Heartfelt – a project to improve patients’ experience in the transplant process
DESIGN: Julia Bugajska, Paula Smolka
Poland
make me! 2025
“Heartfelt” is a set of educational cards and a transplant guide created in response to the need for open dialogue around heart transplantation and to support young people and their communities in talking openly about it. The project combines education with game elements, helping patients, their families, friends, and peers better understand the transplant process and the emotions that come with it. Inspired by conversations with patients and developed in collaboration with the Silesian Center for Heart Diseases, “Heartfelt” aims to reduce the distance between patients and their surroundings, build empathy, and foster social inclusion of those before or after heart transplantation. Designed for teenagers, their families, teachers, medical staff, and psychologists, it helps break communication barriers and creates a safe space for conversation. “Heartfelt” is a tool that helps find words when they are hard to say.
Heartfelt – a project to improve patients’ experience in the transplant process, design: Julia Bugajska, Paula Smolka / from designer’s archive
Heartfelt – a project to improve patients’ experience in the transplant process, design: Julia Bugajska, Paula Smolka / from designer’s archive
Heartfelt – a project to improve patients’ experience in the transplant process, design: Julia Bugajska, Paula Smolka / from designer’s archive
Heartfelt – a project to improve patients’ experience in the transplant process, design: Julia Bugajska, Paula Smolka / from designer’s archive
Julia Bugajska,
Paula Smolka
Julia Bugajska. Architect and designer, graduate of the Silesian University of Technology and the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice. Specializes in interior design and small architecture objects,
Paula Smolka. Designer, also of the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice. Professionally engaged in designing trade fair stands. She is committed to designing for people with disabilities – her bachelor’s degree, the design of a sauna for wheelchair users, won numerous awards and honors.
Both pursued their diplomas in the social design studio, and are particularly fond of designs that respond to the real needs of users.
