Sprint 3
Finally, after the grueling midterm season, I’m able to give a lot more attention to the work we’re doing for CodeVA.
We’re continuing with the same projects we were working on for the last sprint, and I received feedback from Maggie that she wants the coloring book to not only be engaging and fun, but an education tool. She suggested a very simple subject, dividing a computer into its basic functions. I drew up some rudimentary mock-ups for that idea.
The book starts with a very simple question; What is a computer system?
At its basic functionality, it consists of Input -> Processing -> Output.
Input is any human touch. The click of a mouse, tap of a keyboard, it sends a signal to the computer for it to react to. The red bird is dressed as a computer, and there will be a simple interface for the owl to choose actions for her.
Processing is when the computer transforms input into output. This is going to be represented by the little red bird thinking about the steps that go into that action.
Output is any consequence of input, and is typically text or graphic or sounds (which is represented by the speaker). For the fourth page, the red bird is going to react to the action the owlbot chose for her.
I’ve teamed up with Kristi and Archerd for the production of the book. Kristi and I are collaborating on the story, though she is going to produce the dialogue and text. Archerd and I are illustrating.
The book is going to be in this style, and we’re going to have exaggerated and dynamic drawings. We’re trying to emphasize the action and consequence of the storyline in a clear way. I have a lot of trouble making things explicit, so I want to make sure the illustrations read very well.
After we send the thumbnails and dialogue to Maggie for approval, we’re going to finish the actual pages. I’m going to use vector lines for most of the illustration, though the little bird in the screen is going to use pixel art to show that she’s in a digital space.
Ideally, we would have access to children to use the coloring book, and we’d give a small quiz about the information after. It would just be a basic true/false so as to not take fun away from the experience!
