- Type
- Character design
- Industrial design
- Client
- Ravensburger
- March – April 2020
- My role
- Creative direction
- Art direction
- Character design
- Illustration
- Animation & 3D Modelling
Storytellers
In order to create differentiated and innovative experiences in the domain of children books, Ravensburger planned to launch a new line of smart books in 2021. These books would work together with an external audio device called “The storyteller”.
Focused on children who are about to, or close to, learn how to read. The immersive audio experience occurs only upon page flipping, allowing children to listen to the story while looking at the visual narratives.
00 · Project summary
Challenge
An initial pitch of 3 weeks to develop three conceptual characters for children between 3 and 8 years old, that could represent the Ravensburger Storyteller — at least one of them needed to be an animal, and any human form should be a-gender.
Each one of the characters were to be subject to user research conducted on children and parents by the client’s internal research team. The most beloved one would be developed for manufacturing.
Outcomes
We won the pitch and got bugdet to produce the toy. For the upcoming 5 weeks, we’ve finalized the design of the toy and created the specifications for manufacturing.
View on amazon Visit siteImpact
The current rating on Amazon Germany is based on the avg. of 305 customer reviews as of August 2024
- 4.7/5
Listed among the top 10 toys of 2021 by the Bundesverband des Spielwaren-Einzelhandels e.V
- Top/2021
Full credits
- 3D Modelling for production
- Mariano Cucci
- Mechanical engineering
- Andrea Besana
02 · Approach & concept
It all started with a strong narrative
Before hitting the sketchbook and start drawing, I sat down to write a narrative that would help me bring the characters together. They were required to be different in shape and form, one needed to be an animal, the other maybe a human being and the last one probably an abstract one. I felt the need to have a common element among all of them, that would bring them together.
A world of storytellers
Once upon a time there were three masters known as The Storytellers. They were known and respected for being the wisest storytellers that ever lived. Their passion for reading and discovering new stories was such, that they travelled all over the world searching for new ones.
Some people believe they’re still around; that every time a book is opened, children are hearing their voices through the telling of stories.
03 · design process
Character development
Following Ravensburger’s brief and desired art direction: minimal, modern design in 2 to 3 colours, at least one of the three conceptual characters needs to be an animal, etc; I’ve spent a couple of days trying to understand what shape these storytellers could take.
Do they have an animal form? Are they amazing creatures? How can they look friendly and cuddly? What is the relationship with reading, with books? How do children react and relate to them? Dozens of different sketches and illustrations have been produced until I’ve found the right candidates.
04 · pitch outcome
Meet Milo, Kit and Ray — the conceptual storytellers
From the 3 characters developed during our first engagement with Ravensburger, Milo (the bear) was by far the most beloved one. Together with other characters from competitors, Milo was subject to several user-tests with children and parents.
The user-tests findings showed frog’s characters performed very well. Milo performed exceptionally, being favourited by parents and children in different categories from: cuteness to recognition and desirability.
Meet Milo, the polar bear
Milo likes to read in the dark. He carries a small flashlight, which he turns on every time he reads a story. He is a cuddly polar bear who loves to wear his boots and splash in puddles.
Meet Kit, the friendly monster
Kit has been a Storyteller since he was a cub. He is a magical creature who has developed big hands to handle books bigger than himself. Beyond reading, Kit loves to wear stripy jumpers.
Meet Ray and its dragon Maya
Ray has a special appetite for adventure stories and is never seen without his dragon, Maya. Ray has learned many stories from the clouds and before he goes to bed, he loves telling stories to the stars.
04 · design development
Detailed design and prototyping
When designing the character for production, we faced two main challenges: the clamping system (how the character is attached to the book) and the camera position (a fixed focal length and angle were needed for the character to detect the book).
These two constrains influenced heavily the design decisions on the size, the pose, how to hide the camera and the area of the clamping system. After several explorations and rounds of user-testing, we’ve finally reached the optimal solution: a mug for hiding the camera and an iceberg for clamping.
Colour selection
With the limitation of 2 to 3 colours for the character, picking the right colour combination was not an easy task. Milo was a polar bear from the cold north, but it also needed to be approachable and warm.
A knitted scarf for Milo
Since I couldn’t really change the material in which Milo was going to be produced, I felt the toy needed something warm, an accessory that would be soft to the touch — cosy even — something natural that would make it less artificial and cold. A knitted scarf seemed a great idea: it could hide potential screws or line-cuts, and belonged to the world I’ve created for the character. The problem was finding the right fabric…
Gimmicks study
During the pitch phase, my initial hunch was to have Milo's eyes designed has reduced as possible — in order to better fit the overall design direction of the character. A small study with different gimmicks helped convince the client of which eyes to go for.
04 · Detailled design and delivery
Milo is now ready to start reading stories
The final delivery was the design specifications for the toy with CMF, cad model for mechanical concept, and final product renderings. A short video was also produced to showcase the setup of the storyteller on the book and introduce the product to sales team.
04 · Customer feedback
My own children have one. But it is different to read feedback from others.
Mir als Mutter hat besonders gut gefallen, dass die schöne, liebevolle Geschichte ganz ruhig und mit unaufgeregter, sehr angenehmer Stimme vorgelesen wurde und Julius sich dabei in seinem Tempo das Buch mit den Bildern dazu anschauen konnte.
—
Tamara K.
Mom of Julius, 5 years old