Creative Brief
Crafted Product
In this case, right now, the Crafted Product is my writing about our design process. Design is a verb, not just a noun. Given the ambition of this idea and to learn from it, I documented the actions we've taken to make those initial hopes and dreams visible through sketching and conversing.
Goal
- App: Introduce children, about age 10, to haiku-making in its original context...
- Story: An unfinished haibun (prose-poem) journal by young Basho and friends Yoshi and Kiku. Basho is the 17th-century inventor of haiku. The user finishes haiku poems to help save animals’ homes from human development, create protective nature spirits, and raise awareness amongst humans for the beauty around them.
- Core mechanic: Collect nature words from environments and put them into a journal, and collect season-word stickers (identify keystone nature words).
- 2 words: creates something interesting.
- 3 words: describes a world.
- With 2-3 words, add context, detail, and the 5 senses.
- Arrange words into 3-line haiku structure:
- Line 1: where, when, or how (noun).
- Line 2: something happens (verb).
- Line 3: surprise/compassion word.
- Make a quick inkbrush painting to accompany the poem (haiga, a poem-painting).
- Share your haiga with friends and family.
- Complete the haiku, cap the haibun.
- Complete four seasons: finish Basho’s journal and save the animals!
- Then go outside and do this in your own world!
- Board game: Introduce children, age 6—8, to haiku-making in its original context.
- Practice writing poems using the seven keys of haiku, from Patricia Donegan:
- Instill values of sustainability and cherishing nature.
- Appreciation for the culture of the four seasons in Japan.
Role
- Julie Finton: Interactive Design, Writing: Former ESL instructor at the Pratt Institute
- Anurati Srivastva: Interactive Design, Game Design Consulting: Game Designer at UNESCO's Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development
- Sweta Pendyala: Story, Gameboard Design
Process
Discovery
Observations
Around that time, I also designed the film poster for a documentary about Kumi Korf, a Japanese-American artist whose bookmaking, influenced by practices from Japan, enchants me.
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During this time, I discovered that Japan has a legacy of appreciating nature through art, design, and culture. For example, this card deck, the hanafuda, shows common seasonal images that appear in art and poetry. Nintendo got its start by making these hanafuda card decks.
By the time they reached high school, the alienation from authors, books, and even school was deep. That's why I wanted to design for their younger selves.
The data here comes from another project I worked on, from the Center for American Progress: Closing the Achievement Gap. I keep returning to the facts below.
Academic achievement gaps are, in part, a product of income inequality…
A host of factors influence a child’s performance in school, but research has found that a family’s income level plays a significant role as well.
- By age 2, children from low-income families are 6 months behind their peers in critical language development and learning skills.
- By age 6, children from wealthy families will spend 1,300 more hours on enrichment activities, such as music lessons.
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