Sensemaking occurs at both fronts of visual cognition— creation and interpretation. We explore the first front of visual culture cognition, the work of designers and artists, by developing the game Mermaids of Ieodo, which represents in an analog card game the traditional cultural practices of the Korean Haenyeo, diving women of Jeju Island. Game elements intend to capture themes in Haenyeo practices, including meditative engagement with nature, cross-generational interaction, historical influences on the community, ecological preservation practices, and ethical attitudes towards technology. Through the process of defamiliarization (Bell, Blythe, & Sengers, 2005) and making strange the process of creating a visual cultural artifact, we aim to break down the first front of how visual culture is read. By participating in the process of creating a visual culture artifact and cataloging our design choices, we are able to interrogate the construction of an East Asian cultural experience. Situating this traditional practice in an analog card game allows the game to engage with the both the technological and traditional imaginaries that Korean culture operate in.
