In Western Culture, most of us associate grief with the loss of a person
and less with abstract loss such as divorce, career change, or loss of
safety. Likewise, the grind of daily life influences processing time and
how one manages their grief in the context of social norms. As a griever
seeking alternative methods for processing grief, how does one employ
playful practices as a tool for process? The Wave examines the
intersection between individual experience, temporal influences, and
societal expectations and asks the question, ‘how can collaborative
design help build a holistic alternative grief method to better support
individual grievers?’ This thesis explores the dynamic nature of grief
through play and the creation of serendipitous narratives as a dialogic
tool for processing difficult emotions associated with grief. Whereas
current grief models provide limited tools and perspective in processing
loss, design can expand possibilities for how individual grief and lived
experience are reconciled with societal expectations.