The Expedition Book

UMC Utrecht, one of the largest hospitals in the Netherlands, offers a diagnostic trajectory for children aged 6 to 12 with a developmental psychological disorder. This is always a drastic event: it means changing to a new school, saying goodbye to their friends, spending less time in their known environment, and getting to know a lot of new people.

COMPLICATED SUBJECTS, BITE-SIZED

The responsibility of preparing a child for this event, up until recently, completely came down to the parents. However, in practice, some parents don’t know how to handle this task properly. That’s why UMC Utrecht’s department of developmental disorders needed a more direct, child-friendly way to interact with the child. The result is the Expedition Book, a product that consists of a booklet and a set of cards. The booklet is modular, and can be handed out per chapter, as to not overwhelm the child with an overload of information. The colorful hexagon-shaped cards symbolize the journey the child makes: they can be placed together to form a fictional 3D landscape, which expands as the child progresses.