When Alex Mora ’14 and Katie Parlow ’15 began to learn the interactive e-book creation program Demibooks Composer for the “Storytelling through the iPad” class, neither student expected to become a published author.
Demibooks Storytime publishes the best Composer-based e-books submitted to it from around the globe, and Meet Spot! by Mora and Izzy and Emmy Go To School by Parlow were selected.
“This book is pretty different than anything I’ve made before at MIAD,” recalled Parlow.
Combining storytelling, illustration and animation into one project, Communication Design majors Mora and Parlow never thought about how to make children’s books before this project. They researched to develop their own stories and aesthetics, and drew upon their Communication Design skills when thinking about color theory and audience.
Parlow created a story based on her own experiences as a twin. Izzy and Emmy Go To School is about twin elephants who have very different personalities, and learn to identify and accept their differences when going to school for the first time. Parlow created child-like images and drew inspiration from the textures used in classic children’s books like Peter Cottontail.
For Meet Spot!, Mora redeveloped an information graphic he used for a previous class into the instructional story intended to teach children to care for their pets. Mora credits professor Stacey Williams-Ng for helping him adapt graphics into illustrations to enhance the narrative of the book.
Demibooks Storytime is an iPad application that allows you to download interactive picture books for young children. Meet Spot! and Izzy and Emmy Go To School (and the Demibook Storytime App) are available for purchase and download on the iTunes Store.
Click here to learn more about MIAD Illustration.
Click here to learn more about MIAD Communication Design.
Top Image: Alex Mora, Meet Spot!
Bottom Image: Katie Parlow, Izzy and Emmy Go To School
