App Development

Final APP

I really enjoyed this project, although it was very challenging. I think the book Duck, Death and the tulip was a really great children's book and I think that is why  I had so much passion for the project. not only did I enjoy the story but there was also a lot of room to be creative with the visuals and what interactions I could create. There is more that I would have liked to do with the book, but here always is. For the most part I am very happy with the way I re imagined this book and added my own creativity with it. The visuals look good and I think the interactions are fun and engaging. I think the music I chose worked well to portray the nostalgia and friendship i wanted to portray in the first scenes, as well as the sadness present in the later scenes.

Interactions

I put a lot of thought into my interactions, not only how I could make then relate to the story but also what would be fun to do. I tried out as many different interactions as I could including the accelerometer, microphone, parallax and multi touch screen. I think the all turned out pretty enjoyable and worked well with the story. Had I had more time I think I would have added more pages, that had potential for interaction, as well as adding more interactions to the pages I was already using, such as one of my original ideas of swiping Duck and Deaths head left and right in the tree. I also may have tried to make some of the backgrounds more interactive, such as in the first page where the clouds are interactive  potentially i could have made the snowflakes interactive in page 5.

Designs

I really liked the way my page designs turned out. I tried to portray the darker theme of the book, but still keep it simple and fun. I used simple backgrounds and layered the to add depth to the scene, while still keeping it simple. These background had a slightly dark theme to them but still looked cartoony and fun as it is a children's book. I thought really hard about what colours I used to not only convey what was happening in the page but also what the emotional tone of the scene should be. I really liked the faded peachy orange colour I used for Summer, it not only reflected summer but also conveyed their friendship in a lighter tone and  I think added the depth of  nostalgia to the scene. The purple and blue worked really well to portray winter and keeping it fun. While the later darker pages also worked well to help convey the sadness in the scenes. I think the blue moon and the change in colour of the characters worked beautifully visually and successfully conveyed this sadder tone. I create small buttons to change between pages which are easy to spot and follow the theme of the book. I thin my designs work well with the story and do not stray to far from what a simple children's book should be.

App Interactions 

The interaction in the cover page is fairly simple, the user just presses the duck and the the book is opened.

I think the interaction for this page turned out quite beautifully. I used a simple parallax used to let the user swipe the clouds along the page with their finger. By simply swiping left and right the user can move the clouds along the page. This related specifically to what I had written on the page and remained simple and easy. I think it made the first page just a little more fun, especially since there is a long line of clouds that can be swiped onto the page, and then be swiped back, making this simple interaction very fun.

For this interaction I used an inversed accelerometer linked to the background page, so that (for example) titling the ipad up would move the background image down to reveal it, almost as if you were moving Duck and Death in the tree and floating around. this was to create an interaction where you could look at what Duck and Death were looking at. In this interaction the user can tilt the ipad to reveal the rest of the background to, making the page far more interactive as you can explore what is around. Within the page are hidden quotes or messages relating to what the might be looking at that the user can discover. The user must also discover the next button hidden somewhere on the page, prompting the user to have fun exploring without just skipping the page. 

In this page I used a simple microphone interaction that related specifically to what was happening as in the story. When the user blows into the microphone leaves blow over the page, aided by the sound of wind. The more (or harder) the user blows the more leaves and wind appear. I though this was a nice interaction for this page  to bring in winter in the story.

In this page, snowflakes blow in the background. The interaction  is a simple touch interaction, as the user rubs Duck, she slowly fades, since she has passed. I though this was a nice way to soften the idea of death, as she is not just gone or a dead object but since she is the interactive object there is  still some life to her, and the user controls how far she fades,it is almost as if Duck isn't truly dead until the user makes her fade away completely.  I think this is a nicer way for children to read and understand this page, rather than simply suggesting duck is dead.

In this page the story has established that Duck has passed, and is a simple sad scene of Death carrying Duck away to the river. To help portray the sadness death feels for his dead friend, the user can press death and he releases a sad sigh. The sigh sounds almost as if Death had experienced this before or many times, but he is genuinely sad about Duck. I think this simple sound activation interaction was the best way to help show Deaths sadness.

In the final page I used a microphone interaction to help send Duck down the river. As the user blows, Duck progresses further down the river, the harder the user blows the faster Duck moves. once duck reaches the end , the page instantly turns to the end page. I though this was a fun interaction and worked well with what happened on the page.

The end page uses the same interaction as on the cover page. a simple press of Duck and you can begin the book again.

Page Designs

For the cover design, I wanted to continue the theme I had created throughout the book. I wanted it to reflect the darker tone of the book, but still portray the fun associated with a children book.I chose a darker style font than the original and used the blue purple background which was not the darkest used within my adaptation of the book but I think worked well in portraying the theme with a slightly lighter visual. 

I wanted to keep the first page simple, not only visually but also narratively. As I did not start the book from the beginning I wanted to begin with a scene that strongly portrays Duck and Death's friendship. I think the clouds work quite nicely with this scene and can continue to develop into s simple interaction.

I was very happy with the final design of this page as I was able to incorporate multiple quotes furthering the story. This page worked well in the way I wanted to portray the book, as I wanted to begin the part of the book I was using with a sort of nostalgia hinting that it may head toward their friendship ending. This is strongly represented  within the quote I added in " as they looked at the hills they thought fondly of the time they had spent together" The larger image works well to help further portray the significance of their friendship. With this page I will be able to create an exiting interaction that lets the user explore the page and reveal the other quotes for them selves. 

In this page I used the same style as in the first two, however as it it heading towards winter I changed the colour scheme to a darker one. using a wintery purple and blue. this colour scheme not only helps represent the transition to winter but also changed the tone of the book. It suddenly does not appear as happy as it did in the summer pages, but begins to feel a little sadder.

This is the page where Duck passes away. I wanted to keep the blue purple winter colours, however I made it a little darker to change to tone to an even sadder one as Duck has passed. Not only did I make the background darker but I changed the colour of Duck and Death, which I think works beautifully with the blue moon but also helps portray the sadness of the page.

This colour scheme was continued in this page as the sadness of Duck's death is still present in the page. Not much has changed visually in the page from the last however the background is moved along a bit.

In this page I wanted to make it a little more uplifting than the last two. It still has a darker tone to it with the dark blue and purple, However slightly lighter than the last page, and the characters are no longer blue. This is because he way the story ends is not entirely sad, "he was almost a little moved, but that life" the ending  of pushing Duck down the river is almost like a new beginning for Duck, therefore the dark tone of the last pages would have prevented this "new beginning feeling" from coming out in this page.

I went back to the darker colours for the end page, because I wanted it to contrast the cover/ beginning page. However I added the same quirky image of Duck from the first page with a change in colour and glow, maybe her spirit. This was to end the book on a somewhat light mood, yes Duck may have passed but her spirit lives on and she has not disappeared forever.  

How I created my backgrounds