NM2208: Storybook Design Journal

- Robin Rescues the World -

Created by:Koh Yen Ching Justine A0073237H

Pang Min Jie U098467L Chua Mei Qi A0070421X

Victor Chan U090223ETan Jiayi U091998R

Contents Page

1. Project Scope

2. Research2.1 Brainstorming of ideas (individual storylines)2.2 Conceptualization

3. Storyboarding3.1 Synopsis3.2 Line by Line (storyboard)3.3 Main Characters3.4 Sequence and Flow

4. Design and Layout4.1 Font and Typography Sample4.2 Grid and Layout 4.3 Colour Scheme Sample

5. Reflection7.1 Problems Encountered7.2 Lessons Learned

6. Bibliography

Design Document

1. Project Scope

Our group decided to come up with our own theme for the children book. This is mainly

because we feel that it is easier to let our ideas flow and come up with a new theme and

storyline, rather than trying to work on a given one. The title of the our story is "Robin

Rescues the World." The theme is focused on educating and encouraging children, aged 6 to

9, to be green. We will bring in concepts of the "3Rs" - reuse, reduce and recycle - through

simple examples to show them how to be green in their daily lives. As with every children

story book, the moral of the story is that we need to be green and care for the Earth and the

enironment, or we will end up living in a miserable environment. We are inspired by the

recent acceleration of climate change and hence, decided to create an educational story to

teach the younger generations to save the earth from young.

2. Research

2.1 Brainstorming of ideas (Individual Storylines)

Min Jie:

John lived in a small town which was next to a forest. He likes animals and always play with

them in the forest. One day, John went to the forest to look for his animal friends to play

with him but he could not find any of them. He goes on a journey to find his friends and met

a wood-cutter, a writer, and a farmer along the way, but they did not know where his

friends were. He met a nice old lady who told him that the animals went away because the

forest was being destroyed. John went back to persuade the wood-cutter, writer and

farmer to help save the environment and his animal friends finally came back to play with

him again.

Jia Yi:

Once upon a time, there lived a family of 3 rabbits – father rabbit, mother rabbit and baby rabbit.

Baby rabbit was dirty and lazy. His room was filled with lots of things – toys, books and clothes.

Whenever his mother asked him to pack up the room he would hide the things in the cupboard or

under the bed. One day, he invited his friends, little sheep and monkey to his house to play.

When he wanted to take out his board game from his cupboard, the pile of things inside fell out

and collapsed on him. His friends laughed loudly at his plight. Baby rabbit felt embarrassed and

sad. He cried and told his father and mother about it. Father rabbit said: “You should recycle and

organize your things.” Baby rabbit learnt his lessons and with the help of his parents, they

recycle and organized the things.

Justine:

There was this boy, Charlie, who was very sick and could not go to school. He stayed in his

bed all day and all night long alone. He felt sad and blue because he was lonely and could

not join his friends to play. One day, he woke up to see a little pig playing a trumpet at his

window. It was the strangest thing he ever seen. Then, elephants appeared and dance, little

mice chased each other and the bears tumbled. It was so funny that Charlie could not stop

laughing and so, he felt so much better. Back in school a few days later, Charlie told his best

friend what he saw. Just then, he spotted a couple of toy animals peeking through his

friend's bag - those that he saw at his window! Charlie then realised his best friend had

tried to cheer him up when he was feeling down. Charlie was so touched, he swore he'll

never leave anyone alone from then on.

Victor:

A day in the life of a kid. Leaving house, Mum reminded son to turn off the light. Son asked

Mum why. Mum said to save the earth, and then explained how turning off the light will

help to save the earth. At the bus stop, son was littering and Mum objected. Son asked Mum

why. Mum explained how stopping pollution can help to save the earth. And at the shop,

the cashier asked Mum if she needed a plastic bag. Mum declined and son asked why, so

she explained. At home, Mum turned on the light. Son objected and said it’ll save the earth,

to which Mum laughed.

Audrey:

Ratoto, who was a big fat evil rat, used his psychic powers to take control of Townville.

Ratoto stongly advocated environmentally unfriendly ways of living. He ordered the town

people to be as dirty and environmentally unfriendly as possible. Those who were against

his rulings would face with severe punishments. After a few generations, the idea of being

environmentally unfriendly had become a way of life in Townville.

Only one brave little boy dared to stand up against such acts. However, he knew that he

could not do much alone. One day, he was finally convinced that nothing could be done to

make the situation better. Miraculously, while he was scolding and blaming, a lightning

struck him. He was instantly transformed in a superhero. With his powers, he went around

to educate the town people on the importance of being eco-friendly. He then organized his

armies and waged wars against Ratoto. He won the war eventually. Since then, Townville

became more environmentally friendly.

2.2 Conceptualization

Our group made a trip to the National Library’s children section to get an idea of the

themes of children books and design styles. We realised that although there are very few

titles belonging to the category of “being green”, it is nevertheless on the rise, as seen from

the books’ publication dates. After much discussion, our group felt that it will be good to do

a story on saving the earth as it is important to inculcate environmentally-friendly values

and habits in children when they are young. This idea is highly reflective of the current

global issue on climate change. While the older generations are adapting to this global issue

with new habits and mindsets, we think that the future generations should start adopting

them from young. Learning through children storybooks is thus a good stepping stone for

them to start being “green.” Children storybooks also tend to have large font size with

several more difficult words for children to learn.

As young children are likely to be rich in imagination and have an interest in cartoon and

superheroes, we decided to use that idea to demonstrate to them how they can “save the

earth”. Superheroes are synonymous with being noble and always “doing the right thing”,

so it is a good reference for the children. In addition, a boy superhero relates to the children

better and the readers can follow Robin, the main character.

To create the setting and the story, we made reference to Aristotle’s story-telling

framework – which consists of an intro, rising action, climax, falling action and

denoucement and structured to follow the format. We also referred to many examples in

daily lives to show how the environment is being harmed (eg. littering), as well as how to

save the environment (reduce, reuse and recycle). We decided to show the examples

visually in order to make it clear to the children what to do and what not to do, instead on

merely relying on words. We looked up on images of dirty and rubbish-strewn streets and

neighbourhoods to get an accurate idea of how to portray the image in our scenes.

Image 1: Enormous pile of waste

Image 2: Overfilled bins

Image 3: Dirty Street

We did research on current environmental issues in society and also environmental-

friendly efforts around the world. We found websites catered for children to read up on

global green initiatives, such as Kids for Earth. We hope to incorporate some of the simple

practices and general knowledge about saving the earth into our storyline. And, for the

logo on our superhero, we drew inspirations from the global recycling logo. The main

elements are the green colour, the letter “R” and the arrows, which we played around.

Image 4: Recycle Logo

We looked for pictures to guide ourselves in illustrating the town. In addition, we also

researched on superheroes in popular American comics to get an idea of how to create our

main character. We also referred to general plotlines of these comics to obtain ideas for the

flow and sequence of the story. We took into consideration the logo, the colours, and the

unique factor that each possesses when designing Robin.

Image 5: Town view

Image 6: City view

Image 7: Popular superheroes

3. Storyboarding

3.1 Synopsis

The environmentally-unfriendly behaviors of the people in Singtown had resulted in a

highly unpleasant living condition for all in the town. Robin, who was an average little boy

in the town, was really upset with such behaviors. One day, he stumbled upon a magic ring,

which empowered him with some superpowers to help save the town through

environmentally-friendly acts. With his new found power, he started his green movements

to educate and change the behaviors of the town folks for good.

3.2 Line by Line (Storyboard)

pg 2Once upon a time, there was a beautiful town called Singtown.

pg 3Robin was a boy who lived in Singtown. He was very unhappy because the people in the town were very irresponsible. Rubbish was thrown all over the town and nobody bothered to clean them up.

pg 4Day by day, the pile of rubbish continued to grow until it reached outer space. Even aliens did not want to visit the Earth because it was so smelly.

pg 5Robin was very upset by the state of the town. He remembered how clean and beautiful Singtown used to be, and wished that the town could be reverted back to its beautiful state.

pg 6Robin approached his friends, Merry and Jerry, for help, but they didn't want to help him. "It's too difficult!" cried Merry. "I have no time for that!" said Jerry.

pg 7Robin then approached the other town residents and asked them to stop polluting the environment. "Stop littering!" Robin shouted, but the town residents ignored him. Instead, they jeered at Robin and chased him away.

pg 8

Sad and disappointed, Robin went to sit by himself by the riverside.

pg 9"If only there is some way for me to clean up the town," Robin thought to himself. Suddenly, he noticed a strange bottle floating in the river. There was a beautiful ring, with a "R" insignia, inside the bottle and Robin decided to try on the ring.

pg 10And POOF! In a cloud of smoke, Robin transformed into a superhero, Super Robin!

pg 11Excited by his new-found powers, Super Robin flew back to Singtown to clean up the pile of rubbish that was reaching up to outer space.

pg 12Along the way, Super Robin met Merry and Jerry. They were crying because their favorite toys were broken and their parents wanted to throw them away.

pg 13Super Robin thought aloud, "If they throw the toys away, it'll just add on to the pile of rubbish that is already so high. If only there was a way to REUSE the toys."

pg 14With his super ring, Super Robin used his power, Super-Reuse, to repair Merry and Jerry's toys. "Thank you so much Super Robin!", Merry and Jerry cheered in unison, "Let's REUSE our things so that we can reduce the rubbish we throw."

pg 15Super Robin continued on his way to the pile of rubbish. Along the way, he passed by Ms Brown's house. She had fallen asleep on the sofa while watching the television, and did not switch off the lights and television.

pg 16Super Robin thought to himself, "This is such a waste of electricity! Our power plants will need to generate more electricity, and will result in even more environmental pollution. We must REDUCE electricity wastage!"

pg 17With that, he used his power, Super-Reduce, to switch off the lights and television for Ms Brown.

pg 18Upon reaching the pile of rubbish, Super Robin thought, "Instead of leaving all the rubbish here, let's throw them into the appropriate recycling bins so that we can RECYCLE them!" With that, he started to sort out the rubbish, and placed them into the correct bins: one for cans, one for plastic, and one for paper.

pg 19After Super Robin has cleaned up the town, news reporters interviewed him and reported on the transformation of Singtown.Instead of a gloomy and dirty town, it was now clean and beautiful, and all the residents were filled with joy and laughter.

pg 20The residents of the town were very grateful to Super Robin. "Thank you for helping us to clean our town," they shouted together, "we will continue to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle like how you've shown us because we don't want the town to become dirty and ugly again!"

pg 21With that, Super Robin flew into the sky with a trail of rainbow, and went on a journey to help clean up other towns around the world, and also to inspire others to do the same. The world would never be the same again, all thanks to Super Robin!!!

3.3 Main Characters

Robin: A boy living in Singtown. Disappointed with the place he lives in, he’s determined to

change the town and people.

Merry and Jerry: Robin’s friends who did not want to help him clean up the town.

Town People: Citizens of Singtown. They are nonchalant to living in a dirty and horrible

town. They are not environmental-friendly and have many bad habits.

3.4 Sequence and Flow

The main setting(the town) is introduced at the start of the story to introduce the readers

to a very dirty and polluted town. At the start of the book, the main character, Robin, is

seen to be the only one who is gloomy, awared of and concerned with the state of the town.

His friends and other town residents refuse to help him and he is alone and sad.

After which, we show Robin becoming empowered to make a difference in his town

through the power ring he found. He then goes around town to help the town residents to

clean up the town and protect the environment.

Finally, we show that the town people have become more environmental-conscious and

they vowed continue to maintain the cleanliness of the town. The story ends with Robin

flying off from a clean town happily. He goes on a journey around the world to clean up

other towns and inspire others to make the world a better place.

4. Design and Layout

4.1 Font and Typography Sample

1) D_Old Modern (Decorative)

2) Neuton Cursive

3) Josh Handwriting

4) Comic Sans

5) Chinacat

We chose Chinacat’s font because it is clean and recognizable. Therefore, the font can be

used as example letters for children to copy as they learn to write. It is not as messy as the

decorative font, D_Old Modern. At the same time, Chinacat is not rigid and has some

elements of fun, which will be able to capture the attention of the children.

Additionally, special attention is given to the letters “a” and “g”, while selecting the fonts.

Another reason for choosing Chinacat font is because the way the letters “a” and “g” are

constructed. It is similar to the way children are taught to write. Hence, this will avoid

unnecessary confusion for them and will enhance their reading experience.

4.2 Grid and Layout

The story will be run with a “2-pages” continuous viewing style consistently. The page on

the left would always be the illustrations, while the right would be the story lines. We have

created a light background colour for the pages with the wordings so that the reading

process would be light and easy on the eyes, in contrast to the illustrations which are

already colour-heavy. Also, we included the page numbers at the bottom corner for every

alternate page which contains the wordings. We decided not to integrate them into the

illustrations as it would be cluttered due to the graphics.

4.3 Colour Scheme

We selected colour schemes based on the emotions portrayed in the different scenes. We

extracted the colours from photos that has similar emotions attached to it to create the

colour schemes.

We also choose to color Robin using the colors Green, Red and Yellow. Green symbolizes

the environment, while red and yellow represent optimism/friendliness and passion

respectively. The R logo is also red in color because it is a strong and eye-catching colour

that can attract attention and get the children to notice the letter “R”, which appears

frequently throughout the whole story and is also related to the 3Rs.

5. Reflection

5.1 Problems Encountered

The first problem we met was the different drawing styles of our group members. We split

the illustrations workload equally, with the initial plan being combining our individual

parts together at the end. However, we realised that the different illustration styles and

capabilities were problematic to creating a coherent work. Hence, we compared our

sketches and decided on entrusting the illustrations with the best 2 members in the group

to work together instead.

Also, we figured out that forking time out to work on the project together is a better idea as

compared to completing our own individual segments in our own time and meeting up to

collate. Each member felt that as the project requires a lot of time, energy and effort in

creating from scratch, it is crucial to work simultaneously to bring out coherent work. Thus,

things become easier and done faster as we are able to seek each other’s advice and help

immediately.

5.2 Lessons Learnt

We gained a lot from the project, and the most obvious one would be learning to be a good

team member. Apart from learning to get along well with each other to establish a good

start and ensure a smooth working process, we also learned to be proactive so that there is

efficiency.

Also, through creating this storybook, we came to make use of numerous principles we

learned in the module. Without a conscious effort, we realised that we actually learned

many new concepts on visual design as we have become more critical as compared to

before. Thus, employing these new insights broadened our minds as they allow us to see

things clearer and critically.

It was also challenging to look at the story from the perspectives of the children (our target

audience) as we were often very involved in the creation of the storybook and it was

difficult to look for mistakes or areas of improvement to make the story more accessible to

young children. This is also related to the importance of understanding our clients and end-

users in the design process, as we need to cater to their needs and concerns at the same

time.

6. Bibliography

Enormous pile of waste (Image 1). Retrieved October 19, 2011, from

http :// pugetsoundblogs . com / kitsap - crime / category / littering /

Overfilled bins (Image 2). Retrieved October 25, 2011, from

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/is-leeds-rubbish-war-a-sign-of-

thing

s-to-come-for-britain-1789425.html

Dirty Street (Image 3). Retrieved October 25, 2011, from

http :// dwjsimms . blogspot . com /2007/03/ dirty - britian . html

Recycle Logo (Image 4). Retrieved October 22, 2011, from

http :// zedomax . com / blog /2010/03/22/ top -10- fun - ways - on - howto - recycle - boxes /

Town View (Image 5). Retrieved October 22, 2011, from

http :// www . tallinn - life . com / tallinn / old - town

City View (Image 6). Retrieved October 22, 2011, from

http :// www . tallinn - life . com / tallinn / old - town

Popular Superheroes (Image 7). Retrieved October 22, 2011, from

http :// bwog . com /2010/10/14/ jewish - influences - and - themes - in - american - comics /

Kids for Earth

http :// www . kidsforearthasia . com /

The Go Green Initiatives

http://www.hopedance.org/cms/index.php?

option=com_content&task=view&id=378&Itemid=32