Barnes-Brisley, F., and  Isabel, M. "Reading Habits Survey.", OCAD University, 2020. Unpublished raw data.

This survey was created to establish people’s preconceptions about Shakespeare’s work, as well as their main modes of media and reading habits. The survey can cement notions people have about the challenges or benefits of reading Shakespeare to inform design decisions of an engaging book for teens.

         Bergeron, P. R. "How an Apt Logo’s Font Can Appeal to Millennials." National Apartment Association, 2019, https://www.naahq.org/news-publications/units/february-2019/article/apt-logos-font-appeal-millennials

This article discusses views millennials and youth have on the serif vs. sans-serif debate. The conclusion is that millennials tie sans-serif to modernity, technology, and prominent silicon valley brands giving it familiarity and favour. This article can reinforce my typographic decision to choose a sans-serif face to leave any sense of Shakespeare being dated behind. 

         Blonk, Jaap, and Golan Levin. “Ursonography.” Flong, 2005, http://www.flong.com/projects/ursonography/.

This related work by Golan Levin creates expressive subtitles for a sound poetry performance, using motion, scale and direction to express sounds as a poet reads them. I found this work inspiring, as it showed me how others have used typography and added the mode of motion to express sounds and tones of speech, and I plan on using typography to express emotion. 

         Cavanagh, Sean. “Catching Up on Algebra.”, Education Week,  2008,  https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/04/23/34algebra_ep.h27.html.

This article examines how unconventional textbooks (disposable booklets, online software) are being used in teaching high school students algebra in an attempt to engage and motivate students. This can direct my attention to formats of books that are not as daunting as a hard-bound textbook, and are more approachable. 

          Collett, G. "Design a Workbook: Tips for success." Book Design Made Simple, 2020, https://www.bookdesignmadesimple.com/design-a-workbook/#:~:text=%20Workbook%20design%3A%20the%20pages%20%201%20Colors.,What%20about%20a%20space%20for%20a...%20More%20

This article takes an in-depth look at how workbooks for students are designed and the considerations to make when constructing them. This served as inspiration and insight into what to consider should I choose to make exercise books for notes and comprehension of adolescents reading the books I design.

          Cook, Mike P. “Now I ‘See’: The Impact of Graphic Novels on Reading Comprehension in High School English Classrooms.” Literacy Research and Instruction, vol. 56, no. 1, 2017, pp. 21-53. Taylor & Francis Online, https://www-tandfonline-com.ocadu.idm.oclc.org/doi/full/10.1080/19388071.2016.1244869.

In this journal article, a high school english teacher studies the effects of graphic novels on students’ reading comprehension after noticing an increased struggle with traditional texts. This study supports the idea of multimodal learning by including visuals with text to promote understanding of the material, which can further be explored in my research by looking at how other modes can be incorporated into texts to heighten comprehension.

          Crippa, G., et al. “Materials and emotions: A study on the relations between materials and emotions in industrial products.” ResearchGate, 2012, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/287477143_Materials_and_emotions_A_study_on_the_relations_between_materials_and_emotions_in_industrial_products.

This study examines the emotional responses of participants with 9 unique materials using a tool called PrEmo which allows participants to select which emotion and scale of intensity matches each material. The findings can help me to decide how to use material to evoke emotions, and the method of using PrEmo can be applied to my project in terms of its variation of intensity and user-feedback.

          Design Matters Podcast: Debbie Millman & Book Designer Irma Boom [Interview by Debbie Millman], Designers and Books, (n.d.), http://www.designersandbooks.com/blog/design-matters-podcast-debbie-millman-book-designer-irma-boom

This interview with Irma Boom by Debbie Millman on podcast Design Matters discusses the importance of the book in our digital age. Hearing Boom’s passion and insistance that books are more alive than ever reinforces my choice of using a book to communicate to my audience and provides perspectives from the designer herself that influence ideas I have about books.

          Desmet, Pieter. “PrEmo (Emotion Measurement Instrument).” Delft Institute of Positive Design, Delft University of Technology, 2018, https://diopd.org/premo/.

This is an emotion measurement tool designed for studies where participants are asked to connect emotions to designs (there are six positive emotion cartoons and six negative ones), materials or products and then rate the intensity of that emotion on a scale. This can inform me how other studies use emotion cartoons to assess participants’ associations, which can be helpful when I decide to survey teens. 

          Dodkin, A. "How To Design a Teen-Targeted Website." Eggplant Digital, 2020, https://eggplantdigital.cn/how-to-design-a-teen-targeted-website-2/

This article examines a study on teenagers and their use of digital content, looking at stereotypes and considerations to make when designing for youth. This can help to inform me of major qualities to consider when designing for the specific audience. to ensure my work resonates with them.

          Dugal, S., et al. “Reading and Writing in the Age of Short Attention Spans.” EDULEARN16, 2016. iated Digital Library, https://library.iated.org/view/DUGAL2016REA.

This article discusses how the shift towards digital media has affected the attention spans of people by the delivery of information becoming faster, allowing for jumping focus quickly, scanning and scrolling, and thus impacting learning.  This idea can be used to strengthen my thought that with teens using digital media frequently, print text must be approached differently (like how this conference suggests interactivity) in order to hold their attention.

         “Engaging teens with reading.” National Library of New Zealand, New Zealand Government, (n.d.), https://natlib.govt.nz/schools/reading-engagement/strategies-to-engage-students-as-readers/engaging-teens-with-reading.

This website by the National Library of New Zealand details why it is important that teens read, the motivations behind teen reading, the changing reading habits of teens with the use of digital books and online browsing, and discusses what teens look for in their choice of books. Knowing what motivates teens and how they choose what they want to read can help me to understand my audience’s needs, and think about how a text that is assigned (Shakespearean script) can be designed to captivate them.

          Gabor, Peter. “La Cantatrice Chauve d’Eugene Ionesco, mise en scène par Robert Massin.” Typogabor, https://www.typogabor.com/ionesco_massin/.

This website of Peter Grabor, a designer specializing in typography, features spreads from Massin’s designing of the script “La Cantatrice Chauve” in a visual, expressive manner. This is a related works as I intend to create something to the likes of an expressive book which displays the text of a script, bringing a play to life through typography.  

          Graber, Diana. “Kids, Tech and Those Shrinking Attention Spans.” HuffPost, 28 February 2014, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/kids-tech-and-those-shrinking-attention-spans_b_4870655.

This article describes teachers’ views of the attention spans of their young students and how they relate the reduced attention span to the use of technology, as well as articulating the benefits of students’ interaction with technology, suggesting their brains are rewired after interacting with information. This can assist my own research to understand how typography, material and colour can be adapted to cater to this new way of receiving information. 

          Gulens, Austra. Interviewing a high school teacher [Telephone interview]. 2020.

My interview with a past high school teacher allowed me to open my mind to the perspective of a teacher after having created an online survey of many students and adults. This can inform how I approach the old english, engage the readers in unique ways, and create a performance ambience within a book.

          Hasset, Dawnene D., and Jen Scott Curwood. “Theories and Practices of Multimodal Education: The Instructional Dynamics of Picture Books and Primary Classrooms.” The Reading Teacher, vol. 63, no. 4, 2009, pp. 270-281. University of Wisconsin–Madison, http://dm.education.wisc.edu/ddhassett/intellcont/2009%20(with%20Curwood)%20-%20Theories%20and%20pracitces%20of%20multimodal%20education%20-%20for%20the%20Reading%20Teacher-1.pdf.

This journal examines picture books and their multimodal communication techniques that engage students with colour, text size, and interactivity to show how aesthetic and social modes can improve engagement. This journal also notes that font is a mode. Looking at the communication techniques of picture books can help inform my research in their use of visual elements that enhance communication.

          Hill, Amelia. “Why teenagers can’t concentrate: too much grey matter.” The Guardian, 31 May 2010, https://www.theguardian.com/science/2010/may/31/why-teenagers-cant-concentrate-brains.

This article examines how teenagers’ biological brain scans reveal how they process information, concluding that the activity found in teen’s prefrontal cortex can cause behaviours of being easily distracted, and lacking concentration. This helps me to understand my audience   being adolescents,  as not only does their use of digital media lead to challenges with attention, but the makeup of their brains can contribute to this problem. 

          “How to Make Pop Ups: The Basic Mechanisms”, Extreme Papercrafting, 2020, https://www.extremepapercrafting.com/p/pop-up-lessons-how-to-books.html.

This website features many basic tutorials for pop-up creations that very in their result and impact. By referring to these basics, I was given skills that could apply pop-ups to my design and enhance the overall engagement of the reader.

          Koch, B. "Emotion in Typographic Design: An Empirical Examination" [Scholarly project], Visible Language, (n.d.), https://flatisbad.com/resources/Koch-VisibleLang12.pdf.

This study from Visible Language Journal explored participant’s emotional associations with type treatments (of Helvetica) through using the PrEmo tool. This can assist me when treating type to represent emotions and feelings visually so that it matches others’ views as well as my own.

          "Manga Shakespeare." The Self Made Hero, (n.d.), http://www.mangashakespeare.com/.

This related work takes Shakespeare's plays and transforms them into Manga comics directed at teenagers. This can provide insight into how they designed for teens, why they used the book medium, and what I could consider moving forward into my book adaptation directed at teenagers.

          Merritt, Kristena. “Emotional Typography.” Word Shank, (n.d.), https://wordshank.wordpress.com/articles-essays/research-papers/emotional-typography/.

This article explores three studies performed which aimed to discover emotions associated with typefaces, personalities and intensities of emotions, bringing together key findings of each study to allow for cross-comparison. This is useful to my choice of type for each emotion, as I intend to express emotions through expressive typography. I can examine the results from past studies to help inform my design decisions.

          Mitsios, Apostolos. “Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde: a hybrid novel by Alberto Hernández.” Yatzer, Yatzerlab, 15 January 2010, https://www.yatzer.com/Dr-Jekyll-and-Mr-Hyde-a-hybrid-novel-by-Alberto-Hernandez.

This article analyzes the work of Alberto Hernandez, a designer who created a hybrid book, meant to combine imagery and a novel to supplement the text and engage the reader in a more reflective, meaningful read. This work inspired my thought process of how to combine text and image and how a novel can be redesigned to appeal to those of a digital age. 

          Nix, Charles. "Just how neutral is Helvetica?" Monotype, (n.d.),  https://www.monotype.com/resources/articles/just-how-neutral-is-helvetica

This article examines the neutrality of Helvetica, noting its ubiquitous, quiet voice while also pointing out its nuances and expressive past. This can help me to come to decisions about which typeface to use, and make an informed decision when I ultimately choose a typeface.

          “OMG Shakespeare.” YAYOMG, 17 August 2015, https://www.yayomg.com/omg-shakespeare/.

This series of Shakespeare adaptations designed for teens is entitled “OMG Shakespeare”, which translates Shakespearean texts to modern day text languages, with abbreviations, emojis, posts and picture sharing. This is a related work which provided information on how others have already adapted Shakespeare into something that would be understandable to a young audience, using a highly digital format.

          “The Ontario English Curriculum Grades 11 and 12.” Ontario.ca, Ministry of Education, 2000, http://edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/secondary/english1112curr.pdf.

This online publication from the government of Ontario specifies the English curriculum of upper-year high school students in both college and university level classes, noting the instances of Shakespeare’s use in its curriculum. This can aid me to understand just how ubiquitous studying Shakespearian scripts is specifically in Ontario’s school system.

          Pona, A. “'Inception' Experimental Typography Book." (n.d.), https://alicjapona.com/inception-expressive-typography-book

This related work took pieces of the script from the film Inception and portrayed them expressively in the context of a bound book. The beautifully treated type and creative experimentations can inspire further adaptations of the scripts I interpret.

          Shakespeare, W., & Crowther, J. C. “No Fear Shakespeare: Hamlet”. New York: SparkNotes, (2003), print.

This book which I used in high school served as a refresher of the text of Hamlet, and helped me to understand what aids already exist for students grasping the script. By re-reading the text, I am able to uncover key themes which can inform design decisions in future iterations and scenes. 

          Shyles, Leonard C. “Deciphering cyberspace : making the most of digital communication technology”. SAGE Publications, 2003. SAGE Knowledge, http://dx.doi.org.ocadu.idm.oclc.org/10.4135/9781452233161.

This chapter expresses the internet’s effects on children and their development, noting a growth in multitasking and increased virtual participation in a shift from “slow-moving oriented words” to a “speed-of-light electronic image”. This gave me the idea that machine-like ways of thinking are present and I can attempt to use human emotional draws to stimulate engagement and interest students to combat this phenomenon.

          Sliwa, Jim. “Teens Today Spend More Time on Digital Media, Less Time Reading.” American Psychological Association, 20 August 2018, https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2018/08/teenagers-read-book.

This article looks at statistics in the decline of teen reading of books in the US and identifies the challenges it causes to their overall learning, revealing the importance of the ability to read long texts in post-secondary studies and the ability to develop critical thinking skills that become more difficult due to the increased use of digital media which, in turn, shortens attention spans. This issue of a decline in the consumption of print media and its replacement with digital media and its negative effects on the attention spans of youth is something I wish to explore in my research, and learning about this problem supported by statistics is key to developing possible solutions.

          Sokol, R.  “10 Best Pop-Up Books for Kids”. Parenting.com, (n.d.), https://www.parenting.com/child/10-pop-up-books-home-library/.

This site lists 10 interesting examples of children’s pop-up books and their sensory and interactive explorations ranging from simple flaps to complex engineered designs. These works sparked more imagination in creating a more immersive, exciting reading experience.

          “Stage Directing: Directing Technique”, Somerset Community College Digital Video Productions [Video file]. 2010, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChOJM-C0-QA&ab_channel=SCCDigitalVideoProductions.

This video explains the basics of stage blocking, and its resulting effect on characters’ strength and power in the visual space of the stage. This could inform future experimentations of applying similar theories and techniques to the space of the printed page to connect performance with my publication. 

          “Teen opinion: why reading Shakespeare should be fun.” The Guardian, 26 April 2015, https://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2015/apr/26/teen-opinion-why-reading-shakespeare-should-be-fun.

This article looks specifically at teenagers’ views of Shakespeare from an English teacher, arguing against the preconceived beliefs that his work is old, boring and challenging and demonstrating the relevancy and teaching abilities it can bring to students. One of the key points this article  makes is that the human emotions of Shakespeare’s texts  allow us to connect with his characters across centuries, which I plan on using by evoking emotions through visuals to boost user connectivity with the text.

          Thompson, Riki, and Matthew McIlnay. “Nobody Wants to Read Anymore.” CLELEjournal, vol. 7, no. 1, 2019, pp. 61-73. CleleJournal, https://clelejournal.org/article-4-nobody-wants-read-anymore/.

This journal discusses the perceived decline in the reading of traditional texts by American students and states the corresponding increase in reading in other contexts of multimedia sources (like online articles, emails, and texting) outside of the classroom, arguing for the use of multimodal texts in education including graphic novels, films and technology, to increase motivation, confidence, and comprehension of classic literacy materials. Looking specifically at teens, the journal notes the decline in reading interest due to the choice of traditional texts given in high school and I believe that by using aspects of the theory of multimodal learning, I can work towards possible solutions to the problem.

          "Understanding the Basic Importance of Education to Youths." Eduzenith, 2008, https://eduzenith.com/importance-of-education-to-youths.

This article from Eduzenith notes the reasons it is important to educate youth, and specifically the transitory stage of teenagehood. Looking at the reasons can strengthen my choice of selecting teens for creating a medium that has educational purposes: to promote reading. 

          “Why it is important to teach Shakespeare in schools.” IvyPanda, 22 March 2020, https://ivypanda.com/essays/why-it-is-important-to-teach-shakespeare-in-schools/.

This essay considers reasons why Shakespeare is included in school curriculums, noting its introduction to rich vocabulary, inclusion of ethical dilemmas and relevant messages, inclusion of humour to inspire deeper literary interest in students, and capacity to include historical understanding of his period. This allows me to understand qualities that are valued in his work to try to convert the print text into something as lively and entertaining as his plays. 

          “Why it Matters: Multimodality.” Lumen Learning, University of Mississippi, https://courses.lumenlearning.com/englishcomp1/chapter/introduction-to-multimodality-2/.

This online course from the University of Mississippi details the theory of multimodality in texts which my project intends to use to enhance typography, providing examples and definitions, explaining how linguistic, spatial, textual, aural, and gestural modes can be combined to communicate a resonating message. These modes can be explored and experimented with in addition to typography and letterforms to attempt to create a more meaningful comprehension of words that can stimulate the attention spans of teens in my project.

          Wilkes, Rob. “As 'The Reunion' Approaches We Look Back At Influence Of Visionary Artist Terry Gilliam...”. We Heart, 2014, https://www.we-heart.com/2014/01/28/the-graphic-design-of-monty-python/. 

This article describes key graphic features of the Monty Python’s animation style that deliver comedic reactions from audiences, as well as details some history of the group’s use of print books. The article can serve as inspiration when it comes to designing shakespearean comedy, providing techniques of the tried-and-true group; Monty Python. 

          Zerba, Amy. “Young Adults’ Reasons behind Avoidances of Daily Print Newspapers and Their Ideas for Change.” Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, vol. 88, no. 3, 2011, pp. 597-614. SAGE journals, https://journals-sagepub-com.ocadu.idm.oclc.org/doi/abs/10.1177/107769901108800308.

This study analyzes the gap in research into why teens specifically prefer digital mediums to print newspapers with reasons such as the inconvenience of print and the lack of time. While my research is not concerned with newspaper or news delivery, this study does focus specifically on teens and provides insight into their needs when it comes to reading print media, which can help me to create innovative ideas of how I can address teens’ needs to invite and interest teens.

Adaptations of Plays:

The following list of videos of varying adaptations plays were watched to get a sense of how other stage directors interpret Shakespeare’s script to help me understand character tones and actions and apply the performance experience to my work. Through watching their differences and similarities, I grasped the energy of the scene and emotions of the characters more strongly. 

-Hamlet Summary by Nerdstudy on Youtube

-Hamlet Dramatic Reading by Chapter Vox on Youtube

-Hamlet 1996 Adaptation

-Hamlet Stage production by Cork Shakespeare on Youtube

-Hamlet Adaptation, David Tennant

-Hamlet 1969 Adaptation

-Hamlet 1948 Adaptation

-Romeo and Juliet by Royal Shakespeare Company, 2018 on Youtube

-Romeo and Juliet directed by Baz Luhrmann, 1996

-Romeo and Juliet BBC Adaptation, 1978

-Romeo and Juliet directed by Carlo Carlei, 2013

-A Midsummer Night’s Dream directed by Jason Chanos, 2015

-A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Summit High School, 2014 on Youtube

Credits Used:

-Photographed images of faces:

Tedward Poole 

Dante Signorella

Luca Padula

Ross Barnes-Brisley

Sofia Fiorino

Adam Gowan

Amelia Peake 

Lauren Snell

Ashvin Sharma

Patrick Dalglish

-Scripts by William Shakespeare