Fabulist
New Media Storytelling Application
For this project I was asked to create a trailer or intro to
a movie or book. I decided to create an intro to a book because it seemed like a more challenging task. I first thought about how a book intro could enhance the reading experience. To better understand this question, I went to my local bookstore and observed people browsing books on the shelves.
Tools: Flash, Photoshop, Audition
Objective I wanted to design an application that would attract people to physical bookstores and increase overall readership among young people.
Concept Fabulist is a screen-based, animated book intro that can be integrated into a bookshelf or a wall near a bookshelf. This application will provide a brief, entertaining peek at the contents of different books. It also provides a hint about the theme of the book through visual design elements. A person can add the book to a wish list if they decide not to buy it immediately. They can also recommend the book to a friend. My target users are young readers between the ages of 8-14. However, I believe readers of any age group could benefit from this application. I created a prototype for this application in Flash.
Method I used rapid ethnographic observation
to understand more about how people behave in a bookstore. While watching the patrons of the bookstore, I noticed the way people skipped between chapters in an interesting book. They would read just the first page at the beginning of a few chapters before deciding to reshelve the book or put it in the "keep" pile. The "young readers" area of the bookstore was particularly active with this type of behavior. I also noticed that in the music section of the bookstore a shopper could listen to certian cd's at kiosks before buying the cd. From these observations, I decided to develop an interactive, animated application that allows people to virtually browse books for purchase, wish-lists or recommendations to friends.
Test The next step is concept and usablity testing for this application with my target user group over the summer. I predict that Fabulist will help create an enjoyable and compelling connection between offline and online literature experiences. I hope that the strengths of what both experiences can offer will lead to greater readership and purchases through cooperation and mutual support.
Please feel free to contact me to see the Fabulist prototype: