that ultimately identified National Boston as our key creative partner. Working with them gave us access to a commercial film director, script writers, editors, sound designers, animators and a wide range of post-production expertise.
In addition to providing the vision and guidance for their work, I was deeply involved in ensuring what the team produced integrated seamlessly with the codebase Forio—our long-term simulation partner—was developing.
With so many moving parts, and managing teams across three timezones in Boston, San Francisco and Germany, the pace was extremely fast-paced.
DESIGN SPRINT
The core team used a modified version of the Google Ventures Design Sprint to brainstorm how best to transition Professor Robichaud’s paper-based simulation to a digital experience. Four days, six wall-sized whiteboards, and many chocolate pretzels later, we emerged with a set of mobile-first prototypes to test with our target audience.
Throughout the workshops, we brought in stakeholders from across the organization to ensure Patient Zero could launch immediately in both the Higher Education and Corporate Learning markets.
Core team brainstorming with author
Sample prototype screens built during design sprint
Once we validated this foundational work with our target audience, we began exploring how to craft a student interface to reflect the experience of operating as a high-level, governmental decision maker during a zombie pandemic.
USER INTERFACE
Computer terminal type-on animation à la 1983’s “War Games”
The screenshots featured here were created in partnership with Gabe Flavin who served as the Art Director for the interface and animation concepts. After exploring several directions, we decided on a spy theme to heighten the overall suspense.
This allowed us to play off the elements of governmental secrecy in the content, and this motif struck the perfect balance of tension and engagement we were after.
Students create a fictional country as part of team-building.
Teams wrestle with difficult decisions and ultimately choose how to advise the country’s leader
Borrowing from D&D game dynamics, success is determined by a randomized number generator
The application runs in full-screen with video backgrounds and audio loops which all serve to continuously pull students along. This result is a truly immersive experience and a heightened sense of urgency around participation and team dynamics.
ANIMATIONS
Event page build animation
50+ motion elements are integrated throughout the game screens. From digital dice rolls, video montages and cinemagraphs, to country generation animations, page transitions and type-on effects, there are many tightly crafted elements of motion design which add a polish to the entire experience.
Screenshots of digital dice rolls
Country creation animation
LIVE ACTION
It was important to strike the right tone with the Breaking News element to ensure it didn’t come off as cheesy. We employed a mix of veteran actors and high-quality, commercial news elements to provide polish and authenticity.
Split screen of news anchor, Nancy Romero, interviewing health minister, Dr. Paul Wagner, about suspected outbreaks
Nancy Romero reporting from a bunker as she delivers the game’s epilogue broadcast: “Take care of one another.”
POST-PRODUCTION
Pre/Post-processing comparison to indicate how we crushed the blacks and overlaid a green cast to the footage to instill a sense of foreboding
To build tension over the course of the playing the game, we subtly toned the background elements students encounter as they progress through the five events—darkening and adding a green cast to images as the content becomes more intense. You can see examples of this below (working top to bottom):
During post-production, we also added a range of sound effects, filters and transitions to help reinforce the intimacy and darkness of the world where students were immersed.
REMOTE COLLABORATION
Starting with the early months of 2020, things got weird.
“Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?”
It became increasingly more difficult to separate the work the team was doing, to create a world where leaders were experiencing a Zombie Pandemic, from the actual experience we were all living through of dealing with a real-world health crisis.
Real-world vs fake-world pandemic
To keep spirits up, we began to joke that we should make our next simulation all about puppies and rainbows. 🐶 🌈
In March 2020, along with the rest of the world, we moved fully into remote collaboration. Fortunately, we were already working well in that mode given we had teams spanning the globe—meeting at all hours of the day.
We screened selfie videos of actors reading lines and handled all call-backs virtually
What we didn’t fully appreciate at the time is that we’d also have to move from Plan A to B…and then C to accomplish some of the more ambitious elements we were intent on delivering. For example, in April, it became clear we could not screen actors in person or use the backlot space at National for filming.
We reworked the scripts, and we pivoted to remote casting, mailing green screens & cameras to actors, and using Zoom for directing and filming our actors.
“Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”
On the day of the shoot, it felt like a moderated usability session where the team is listening in and offering suggestions via chat in real-time to the moderator. In this case, the Director was in the role of moderator, and I was able to request modifications to takes to get the exact result we were after. Below you can see a screen shots of the actors in their homes during the filming.
During filming, actors were located in their homes and the director + core team provided feedback via Zoom
ZOMBIES FOR ALL
While crafting an experience that went deep on immersion and engagement, we wanted to be sure the game play not inadvertently exclude any population.
As part of A11Y best practices, we followed web accessibility guidelines with regard to font size, focus states, colors, contrast, alt-text. We also built a set of features to allow users more granular control over their personal experience so they could tune it to their specific needs.
Custom accessibility controls giving users granular control that best fits their setting and personal needs
TESTING
Throughout the design and build processes we repeatedly followed an iterative cycle of testing. Starting with the prototype from the design sprint, we performed desirabilty testing on the initial concept.
Testing initial concept with students
Going forward, we tested subsequent versions of the prototype to ensure structure, flow and learnability were optimized.
Testing v2 prototype with students and educators
Toward the end of the project we were able to test the higher-fidelity, live environment with students. Overwhelming, we received feedback that the game was super fun, engaging and educational.
Testing live version of the application while still in development
The quote below is a testament to the how well the final product resonates with our target audience. Even though our student testers were only compensated for 20 minutes of their time, folks routinely spent 30-40 minutes just playing the game—enjoying being immersed in the experience.
“It’s super engaging. Like I said, I would like to sit here for hours and just continue playing this.”
