Background & Objectives
Inspire Ignite seek to engage children in conversations about their emotions and mental health through the medium of books. They joined forces with a local author and illustrator to develop a series of 8 books for parents/carers to read with their children.
When Inspire Ignite approached Eon Visual Media, they wanted to transform their book (and audiobook) series into eBooks, to offer a new format combining book visual and audio elements. The project aimed to enhance visuals and bring illustrations to life, as well as adding other interactivity to further engage the readers.
Research and Approach
After establishing objectives, we set out to create some initial samples from their catalogue of books to showcase our intentions and approach; we wanted to highlight how animations and other interactivity would work. After this, we suggested animations and audio clips alongside the story to enhance reader experience, and really engage the children in the story and its core message.
After this was approved, we set out to transform Inspire Ignite’s 8-book series into interactive eBooks…
Process
We used Photoshop to edit and prepare the original watercolour illustrations which were designed in line with their individual styling. Page loading animations were established throughout and subtle animations were added to several illustrations.
Button graphics and states were created in Adobe Illustrator and used for micro-animations in the interactive sessions to enhance interactivity and fun. After this, we used Apple QuickTime to clip audio files from the original books to merge the formatting of a standard book and an audiobook, to create the interactive eBook.
Finally, we added the audio, illustrations and animations to InDesign, where we further tweaked the eBook to add interactivity to buttons, allowing the audio files to play when clicked. Stock sound bites were added to a few pages to enhance the reading experience.
Outcome
Upon completion of the project, the eBooks were exported as an ePub format and tested to ensure high functionality and usability. Hopefully the eBooks succeed in engaging children in important conversations about emotions and mental health through the medium of books; the interactivity will form a stimulating and fun prompt for children to talk in a safe and comfortable environment. We loved working on this project and creating fun designs and animations whilst still incorporating originality!
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