Problems and Solutions
Throughout the process of the books, I discovered and identified many problems to which I discussed with peers, family, friends and professors to come up with some solutions. Take a look at a brief summary of those problems and how I addressed them below.
Problem: Engagement
Shakespearean scripts, when in their full-text versions can pose a challenge to attention, interest, and engagement when read and not watched (Gulens, Hasset and Curwood).
The stimulation of digital media, which as a mode is only growing, competes with the attention to physical books in adolescents (Shyles, Dugal et al, Graber, Hill, Sliwa).
Adolescents face additional challenges with attention spans due to the makeup of their brains (Hill).
Solutions:
Since they are best watched and not read, the scripts were given emotional performances through photography, expressive typography, and a system of type and colour treatment that indicated emotions. The idea is that by enhancing emotional connection, the reader can connect to the story on a deeper level. This use of emotion and connection is one of the reasons why the Harry Potter series was so captivating to youth.
Creating a visual format that uses photography, space and breaks the text into digestible chunks.
Using multimodal theory, the book combines imagery, space, tone, gesture, and language to communicate the story (Why it matters: Multimodality).
Problem: Is print dead?
From childhood, youth in today’s western society have become more used to accessing information digitally. This is changing the attention span of youth to be used to fast, visual and auditory-based content that is stimulating and holds attention through bursts of information (Shyles, Dugal et al, Graber, Hill, Sliwa). With familiarity of such forms of digital media, when you compare them to a traditional book, it’s no surprise that adolescent novel readership is in decline (Thompson and McIlnay, Sliwa).
Solution:
Incorporating elements of multiple modes into typographic forms of print text to interest, maintain focus, and engage readers from their adolescence. Multimodal theory is the idea that a message can be communicated more meaningfully through the use of multiple modes, or elements. Modes include: auditory (sound), spatial, gestural, linguistic, and visual (Hasset and Curwood).
Problem: "Shakespeare is hard/old/boring"
Through a survey I conducted, it became clear that people either loved or hated reading Shakespeare. With Shakespeare being a part of Toronto's curriculum, though, the problem became presenting it in a more approachable, modern, interesting and exciting way.
When interviewing my past high school English teacher, she noted that students can come to class believing it to be challenging or boring due to their past learning experiences with Shakespeare (Gulens). They also can have a preconceived Shakespeare anxiety, like math anxiety, which makes them have less confidence in their ability to read Shakespeare (Gulens).
Solutions:
By creating a theatre-like experience, the books present the plays in an immersive way that resembles watching rather than reading the scripts.
Using Helvetica and modern photography, the aesthetic of the books is given more contemporary connection, dissassociating the scripts with the idea of out-datedness or irrelevance.
Workbooks and vellum sheets are provided to aid in comprehension of the scripts. The workbooks focus on providing a playful and less serious experience than a typical textbook-workbook supplement in their prompts and presentation. The vellum sheets also provide an interactive, playful experience.
Problem: Visualizing Emotions/Intensities
If emotions were to be used to heighten connection to the text, how can emotion be presented through print visually?
Solutions:
Facial expressions are one of the simplest ways to express emotions clearly. Through photography, expressions were captured to indicate character tone.
I created a system of colours that I feel connect to the emotions felt in each scene. These, when used in context, can visualize an aura and feeling of characters.
Another system was made for indicating the loudness and intensity of lines. Scale played a huge part in this.
Typography was used in a systematic way of treatment. Influenced by a study on emotional connections to type treatments (Koch), as well as my subjective opinions, the treatment system was used consistently to indicate emotions.
Works Cited on this Page
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.
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.
Gulens, Austra. Interviewing a high school teacher [Telephone interview]. 2020.
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.
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.
Koch, B. "Emotion in Typographic Design: An Empirical Examination" [Scholarly project], Visible Language, (n.d.), https://flatisbad.com/resources/Koch-VisibleLang12.pdf.
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.
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.
“Why it Matters: Multimodality.” Lumen Learning, University of Mississippi, https://courses.lumenlearning.com/englishcomp1/chapter/introduction-to-multimodality-2/.
For full bibliography, click here.