Colour Research

As I am looking to aim my project towards children, the colours that I would be looking to use would need to be very bright and make use of the primary colours as children react better to primary colours due to their eyes not being properly developed. I used Kuler to have a look at different colour schemes under the search option "children" and picked the best colour schemes from that selection.

This colour scheme is very bright and each of the colours and vibrant as well as being very different from each other which makes this colours scheme very distinguishing.

This colour scheme is a slightly more dull that the previous colour scheme but each of the colours are very distinguishing. The colours are not as bright as I would like but still fit into the theme I am looking at.

This colour scheme is just as bright as the first one but the use of red is different. The use of the red is placed in the pink and purple colours rather than just a plain red.

After looking at all the colour schemes above, I have decided that I definitely wanted to go down the route of very bright colours so I put the word "bright" into the search option on Kuler and below are some of the best results.

 This colour scheme makes use of a darker blue which is different than they one that we have seen above. The other colours are very similar to what we have already seen though.

Quite different to what we have seen. Does not make use of the primary colours really but each of the colours are bright and interesting but I feel there is not much                    
distinction between each of them

Again a fairly different colour scheme but the colours are still very bright. As with the one above, I feel there is not much variation in the colours here as they all feel very "similar"





I am deciding to use this colour scheme because it has a lot of variety and makes good use of the primary colours with variations of them. The colours are bright and would work well in a children's themed interactive video.

Target Audience Research

As we all know, TV has become a very large part of everyone's life and with this children's programmes are very popular with, well, children. There are many programmes out there all trying to teach children manners and good morals.
The Tweenies is an example of children's programming. All of the characters are very colourful as well as the studio set that it is filmed in. There are sometimes puzzles for the children to solve on screen which means  that the tweenies engages children both visually and intelectually which is a reason why it is such a huge success.

The teletubbies is another example of children's programming. This show gets children moving by joining in with dancing and singing as well as doing puzzles. This show has become one of the most popular programme on television for children.

 Children's games also follow a certain style. The box design always seems to be the same with a large bright letters and the graphics on the box are comic-like which attracts children into buying it. The game itself is very simple but amusing to children as it is easy to play. The colours on the actual game are again very colourful with no dark or dull colours as they are very boring colours to children.

Competition Research

Usborne has been around since 1973 and specialise in children's books. One of their most successful series was the Puzzle Adventures. These books contained bright images and challenging puzzles for children to do. The books stories always seem to follow very interesting adventures, specifically adventures that children would enjoy such as outer space, pirates or western.
Each of the puzzles seem to contain lots of different object along with a story line. Example puzzles are things like matching objects to owners, finding objects or mazes. Each of these are good examples of puzzles that are interesting to children as well as being simple enough for them to be able to solve.

There are a lot of "typical" puzzle books out there that usually involve large colourful letters in order to grab the attention of children in stores etc. There is a minimal amount of white space and there are no dull or dark colours used. The puzzles inside also seem to revolve around finding things and matching objects but can contain a vast amount of different puzzles such as spot the difference or simple number puzzles.



On the right is a simple puzzle that has been devised for use in a puzzle book. It may be in black and white but that makes it no less interesting. There is plenty of illustration going on in order to keep children entertained. The puzzle in this example is to get the pirate to the treasure but he is only able to touch the squares with even numbers on them. This is a good example of how a simple puzzle can be made into something educational.

My Brief

Aims
I am going to create a visual journey which is aimed at children. The piece is going to be both fun as well stimulating as the journey will take the form of a puzzle type adventure. That piece will be very visual with lots of objects and colours in each of the pictures which is engaging to children and the puzzles will need to be simple in order for children to complete them.

Target Audience
As stated above, my target audience is children. I will be looking to create something for children between 4 and 9 years old and specifically school children. At this age range, most children have not been in school very long amd education is new and exciting to them so a puzzle game would be interesting to them as it provides fun as well as being something stimulating and education.

Competition
Puzzle books for children is a very large market with a vast amount of different puzzle books and games out there. I will look at the successful competition who have perhaps been around for a long time as I will be able to see what it is they do that allows children to enjoy their books or games and certainly what has kept them in business for so many years.

Map

The route in red is slightly shortened than the video below. The beginning of the route is Rosebery Avenue and the final point is the bowling green but could also be the rose garden which is right next to it.

Location Research

Images

This is a wide open area with plenty of areas to add characters hidden behind bushes and trees. Picture itself is very dark so may need to be brightened.

Similar to the one above closer as well as being brighter, would be better to use than the one above as places to hide characters are better on this image.

Narrow path but not a lot of places to hide anything or create puzzles. Could be used as a story page only.

Very bright image and a lot of foliage going on, could be used quite well for a puzzle.

Good open area to create a puzzle but also has a few places to hide characters as well.

Same as above, much more open but less places to hide characters.

Again, very open area but quite a few areas to hide characters as well, 

Lots of modern day things in this image, looks a bit different from the rest of the images so probably will not be used.

Very similar to the narrow path image with not a lot of room for puzzle etc. Could be used as a story page.

Again, quite narrow but this does have the potential for a lot of hidden characters and puzzles.

A good one for hiding characters as part of a puzzle but not a lot of room for anything else.

Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvNumGRsbaA

Interpretation of Brief

Objective:

To create an interactive experience of a normal journey that you can make. Using different medias, we must turn this mundane journey into something more interesting through different sounds and images. This can be done in a variety of ways, but must give a different outlook on the journey than normal.

Audience:

The journey must be interesting to a vast audience or different age ranges and backgrounds as the audience of people that are interested in interactive media are not limited by age or gender. It must also be fairly unique to grab the attention of this audience.

Requirements:
Find an location and create an interactive experience within a half mile radius of that location. Develop ideas and concepts in a sketchbook.

Initial Ideas

Ideas

1. Using a series of photographs. Each photograph can be clicked to go forward but other photographs to the sides which when clicked on, zoom in on that photograph. There would be interactive objects in the world that may appear normal but would not be. For example, a billboard that when clicked would become a tunnel that provides a shortcut to another area.

2. A game style adventure which involves you having to pick up objects or other things in order to advance. Could do it as a video or in the same style as the above with a series of photographs that you can click to advance or look about.

3. A puzzle style adventure specifically designed for children. There would be a challenge for them to overcome in each area such as finding an object or matching object to people or other things.

4. Text-like adventure that gives you different choices and options once you reach certain points. Could also include pictures with puzzles as part of this adventure.

Chosen Idea
I have decided to do the puzzle style adventure because images can be easily editted to include other objects allowing me to put more into the picture. The objects can be used for puzzles and children's puzzles are always more visual than normal puzzles allowing me to utilise those objects into puzzles easily.