Final Designs

User testing

After creating my final designs, I wanted to make sure they were effective towards my target audience (5-7 year olds). My mum works at Twining primary school in Tewksbury and she has allowed me to conduct a survey on 10 students. I created a short 10 question survey as the age range were quite young and i didn't want to complicate things. i also kept is quite simple as they were taking time out of their school day to help and i didn't want to be much trouble.


I gave them copies of my designs and asked them to fill out the activity sheet. In a group they went out to briefly do the tasks. although not many blackberries were out they all took part as best they could.


Here are the simple questions i asked them:

After reading the book and taking part in the activities, please can you answer some quick questions?

1.   Do you like the front cover?

Yes

No

2.   Did you understand what the book was about from the front cover?

Yes

No

3.   Does it make you want to read the book?

Yes

No

4.   Do you like the granddad character?

Yes

No

5.   Is the book fun?

Yes

No

6.   Did you enjoy filling out the activity sheet?

Yes

No

7.   Did the book make you want to go and pick some blackberries?

Yes

No

8.   Is the book easy to read?

Yes

No

9.   Do you like the images in the book?

Yes

No

10. Would you like to read the rest of the book?

Yes

No

Thank you for reading my book and helping me with my work!

The results of the survey are shown below:

1. Do you like the cover? Yes =70% No= 30%

2. Did you understand what the book was about from the front cover? Yes =30% No= 70%

3. Does it make you want to read the book? Yes =80% No= 20%

4. Do you like the Grandad character? Yes =100%

5. Is the book fun? Yes =100%

6. Did you enjoy filling out the activity sheet? Yes =100%

7. Did it make you want to go and pick some blackberries? Yes =90% No= 10%

8. Is the book easy to read? Yes = 90% ( one child didn't answer)

9. Do you like the images in the book? Yes =100%

10. Would you like to read the rest of the book? Yes =100%

These results show me that I may need to slightly change the front cover of the book with an explanation of what the book is about to make it clearer to the audience. I gather from my findings the the rest of the designs generated positive feedback which don't need much amending.

After a tutorial I have also established what else could do with being amended. these are that the character on the cover blends in a bit too much with the background so I will change the colour of grandads shirt slightly. I also need to change the spine so the title of the book fits at the top. I will also add in some fun facts in the hide and reveal section and change the layout of the activity spread so it seems the audience get more for their money.

Peer Assessment - near final designs

Cover

DP Spread 1.

DP Spread 2.

London book fair - Task

The task set for the London Book fair was to source three different innovations relating to children's book design or book publishing as a whole. Below are the various innovations i feel fit the tasks requirements:


1. pull through puppets

These are some examples of a range of books by Childs Play which include a cut out going throughout the book where a finger puppet is used as the main character. It's a simple way of engaging the reader with the book as they have control over the character giving the child a sense of achievement. I feel this element makes the book innovative and is appropriate towards its audience. Its a great point of sale as there is a whole series which cold be collectable.

2. Hot Dots

Hot dots are a great learning resource for children. I'ts very unique and innovative as you use the pen and dots on the page to learn making it a purely interactive, fun experience for the child. Children select an answer on the multiple choice cards by touching the pen to the corresponding dots for an audio/visual response. I think this is the next step into children's book publishing, it fits into todays society with technology and something that will appeal to children more. Personally i'd prefer to read a book but as an innovate design in publishing i think it has great potential. 

3. Activity cards

Above are some photos taken of some activity cards by 'Cardooo'. They are basically greeting cards aimed towards children that are activity based. Something i've never seen before. They also offer cards aimed towards adults that include desk calendars among other things. Although not a book as such it is a great innovation within children's publishing. I think it's great for children as it engages them with the product and takes them on a journey. I picked up a catalogue which gave lots more information. I think its a present with in a card and something the user won't expect which adds an element of surprise. After speaking to the man at the stand they retail at about £.2.99 which i think is really good as normal cards can be a lot more expensive than that.

session task

"Children are more likely to find encountering new places and people stressful which could affect their feedback"

ensure the location of the testing is in a comfortable environment surrounded by their friends.

Have a familier adult there as a safety net.

" They get tired and bored more quickly and are easily discouraged"

Turn the testing into a game or competition.

" Children are more used to asking for and receiving help. If the purpose of your questioning is to assess how clear the instruction/ information is how would you ensure that they worked unaided?"

If its more of an activity then they may not feel the need to ask for help, if you tell them it's a test it will unease them.

Task 2


• What is the audience age range for your final project?
5-7 year olds.

• What elements of your design do you feel at this stage would benefit from user testing?
The flow of the book, legibility and how fun the books seem. Whether the visual elements make sense.

• What method of user testing might you try and what will you be looking for in your results?
Questionare or video. Ideally video as you can study how they react to the design but this may not be possible so i would use a questionnaire.

• What setting would you use to carry out possible user tests?
In a school or over the internet

user testing ppt notes

User Testing ppt

• Important to make your design successful.

• Get to see your idea through the eyes of the audience, especially important from children, you get to see their perspective.

• Get to take on board their comments to progress

• How to test.

Questionnaires, Video/ observation, Interviews, Focus groups.

• Audience considerations:

who are your audience, what are you trying to communicate to them, what setting- where will they be tested, do they have previous knowledge of the subject matter, the larger the group then the more satisfactory the results will be.

• How to test

preference measures-  asking people what they prefer, scoring on a scale of 1-5, best and worst elements, focus groups-open questions and discussion.

Performance measures - How quickly the content is understood, how they react to it, is it stimulating or boring? can measure how much the tester gets it wrong etc. people may prefer a design but it may not be affective.

Process measures - watching and recording people using the artefact, protocol (the order in which things happen). Video and audio can give an insight to reactions and behaviours that may not been noticed at the time.

Testing Children

they are brutally honest and give an insight into things you haven't thought of before.

They get tired and bored more easily and get discouraged.

Feedback

After presenting my prototypes in todays session I received some helpful feedback. I will consider all of these aspects when progressing my ideas further to create my final concepts.


• To include the Grandad character throughout the book to continue the relationship between him and the audience.


• To develop visuals further.


• Maybe look at some children's magazines to acquire what language is used, how its displayed and interactive, fun elements that are used today.