Character Design in the Interactive Visual Book ‘What Can My Body Do?’ as a Visual Communication Strategy
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32664/mavis.v8i01.2265Keywords:
children’s books, character design, visual communicationAbstract
Character design in children’s book serves an important role as a form of visual communication that helps deliver information to early childhood readers. Since children tend to understand messages through visuals rather than text, characters need to be designed by considering silhouette, visual style, and functional aspects that match children's developmental characteristics.. Well-designed and communicative character that emphasize clear shapes, expressive features, and appropriate color can support children in understanding the story, recognizing emotions, and interpreting the messages presented in the book.This study aims to develop the main characters for an interactive visual book entitled “Tubuhku Bisa Apa?” intended for early childhood audiences. The research applies the design thinking method, which consist of the stage emphatize, define, ideate, prototype, and test. Data collection was conducted through observation and interviews in order to understand the characteristics of the target audience and the role of characters as a visual communication medium within the bookThe final character design was selected by considering several key principles including silhouette clarity, visual style and function. Validation from a children's book illustrator indicated that alternative D fulfilled these principles, making the characters easily recognizable and capable of conveying messages clearly. Meanwhile, testing with children showed that the characters were easy to recognize and their emotions were understandable. These findings align with teacher interview results indicating that children more easily understand messages through visuals; therefore, character design serves as a visual communication strategy.
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