DESIGN NAME: Body Boom
PRIMARY FUNCTION: Pop up book
INSPIRATION: Lack of sex education can lead to a lot of serious problems. Current young sex education is already presented in various forms. However most of their content is limited or does not appropriately deliver the information. Having knowledge of sexuality can help young people confidently pass through adolescence. Using graphics is an efficient way for kids to understand difficult and embarrassing information.
UNIQUE PROPERTIES / PROJECT DESCRIPTION: This project will be a tool for educating both parents and their children. It helps children discover the joy of learning by letting them discover the natural states of their changing bodies. This pop up book uses interactive methods and efficient visual expression to reduce parents' anxiety and improve their confidence in being the tutors, as well as convey information using a friendly tone.
OPERATION / FLOW / INTERACTION: This is a pop up book. Children can open and play with each page with their parents. Tabs can be pulled to review information.
The layers control the flow of messaging to avoid presented too much information at one time. There are some interesting interactive design details.
The question-answer-wheel encourages parents and children to begin a dialogue about body development.
The use of soothing colors allows children to be calm and focused when they read the book.
These casual talks will encourage kids to build a healthy and positive self image.
PROJECT DURATION AND LOCATION: The project started in February 2016 in New York and finished in May 2016, and was exhibited in 2016 New York Design Week in May 2016.
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PRODUCTION / REALIZATION TECHNOLOGY: Sketches, Adobe Illustrator, Laser Cut, Paper Craft.
I tried a lot of paper experiments to figure out the structure of each page.
SPECIFICATIONS / TECHNICAL PROPERTIES: 9in x 2in x 12in
TAGS: sex, puberty, education, pop up book, structure, friendly, craft, young, interaction
RESEARCH ABSTRACT: I used half a year to do the research before I started this project and finished a thesis with 40 pages.
I started from the news about the lack of sex education in China, Japan and USA. Then I went through the background and history to figure out the culture and psychology reasons.
After that I researched the current educational materials and found most of them lack acceptable visual communication. Some pictures seem to equate sex primarily with pleasure, which could run into trouble for young children. Then I did two case studies from the BEDSIDER website and the CLEMENTINE WANTS TO KNOW app and found the importance of using interaction methods.
I used Pratt Cat, Google Books and Pratt library and various news to look for resources. After researching I decided to focus on children between the ages of 6-9 who have not yet entered or in the early stages of preadolescence.
I found that a good preparation before puberty can reduce their anxiety. Family instead of school is the most important environment for children to receive information. This project should not only help children to learn but also be a tool to help parents reduce their anxiety and improve their confidence in being the tutors of their children's body. On the other hand, it should help parents learn the specific information that children are interested in and should know.
I also realized that the digital apps or games have their disadvantages. Children would like to play with the digital devices without communicating with their parents. Sometimes they can also be distracted by the interactive functions. Appropriate answers cannot be provided for their questions. But a pop up book has inherent interaction for children. Parents can play with it through its manual interactive function. This collaborative and interactive process can tap into children's potential awareness of being willing to interact with others. The book can help children discover the joy in learning by letting them pursue the natural states of their changing bodies.
CHALLENGE: Learning should have laughter, wows and "no ways!" Communicating with friendly tones while using the book will encourage kids to keep going and build a healthy and positive self image. Communicate embarrassing information to young adults and determining what exactly want to know is very challenging. The barrier in communication between parents and children is obvious. So my project is a tool for educating both parents and children. It should be a medium to help to start the conversation.
So what kind of interaction should happen between children and parents? How they can accept the difficult-communication knowledge without misunderstanding is the main concern of the design. Rather than wanting to know about the biology of sex and reproduction, children’s main concerns are often the changes happening to their bodies. They want to know about where on their bodies hair would sprout – and how long it will grow. Girls want to know how wide their hips will grow, while boys want to know how much they will sweat. So the content was designed through children’s perspectives and uses their tone.
ADDED DATE: 2017-04-07 17:55:47
TEAM MEMBERS (1) : Danyang Pang
IMAGE CREDITS: Photographer/ Illustrator/ Structure craft/ Creator Danyang Pang, 2016
Video Director Xiaoyu Yang, Photographer of the vedio Langbo Lee.
PATENTS/COPYRIGHTS: Copyrights belong to Danyang Pang, 2016
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