Story was developed as my final capstone project from my interaction design degree. I am honored to have been awarded the 'QUT Interaction Design and Visual Design Memorial Scholarship' for my project.
Design Concept
Story Nook is designed to enhance school and public library spaces to help encourage sustained engagement in reading physical books and develop cognitive imagination in children aged 7 – 12 years old. Through the use of auditory and visual stimuli, the children are immersed in the world of the book without being distracted from reading the book itself.
Quizzes were included as a form of educational gamification to increase the child’s sense of achievement as they progress through the book. They are designed around the primary school curriculum, from True/False formats to basic and intuitive reading comprehension.
When installed in libraries, Story Nook would be an easy to assemble, semi-enclosed space, allowing children to explore the worlds and themes of any available book.
Research
Primary and secondary research was conducted throughout the project. Initial research indicated a governmental concern for primary school children's reading comprehension, based on recent NAPLAN results. To increase children's engagement reading physical books, as research shows it helps to increase reading abilities more than e-books. Primary research was conducted in local primary school classrooms and public libraries to determine current, non-technological displays and methods.
Findings
From research I found that, currently, there is no digital took specifically designed to encourage children to engage with their physical books. So, inspired by the educational entertainment of science museums, I developed the concept of a digitally immersive reading nook, to install in public and school library spaces. It was determined that classroom installation was not a location where children could read leisurely for extended periods of time, and providing access to
Lo-Fi
Various Lo-fi prototyping methods were conducted, such as: sketches, storyboards and models. Primarily focusing on wire-frames, and exploration of library installation. Though the final prototype for the exhibition eventually moved away from developing the Story Nook structure, this prototyping was crucial to envisioning the users' environment whilst developing Hi-fi prototypes.
Prototype Focus
The prototype focuses on a singular book. Chris Colfer's 'The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell' was chosen as it was written for the target age group: 7-12 year olds. As well as having a plot focused on adventuring through a fantasy land, high quality official assets, unique locations and an in-book map. This book was ideal to explore the potential of Story Nook.
Me-Fi
Medium fidelity prototyping focused on the development of the immersive environments, with creative commons images and sounds in combination with PromeAI: Image to Video used to develop 4 second videos to edit together. Ambient-mixer was used to create sound mixes for the 5 chosen environments.
