Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Dundee student leading project to help patients at Tayside Children’s Hospital feel at home

Melissa working with pupils at Newtyle Primary School to brainstorm ideas.
Melissa working with pupils at Newtyle Primary School to brainstorm ideas.

A Dundee student is working with local primary school pupils to create a positive atmosphere as part of the Tayside Children’s Hospital upgrade.

Melissa Mathieson, a fourth year interior and environment design student from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design (DJCAD), wants to provide “distractions” to help patients and their families when they spend time in the ward.

She chose to work on the project as part of her final year thesis after the major redesign of the hospital caught her attention during the Oor Wullie Bucket Trail last summer.

Her efforts have been acknowledged by the official design team for the hospital, which she has now been invited to join.

As part of her collaboration with the ARCHIE Foundation, Melissa held a co-design workshop with Primary 5, 6 and 7 classes at Newtyle Primary School.

She said: “What I’ve been looking at is distracting the patients, which doesn’t nice at first but it’s distracting them from the prospect of surgery.

“That’s why I ran the workshop, to get a firsthand opinion from the children to see what they would enjoy doing and what makes them feel better when they’re ill.

“I was also looking at the journey through the space and what would take most of their attention away.

“There were so many crazy ideas, and I was so pleased with the results. Something that surprised me was that they realised that loved ones, friends and families, were what they wanted most.

“Things like video games and bean bags were expected, but the most common thing was visitors.”

Task 1.4.JPG

Melissa explained the focus was on the idea of home, a place where everyone feels comfortable and safe.

She added: “The students’ responses were conveyed through collage and 3D making, getting the children’s thoughts on how they feel when they are poorly, what makes them feel better in this situation and how this might translate into a physical space.

“Oor Wullie, as the mascot of the project, made an appearance to help the children think outside of their own experiences and add a bit of fun.”

Melissa is currently involved with design team for the project, but is also carrying out her own version of the brief that will be show cased at this year’s DJCAD Degree Show, opening on May 19.