Making room for healing, play, and possibility.
A human-centered experience concept for young burn survivors and their families—grounded in field research, empathy, and the emotional reality of receiving care.
- My contribution
- Field research and Basecamp waiting experience concepts
- Team
- Three-person Basecamp team within a larger studio
- Context
- COANIQUEM pediatric rehabilitation campus
- Focus
- Waiting, communication, seating, therapeutic play
A waiting room is part of the care experience.
COANIQUEM provides rehabilitation care for children recovering from burn injuries. Children and families can spend long periods on campus and move between appointments during emotionally demanding days.
Our Basecamp team asked how the waiting experience might become calmer, clearer, and more supportive while still making space for curiosity, connection, and play.
Design with people, not just for them.
Working on location in Santiago, we observed how families used waiting areas, spoke with staff and stakeholders, and explored the emotional experience of moving through treatment.
The research combined observation, conversations, co-creation, and attention to how the environment shaped behavior—something that continues to influence how I approach digital design.
Arrive
Find a welcoming first point of contact.
Check in
Know what happens next and when.
Wait together
Create opportunities for rest and shared play.
Continue care
Move through the campus without unnecessary uncertainty.
The space needed to support more than waiting.
Research materials documented long waits between some appointments, missed announcements, uncertainty at check-in, discomfort, and the need for meaningful activities and family connection.
What we learned
Waiting could last for hours.
Families with multiple appointments could spend three to eight hours between care moments.
Design response
Make time meaningful.
Explore therapeutic play and flexible engagement opportunities.
What we learned
Appointments could be missed.
Families sometimes moved outside waiting areas and could not hear announcements.
Design response
Offer more freedom.
Conceptualize check-in and progress cues that reduce reliance on a single waiting room.
What we learned
The emotional load was high.
Unclear processes and uncomfortable seating could magnify stress.
Design response
Design for dignity.
Explore welcoming reception, private moments, and seating arranged for connection.
A more welcoming journey through Basecamp.
Our team proposed a set of complementary experience moments: a welcoming arrival, clearer check-in and progress information, seating at appropriate heights, and opportunities for shared therapeutic play.
The intention was not to turn medical care into entertainment. It was to give children and families small moments of agency and comfort throughout an experience that could feel overwhelming.
A clear welcome
Reduce first-visit uncertainty and support families in finding their way.
Seating with purpose
Make room for conversation, comfort, and shared experiences.
Therapeutic engagement
Provide age-sensitive ways to explore, learn, and connect.
The emotional dimension of design.
Safe Niños helped shape my belief that experience design is not only about efficiency. It is also about making people feel seen, capable, and supported.
Our proposals offered COANIQUEM a human-centered direction for spaces, services, and moments within the waiting experience.
The projects that stay with me are the ones where creativity, compassion, and practical problem-solving meet.