In detail, the assignment goes like this:
As such, my group members, Eugene Timothy Poh and Ang Jie Li, Jeremy, sat down to discuss our plan for the storybook.
After much discussion, we decided to keep the book simple and uncomplicated in terms of graphical layout, so as to prevent children from losing interest in the book. Children, as we have discussed, have short attention spans which would be detrimental towards creating a confusing book for them. In any case, we think that they would just put down the confusing book and go on to play with their toys (which were of more interest and fun to them).
Also, from the discussions that we had, we had to implement the many concepts that Mr Reddy had introduced during the course of NM2208. With the previous exercises and assignments given to us, we were more than prepared to observe the "rules of engagement" in making the storybook more enticing for children.
For example, we understand that figure and ground, from gestalt principles, play an important role in storybooks. Furthermore, storybooks for children should be in colour, since during the child's learning process "colour" is important to convey the story better. During the tutorials we attended, we have received constructive comments from our fellow students that our drawings were very well-done, and should be left alone without colour. However, we felt that giving the drawings a selective colouring, instead of colouring it totally, would give a better result than leaving our storybook in black and white. This is because, as I have mentioned above, colour is an important component in conveying the story and attracting the attention of the child, since they are undeniably visual creatures.
Our story, "Timmy and the Tree", is a story of friendship. The story revolves around our main character, Timmy, and his friend "Tree". The friendship blossomed into one where even after many years had passed, due to unforseen circumstances they lose each other, they are able to find each other again. The storyboard in rhymes, we felt, would attract parents and children alike who might like rhymes instead of normal reading.
This is our storyboard:
Storyboard: Timmy and the Tree
Page 4
There once lived a boy named Timmy
Who was lonely and had no friends.
A little boy an age of three,
Who did most things full of glee.
Page 5
Timmy plays alone a lot,
And wonders if he’ll have friends someday.
It is not like he cries or bawls,
But just that he was shy and small.
Page 6
Little Timmy was bored one day
As he ran out of toys to play
Suddenly he had this wacky idea
And decided to plant a seed
Page 7
Timmy stayed with the seedling all day,
And made a wish before sleeping that night.
“I wish this tree grows big and strong,
To be with me forever long.”
Page 8
In the morning little Timmy woke up
And his first thoughts were of delight.
A bigger tree made Timmy know,
That’s a companion within his sight.
Page 9
Timmy said hi,
But without reply
Page 10
Timmy was sad, but only for awhile.
And so he continued to care for the tree.
Page 11
One day Timmy sat under the tree,
Exclaiming, “I’m bored to bits come play with me!”
Then suddenly, the tree said to him,
“Tie a swing on my branch, we’ll have some fun!”
Page 12
This marked the start
Of a beautiful friendship between Timmy and the tree.
Timmy shared all his thoughts with the tree,
And in return, the tree lent a listening ear.
He took good care of the tree,
And spent all day with it.
All was well between Timmy and the tree.
Most importantly, Timmy had a friend.
Page 13
In days of hunger and of rumbling stomachs,
The tree bore fruits for Timmy’s tummy.
Page 14
In days of scorching heat or chilly rain,
The tree was there to ease his pain.
Page 15
But alas, nothing stays forever!
Timmy had to leave his village to study.
And in turn left behind his buddy.
It was sad but life went on.
Page 16
A few years passed
Little Timmy had finished school in the city
More years followed,
Little Timmy grew up and started a family
Poor Tree had been forgotten, had he not?
This was exactly what growing up had brought.
Page 17
Decades passed, and Timmy retired.
Suddenly, Timmy remembered the friend whom he admired.
“How is he I wonder?” thought Timmy
And took the next bus back to his old place in a hurry.
Page 18
When Timmy reached his old house,
He almost broke into a run.
So excited was he,
That he tripped on an old tree stump.
Tree said “hello Timmy”, and Timmy was sad.
Where were the glorious branches that Tree once had?
“You must be tired”, said Tree, and raised his stump
Timmy sat down and they started to talk on.
Page 19
Memories refreshed as both looked back
Hours passed and night began to creep
Words were few as both stayed silent
And before long Timmy drifted into sleep.
From our selections, we decided on either brown parchment or grey textured paper. With the grey textured paper in our hands, we went ahead to POD (Printing on Demand) at Bras Basah to print out our finalized book.
The font we chose, Ninifont, was decided after much experimentation with other fonts. We originally had a few fonts to choose from, but ninifont turned out to suit our storybook better.
Ninifont looks like this.
Hence, the experimentation process was actually one of give-and-take between our group members. Lucky for us, most of our ideas were agreed on without much complications.
Another issue that was placed into our discussion is that a few of our tutorial members mentioned that it was too sad a story to be for children. However, we decided to keep the ambiguity at the end because we felt children should, while their learning process is at its peak, be exposed to a meaningful story such as this, rather than the typical storybooks that only highlight the happy times of life.
That's all for assignment 7.
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