Welcome to my site!
I work with tools and methods that help creative ideas come to life, both in business and education. The notion of fun is at the heart of my research on motivation, innovation and team dynamics.
This site is a portfolio of the gems that got crafted along the way, as well as a space to host my research and findings. I hope that you will find here food for thought, and if you do, I would love to hear from you!
Featured blog posts
In my blog I write about systems thinking, game design, organisations, and everything in between.
OCR loops in game design
OCR loops, which stands for “Objective, Challenge, Reward”, are a pattern of game design that I learned from the experts at Ubisoft. They are used to describe various levels of motivation in such a way that challenges can be distributed throughout the game to keep the player engaged.
Read MoreThe Open Forum
When I was working with the Codesign-it collective, I often heard about the Open Forum (often know as OST, “Open Space Technology”), a method that they were deploying in collaborative innovation projects with clients. In July 2018 I was able to witness how it was used by the members of the collective themselves as part of the “Summer Sprint”, their annual off-site meeting. This was an opportunity to observe more closely the ins and outs of this technology, whose origins can be found in citizen-run open forums.
Read MoreHow to use elements of game design for your workshop design
I had the pleasure to be interviewed by Myriam Hadnes for her podcast Workshops Work. From the initial question “What can video game design teach us about workshop design?” we ventured into education, codesign, Agile, facilitation and even existentialism. That was so much fun to do!
Read MoreI write mostly in English. Sometimes I work on projects in France which give rise to posts in French.
Click here to view all articles in English.
Cliquez ici pour voir tous les articles en français.
Who am I?
Hi there! I’m Coline Pannier, educator, designer and ever-curious human.
I’ve spent most of my professional life in creative industries, alongside people of exceptional talent, skill and passion. In these exciting projects, I’ve seen that work can be a source of immense satisfaction. Even more so when we are part of a team of driven people, all dedicated to creating amazing things together.
I’ve also seen that work can cause terrible pain and disappointments. Obnoxious processes, micro-management, confusion, rigidity or utter chaos can hurt humans and organisations. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
In all industries, a shift is happening towards a better way of working, a deeper sense of purpose. Being a witness and contributor to this movement is one of the most exciting adventures that I had the chance to undertake.
My journey started in Paris, where I discovered the ins and outs of game production as part of the Learning & Development team at Ubisoft. During these formative years I learned alongside the great masters, expert game designers who still inspire me to this day.
After moving to Amsterdam in 2012, I ventured further into video game production and publishing. I met the community of indie developers and also co-founded a startup, Inaloop Games, to research how games can support the transition to a circular economy.
In parallel I started teaching game production at the University of Applied Sciences, first in Breda and more recently in Amsterdam, where I am currently employed.
A detour through Paris in 2017, as a resident at the Codesign-it collective, allowed me to reconnect with my original passion for human organisations and to get initiated into the art of workshop design and facilitation. What I experienced at Codesign-it really blow me away. These codesigners, with their analog world of post-its and white boards, are great masters in their own right.
From my home base in Amsterdam I am now further exploring the two fundamental questions that have been driving my research. How might we harness the power of game design to solve real world problems? And conversely, what can the complexity of the world teach us about game design?
From this back-and-forth I hope to generate new insights and to document inspiring solutions for the many challenges that we are currently facing as a species.
“If you can’t have fun with the problem, you will never solve it.”
MG Taylor