Koi is a thoughtfully designed series of Toolboxes that nurses can prescribe to children, providing them with engaging, hands-on support between hospital visits. These Toolboxes align with established learning goals for different age groups, helping kids develop essential skills for managing their diabetes.For this project, we focused on creating a Toolbox specifically for children aged 7–9. At this stage, kids begin taking a more active role in their diabetes care, learning how to manage their condition independently. It’s also a time of transition, as many start school and navigate new social environments. By equipping both children and those around them — with the knowledge they need, Koi fosters confidence, independence, and a supportive community.
Koi Companion, the first part of the toolkit, is designed to provide children with the emotional support they need while managing their diabetes. More than just a toy, it serves as a comforting presence and a way for kids to externalize their condition—by caring for their Koi Companion, they are, in turn, caring for themselves.When hugged, Koi Companion seamlessly reads glucose sensor data using an NFC reader, a technology already widely used by individuals with diabetes. It then translates these readings into gentle haptic and visual feedback, using light and vibration patterns to communicate the child’s glucose levels in an intuitive and reassuring way.
The Education Board is the second part of the Koi toolkit, designed to support children in understanding and managing their diabetes in a practical, engaging way. Through an interactive board, kids — alongside their parents — can explore how different foods affect their glucose levels while reinforcing basic math skills that align with their current school curriculum.
By integrating learning into everyday moments, the Education Board empowers children to take their first steps toward independence in managing their condition. At the same time, it provides parents with reassurance, knowing their child is developing the knowledge and habits needed to navigate diabetes safely and confidently.
Beyond home use, we envision Koi as a valuable addition to schools. The Education Board can support math lessons while introducing diabetes education in a natural, engaging way. Meanwhile, the Koi Companion could, in some cases, serve as a class mascot, with students taking turns bringing it home, sparking conversations about diabetes within families.By raising awareness among teachers, classmates, and parents, Koi helps create a supportive environment — ensuring children with diabetes feel understood and cared for, both in school and at home.
The Nurse Platform ties everything together, giving diabetes nurses a comprehensive view of each child’s progress. It allows them to monitor health data while supporting kids in their learning journeys from a distance. Nurses can see how children interact with the Koi Companion and Education Board and how these experiences relate to their blood sugar levels.This data becomes a valuable tool for discussions during hospital visits, helping nurses, children, and parents work together to build confidence and independence in diabetes management.
Our design process was guided by an understanding of the challenges children with diabetes and their families face. We combined personal experiences with diabetes, interviews with children, parents, teachers, and healthcare professionals, study visits to health centers and hospitals, and insights from peer-reviewed research.
Insight 1: Mental Support is Crucial
While hospitals provide practical guidance, families often struggle with a lack of emotional support—something just as crucial for a child’s well-being as medical instructions.
Insight 2: Need for Engaging Education
Many parents struggle to trust their children to make independent decisions due to the consequenses of mistakes. However, kids need to build confidence in managing their condition. Existing educational materials are often too complex, so parents turn to creative methods like storytelling or reward-based learning, which are more effective.
As we conducted interviews, we began building rapid prototypes to act out different scenarios. This hands-on approach allowed us to openly discuss, critique, and identify the weaknesses in each concept. It also provided a tangible object for the team to collaborate around, fostering a more dynamic design process.
Once we settled on the final concept, we continued refining the prototypes. We also dedicated time to exploring how the Koi Companion would communicate with the user. Using an Arduino inside the toy, we tested various light and vibration patterns to find the most effective way to convey feedback and create an engaging, intuitive experience.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Expo 2020 was postponed to 2021, opening from October 1st, 2021, to March 31st, 2022. This provided us with the opportunity to showcase Koi at the Swedish Pavilion, in collaboration with the Center for Rural Medicine in Storuman.
One of the most heartwarming moments we learned about was when a child who, despite signs asking not to touch the exhibits, interacted with the Koi material in exactly the way it was designed to be used, a cute story!
This project was deeply personal for one of our team members, whose family member lives with diabetes since childhood. For me, however, it was an eye-opening experience, as I hadn't fully realized the extent to which diabetes impacts people's lives. It was both humbling and inspiring to hear firsthand from those who live with the condition.
What I learned during this project was the power of working simultaneously with research and prototyping. Initially, we focused solely on user research, but due to time constraints, we were encouraged to start ideating and building prototypes before our research was fully complete. At first, this felt uncomfortable, but I quickly saw the advantages of synthesizing insights through ongoing research while iterating on prototypes. This approach fostered creativity and allowed us to move faster, finding solutions in real time.
If we would have been able to continue the project I would have loved to move into the next phase of testing the concept with real users—especially to validate the light and haptic feedback patterns we designed for Koi. The only validation we had was through video calls with patients and medical professionals. Actual user testing would likely have guided the project in a new direction, and I’m excited to imagine how that might have shaped the final product.
