Folks' Tales
Folks’ Tales is a digital collection of South African fables and crafts
that sparks connection through creative play. The application provides a platform for children to engage with and
connect to various South African cultures by using storytelling, drawing, and crafting to cultivate
social awareness.
Our app is designed for South African children between the ages of six to eight. The different
difficulties of the stories encourage children within this development stage to expand their
knowledge while they play along. Folks’ Tales is available to any child who has access to a
phone or other digital device.
Role
Research, Interaction, Visual design,
Prototyping & Testing, Animation
Collaborators
Olivia Fong & Karla Jansen
Project scope and timeline
The project involved various research and design aspects to develop an effective digital solution. We began by establishing the scope of the work at hand which helped us define our project goals and determine what was feasible to achieve.
Concept moodboard
We researched South African themed arts and crafts projects, and various traditional fables to develop the game concept.
Research
Primary and secondary research was fundamental in our app development, allowing us to support and validate our game. The initial research phase helped to identify an appropriate and relevant topic for the digital intervention. Broad research was conducted on playful learning, arts and crafts, and our target demographic. Various academic, corporate, and internet sources were consulted. Our research findings illustrated the key aspects of play and the benefits of art in child development.
We began our primary research by conducting an online survey for child caregivers. The survey comprised of quantitative questions to provide statistical information about our target demographic, preferred types of play, and access to supplies. We also conducted qualitative research to gain a broad understanding of different play experiences and learning perspectives. We complied long-form, open-ended questions for caregivers in addition to interviewing a child educator. The above data sets are taken from sixteen responses.
We conducted multiple play testing sessions to research, test, and iteratively design Folks' Tales.
Our play sessions involved engaging with an analogue prototype of our digital intervention; we used storybooks,
drawing activities, and a crafting project to emulate key aspects of our app and gameplay.
The sessions engaged with different kinds of play to explore the application of our initial research in practice.
The play testing allowed us to co-design with our target demographic by considering their feedback and including
them in the development of Folks' Tales.
Key insights from the research
Project goals
After conducting preliminary research and establishing the focus of our app, we defined goals for our project development.
Competitor feature map
A competitor feature map was created to establish necessary and appropriate features for Folks' Tales. We examined various children's apps that involve drawing, crafting, or storytelling to explore the features that contribute to a successful play interaction. This research also identified a gap in the market for our digital intervention.
User flow
We established a basic user flow to guide the app's navigation. Folks' Tales follows a linear progression to ensure a straightforward and uncomplicated play experience. The gameplay creates a meaningful, fun experience that children can engage with on a personal level.
User interface
The Folks' Tales visual language combines bold colours and shapes with tactile textures to reflect the app's underpinning theme of arts and crafts. The clean interface creates a space for open-ended play so that the child may interpret and experience the game in their own creative way.
Folks' Tales typography consists of Crafty Display paired with Futura PT. The hand-cut font reflects the fun and creative feeling of the brand, while Futura’s modern sans serif ensures readability throughout the app. Folks' Tales mascot, Crafty Croc, is also hand-crafted from paper to enhance the tactile feel of the visual language. Folks' Tales colour palette is a simple twist on the colours of the South African flag; the palette creates a sense of youthfulness and fun. Distinct patterning combines different textures, colours, shapes, and simple line work to reflect the conceptual underpinnings of the app's gameplay.
Final outcome
Folks' Tales is a digital platform that encourages cultural connection through arts and crafts.
Play Folks' Tales!
