Parenting Tips for School Children
Monday 6 January 2014
Wednesday 4 December 2013
My first big step
With the illustrations done and the content ready, I started doodling layouts, drafting and sketching layouts. I wanted the overall feel to be informative, implementable (as in easy to apply), as well as memorable. Moreover keeping the target audience which are parents and relatives of children, I tried to have a blend in playfulness and subtlety.
After printing and constructing the stand, it was felt that the height of the leaflet would seem better if it is shortened a bit. The colors also didn't appear as intended. The paper strip that keeps the kit together could be used as a space to provide instructions for assembling the stand.
The proposed kit |
The facade of pen stand |
Information about the product and the instructions |
Inside leaflet |
After printing and constructing the stand, it was felt that the height of the leaflet would seem better if it is shortened a bit. The colors also didn't appear as intended. The paper strip that keeps the kit together could be used as a space to provide instructions for assembling the stand.
Sunday 17 November 2013
Content Writing and Illustrations
CONTENT
Once you have gathered and collected it all, you know you have done a lot! But then it sinks in that bulk of the work still remains. Yes my content structure has been drafted and now while reading "WORDS that SELL" by Richard Bayan the way one writes content plays a very big role.When we deal with such sensitive issues where the mental and physical well being of a child is studied and parents are the takers of the message, I felt the voice could be kept in first person. This method could be:
- assuring
- empathizing
- open parents to discussion
- suggestive
- not dictative
- conversational
When parents read the information, it shouldn't alarm them. They should not only be informed of what are the problems which a child faces while beginning school but also how parents can address such problems. That is why I have tried to take care of the tone, trying to make it sound very positive, happy, full of possibilities.
A small passage from the content:
Many of us who are parents and are sending our
children to school for the first time face a lot of difficulties. School is an important milestone in our
child’s education. Every child goes
through a phase of confusion where it is unable to understand what is happening
around. They need to be explained in advance, made to be prepared for the
wonderful years a school has in store for them.
Every parent can be a part of this phase and it is certainly possible
for them to ease out their children’s problems by making them feel good. As Adele
Faber and Elaine Mazlish have written in their book, “When kids feel right,
they’ll behave right.” Let’s take a look at some of the issues commonly faced
by our children while beginning school:
EMOTIONAL
PROBLEM
Refuse
to sleep alone
Each of these children react differently but the
cause lies in fear of being physically
away from someone or something important to the child, which is why sometimes
they have difficulty in sleeping by themselves. In such cases as parents we
could try the following:
1. “Yes
dear I will keep coming to see that no one troubles you in your sleep.”- The
child is assured that it’s parents will keep a check on it while it is asleep.
2. A bedtime routine can be created.
3. Books
that interest the child can be read out before they fall asleep.
Nail biting
There are
various means through which children seek comfort. Nail biting, hair twirling, thumb sucking are
all methods to pacify themselves. The reasons could be boredom, an aid to
stress relief or curiosity in some cases.
But how can this be resolved before the child destroys his cuticles and
becomes a subject of mockery.
1. Child should be given reasons as to why it should not bite its nails.
While travelling homewards, I met a young couple on train. They have a three year old daughter and two months old son. I showed them a printout of the content I had written. They appeared to be very happy that such an initiative is being taken and they said they could relate to many incidents which I had mentioned. They also felt the suggestions were helpful and could be implemented. Their daughter is yet to begin her school but they claim to already face some of the problems mentioned such as throwing tantrums. They said it would be a valuable kit for parents of children about to begin their school.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Once the content was roughly phrased, I felt I could start exploring the illustrations. I also spoke to my senior Dhwani, after which I geared up to doodle and sketch keeping the following in mind:
1. Illustration style to be kept simple.
2. Simple color coding,avoid using too many colors.
I started by taking each problem and picking out various scenes I could imagine. Then I began to doodle the ones which parents could easily relate to and would find it easy to follow.
The initial doodles:
Some fair versions:
Stammering How about hearing your child read a paragraph daily |
Nightmares Checking on the child while it is asleep |
Nausea |
Throwing tantrums
Children
could be explained that there are
better ways of asking what they want.
|
Bedwetting Child needs to be told that bedwetting is not its fault |
Anxious thoughts
Provide
opportunities to communicate
and name the feelings for child while it
expresses.
|
Anxious thoughts
Engage
them in activities which they enjoy.
|
Some rendered styles:
1 |
2 |
3 |
4A |
4B |
COLOURS
Since the kit is aimed for parents, I felt a fresh and soothing color palette could be used. It should be suggestive of the brimming energy of a child and at the same time considering the seriousness of issue. So the colours picked ranged from subtle shades of orange, cream to navy blue.
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