A case study for a storybook
Project title: Morning with Business Bear (Interactive Storybook)
Date Projected Completed: January 23, 2024
Role in the Project: Designer
Project Brief
The assignment is asking for an interactive publication using InDesign. That includes going through the design process and identifying my audience. The interactive publication must have 3 animated components and 3 interactive elements. The pages should be a minimum of 4 pages.
As the designer/Illustrator I have chosen to do a storybook and create assets for the project.
Strategy
In the stage of brainstorming, I have decided on two things firstly it needs to be acceptable in a portfolio and secondly the project needs to be within a time frame of 24-30 hours of work to finish this project. I wanted to go for a storybook since I have a concept I can use and its Business Bear. It cuts down a lot on time and the Bear is already designed and has a personality. I’m aiming for a simple story and focusing on the interactivity and illustration of the whole story book. The target audience for this project are kids between 3-5 years old who likes the visuals more than text.
I did some research on Behance and Pinterest on what type of art style for the interactive story book. I have gathered whether the style consists of a watercolor look or a traditional style. I’m also aiming for that style on this story book to keep in mind of the audience.
Design Process
In the design process I had to make up a simple story that surrounds the personality of Business Bear while keeping in mind of the audience. The story is about Business Bear getting ready for work and the process of him readying in the morning. It’s a simple a story and hits the goal of focusing on the design also interactivity.
In the interactivity aspect, I added an alarm sound on the clock and made the time flash. The yawn and "Z" are animated to show how tired and drowsy Business Bear is. On the brushing teeth page, I have made a button and state to have an illusion you can turn on the water. It's also the same function when the reader is combing Business Bear's fur. The paws were added to turn the pages of the storybook. The page where Business Bear puts clothes on has animated rectangles to show his struggle to dress. After that page, the reader is shown all dressed up with sparkles on the side and him saying work.
Solution
The storybook achieves all the necessary deliverables for the project. The assets were created in Illustrator to have a faster workflow. Within the process of creating the pages, adding a grain filter adds texture to the illustration and it achieves that traditional art style; at the same time, it feels like an actual story book. The color palette is bright and colorful, it attracts the readers (children) to pay attention to each page. In certain pages there is interactivity throughout the story book, and it helps the narrative.
Result/Impact
The challenge for this whole project was making interactivity in InDesign. There is limitation when it comes to animation and interactivity. Throughout the story book all the animation and buttons are simple.
Storybook Link
https://indd.adobe.com/view/320e8682-0489-4858-9368-55dbbb81fa2b
