Research Project Evaluation

For my research experiment project I decided upon creating an investigation into using variety of alternative processes to determine the most successful methods when producing an interactive story book/object for children to read or play with.

By doing this I aimed to create a better understanding of how a more tactile approach to storytelling can aid the interest and entertainment value for its audience, as well as weighing out the pros and cons to working in a variety of different mediums to see which functions more effectively when considering the objective.

I developed on my final major project story by translating it into a variety of alternate solutions to see what works best. Most notably, I looked at how different materials can affect the means of movement, interaction and form.

The three different materials I used to experiment in were – paper, felt, and modelling clay. I chose these materials as I believed they were diverse enough to give my experiment a wide range of outcomes - paper can be used to create pop-up books or paper theatres, modelling clay can be used to create solid characters that can move around a page or in a stage, soft materials like felt can be used to create finger puppets that stick out from a book page, and so on…

My target audiences to see if these experiments worked were…

1.      Children as an audience

• The materials and methods I used needed to be easy and safe enough for children to play with
• My products needed to be able to entertain a young age

2.      Purchasers of the product

• Children of the age experiment is pitched at would not actually be purchasing the product themselves, so I would also have to make it just as interesting for the purchaser
• The products had to be interesting and informative (many parents like this format)

Paper Experiments

Pop-up books create a big opportunity to incorporate movement and audience interaction into what was once a flat/still illustration. From my experiments, I have learned that through using techniques like pullies, levers and tabs, the audience can be included in revealing parts of the story or aiding it along, giving the viewer a sense of inclusion, importance and enjoyment.

Using paper as a material was beneficial in two ways: it's supple enough to create folds, creases and bends, which allow for shaping and movement, yet at the same time it's sturdy enough to hold a shape and be pushed in different directions.

I was able to keep my experimental pop-up pieces to almost the exact same composition as my original illustrations - this is something that I think is important as I didn't want to lose the original charm and character of my book illustrations.

In my opinion, by creating pop-up pages for my book, I have been able to answer the questions posed in my proposal in a positive way - I have created a better understanding of how a more tactile approach to storytelling can aid the interest and entertainment value for its audience, as well as weighing out the pros and cons to working in this particular medium to see how it functions when considering the objective of interaction.

Felt Experiments

Audience interaction is at a maximum when using finger or hand puppets as movement is created directly through the gestures of the audience's hands. This amount of interaction gets the audience fully involved with the telling of the story as they are bringing the characters to life, as well as carrying the story through their movements. However, the puppets that were incorporated into the actual pages felt awkward to use because of their set poses and positions. I think the enjoyment factor of this particular method would wear thin (especially for a young child) because of the limitation and awkwardness when handling the pages.

Using a soft material like felt is appealing to both children and adults. The soft, touchable quality felt has, provides extra interaction with young children as they might like the feel of it - like they are petting a real animal.

The stand alone finger puppets can be viewed from every angle as they have no limitations, and can be easily slotted into any composition - like being used alongside a book or in a puppet theatre.

On the other hand, the puppets that were incorporated into the pages had a limited viewpoint because of being stuck to the page.

In my opinion, by creating puppet characters for my book, I have been able to answer the questions posed in my proposal in both a positive and a negative way - I have created a better understanding of how a more tactile approach to storytelling (through the use of puppets) can aid the interest and entertainment value for its audience, as well as weighing out the pros and cons to working in this particular medium to see how it functions when considering the objective of interaction.

Model Experiments

Using models is a great way to get children involved in storytelling. The amount of interaction gets the audience fully involved with the telling of the story as they are bringing the characters to life, as well as carrying the story through their movements. The models are easily handled and work well in both a child’s hand, as well as an adult’s hand.

By using oven bake clay, I was able to create sturdy characters which can be easily played with. The surface was easy to paint on, and by using acrylic I was able to recreate the colours I used in my original illustrations.

The stand alone figurines can be viewed from every angle, and can be easily slotted into any composition - like being used alongside a book or in a stage.

I was able to recreate a close replica in the model/stage compositions of my original book illustrations – something that was important to me as I didn’t want to lose any of the charm of my drawings.

In my opinion, by creating model characters to place in a staged retelling of the story, I have been able to answer the questions posed in my proposal in a positive way - I have created a better understanding of how a more tactile approach to storytelling (through the use of modelling clay) can aid the interest and entertainment value for its audience, as well as weighing out the pros and cons to working in this particular medium to see how it functions when considering the objective of interaction.

Overall Conclusion

To gage which method would be most successful when considering my target audiences, I took my experiments along to a local Primary School to see the reaction that children and teachers in Reception class had to each different method.

The children like all the methods, but I could see that they preferred telling the story with the models as they could be more hands on, whereas the teachers enjoyed using all of the experiments – especially the pop ups.

I think this reaction shows that children are much happier interacting and being entertained with simple objects, whereas a more grown up mind enjoys the more complex structure of a pop-up book.