The wish (2021)  work-in-progress app for iOS and Android is being co-designed with youth living with sickle cell anemia to explore how playful, augmented reality (AR) can be used to create visually rich mixed reality spaces that facilitate meaningful expressions of youths’ and caregivers’ experiences.

The app overlays a virtual field of dandelion flowers in the location seen through the camera of a mobile device. People tap on flowers to read messages and stories that other’s have left to blossom. By selecting a dandelion seed head people can add their own thought, comment or story then blow the sed into the virtual scene where it grows to be found by future visitors.

Sickle cell disease impacts 100,000 individuals in the United States. Historically, sickle cell disease is under-researched, especially with qualitative based studies. Traditionally in clinical settings, the perspectives of youth and caregivers are collected through verbal interviews, surveys, and paper-based forms that are designed by clinicians.

Made with a grant from Michigan Institue for Clinical Health Research