Freelance Project

Brief -

Ok the brief is this - my client is looking to up the interactivity of his ebook magazine - let's just say for now it is New Scientist or Wired for examples. She wants me to place 3D elements into the pieces or small and simple game like structures that can be used as templates to evoke the element of exploration and story telling. I need you to come up with some designs and ideas into the interactivity of these pieces and front end exploration. We will be using Unity and although most people think of tablets for magazines, our client wants it explorable on a smart phone - so smaller resolution requires a better UI. Look at other examples of this out there and recycle whilst trying to make it unique!

This brief was a struggle for me as I do not have a lot of design experience especially in publications or magazine design.

Research

Interactivity in e-publication

http://www.bestinteractiveebooks.com/

eBooks were the first to appear on devices such as the Kindle, and have very limited interactivity. You are mainly able to flip the pages, search for content, or highlight words to see a dictionary definition. These devices also allowed font size to be increased to enable visually impaired readers enjoy books more easily. This gave publishers the unforeseen benefit of regaining a large population of users who couldn’t read printed books.

Enhanced eBooks (ePUB3) are a new digital publication standard that allows easy integration of video, audio, and interactivity. I expect this format to advance the future of textbooks and other educational material. Future textbooks might be able to “read themselves” with audio narration, perhaps preventing students from actually reading. But the benefits outweigh the downsides; for example, the new text books might also offer the ability to make and share annotations without destroying the book, interactive self-tests throughout the chapters, and generally a much more enjoyable learning experience.

5 amazing iPad e-books for kids

After checking out two..
Alice for iPad, offered in abridged and unabridged formats, allows users to bring the classic Alice in Wonderland story to visual life with what one reviewer calls “eye popping” effects.
Disney’s Toy Story Read Along (free version) offers narrated text, integrated video and music from the original film, clickable coloring pages, an audio recording feature, and games.