How can print books be designed to be as captivating and compelling to Toronto high school students as a theatrical production, digital media or  film? 

Grounded in the theory of multimodal learning; expressing information through a combination of gestural, spatial, visual, linguistic and auditory modes to strengthen comprehension of a message (Why it Matters: Multimodality), this project integrates photography, typography, and interactivity into Shakespearean scripts. Honoring his original language, the project aims to maintain the interest and comprehension of young readers in his complex, rich stories (Hasset and Curwood). By replicating sensations of the stage onto the page, this project seeks to transform the text-only script often seen by adolescents as boring, dated or challenging as something lively, modern, digestible and exciting  (Why it is important to teach Shakespeare in schools). 

With the emotions of dialogue being highlighted through expressive typography and universally-understood facial expressions, one’s relationship to the characters' feelings are heightened, and the reader connect to and deeply learn the emotional themes and lessons of the play (Teen opinion: why reading Shakespeare should be fun). This project aims to create a book for high schoolers that can transform the prolific, powerful stories of Shakespeare into a new, accessible and immersive level, ultimately impacting the student’s ability to read print material and strengthen critical thinking skills.

In an interview with my previous high school English teacher Ms. Gulens, she noted the importance of Shakespearean texts being performed and watched rather than read. The tones, movement, actions, and energy brings the text to life in an understandable, engaging way. Even comic books, a medium with a combination of dialogue and imagery, can be more approachable and understandable to some teens than merely text on a page. With Shakespeare’s writing being a staple in the Toronto high school English curriculum, it’s important that students still read his scripts for their lasting lessons of morality and life (Teen opinion: why reading Shakespeare should be fun). Encouraging an enjoyable reading experience of Shakespeare, one of the seemingly most challenging texts to read,  it is my aim to embolden teenagers in the act of reading books that at first appear challenging (for example, university textbooks). Heightened reading skills lead to strengthen critical thinking, ease the transition into post-secondary environments, and produce active adult citizens (Sliwa). 

Students tend to hold a notion that Shakespeare’s language is dated and challenging, while Ms. Gulens noted that the plays are technically written in modern English, and with the opening line of Hamlet being “Who’s there”,  the line exemplifies a taste of how students can understand Shakespeare with the right approach and methods of teaching. By creating a book that is a readable, visual, emotionally expressive representation of the script, it acts as a blend of film, theatre, comic and text, and when students are able to understand Shakespeare, they can analyze its themes deeply, build critical thinking, and blossom into confident, cultured, informed citizens that carry their skills and interest into more books in the future (Sliwa).

Digital technology presents information through a multiplicity of media; visual (imagery, colour, videos), auditory (sound, tone, music), and interactive qualities (hyperlinks, comments) all intersect in a stream of captivating communication (Shyles). In a traditional text-based book or Shakespearean script, the text can be perceived as boring or challenging by students (Teen opinion: why reading Shakespeare should be fun), and this is only heightened when they are familiar with the stimulating aspects of digital media. Since dialogue is used in storytelling to carry emotion, and emotion can be portrayed visually (Crippa et al.), this project can use multimodal methods (visual, spatial, gestural, auditory) to heighten the emotional connection to it of high schoolers. 

Emotion is a driving force in humans, and it is what makes Shakespeare’s text resonate with so many (Teen opinion: why reading Shakespeare should be fun). We can be brought to tears in the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, shaken by fear in Macbeth after his murderous actions, and enlivened with suspense when Hamlet finds out the guilty verdict of Claudius. It is these moments that  we as  students connect with and relate to in his texts, and which motivate us to keep on reading. This project intends to emphasize and highlight feelings (both physical and emotional) of characters and express them visually to the readers to boost engagement and interest in reading print texts. Using colour, type and material, I hope to create an immersive, resonating book for high schoolers. 

The audience is Toronto high school students who have had or are interacting with Shakespearean texts, and are familiar with digital media, or have grown up immersed in technology. I conducted a survey which asked what exactly their thoughts are on Shakespeare, as I did not wish to make any assumptions about their beliefs. 

From research, I learned that there is a decline in reading of traditional texts, which is attributed to the increased use of internet and digital media (Thompson and McIlnay). There is increased anxiety around reading that can be assisted through incorporating multimodal forms of communication like visuals, motion and audio (Thompson and McIlnay). There is a proven effect of digital media negatively impacting focus, which affects the ability to sit and read a single print text without being bored or distracted (Thompson and McIlnay). There has also been the discovery that brains are becoming re-wired in our digital age, with an improved ability to switch between tasks quickly and easily (Graber). This may suggest an introduction of a series-based publication (much like serials of comics), where each act of a script is delivered in a single, digestible chunk, or issue.

In one study titled “Young Adults’ Reasons behind Avoidances of Daily Print Newspapers and Their Ideas for Change”, Amy Zerba examined newspapers and teens’ perceptions of the seemingly outdated news form, teens responded to newspapers saying they can have too much information (daunting), are difficult to navigate (confusing), inconvenient (time-consuming, not very portable), and lack instant knowledge and personalization (which TV and internet can provide) (Zerba). This information can reveal qualities teens do seek out: digestible lengths, portable formats, and easy navigation.

Upon researching what motivates teen reading, I discovered that there is a difference between a teenager who wants to read for pleasure, who has to for school work, and who needs to (for whom it feels as necessary as breathing) (Engaging teens with reading). Teens read books they choose themselves with motivation, and when something is assigned to them, it becomes less enjoyable (Engaging teens with reading).

Through my research, I also discovered while examining teen magazines that teens are given a balance of uplifting, light content with heavier more serious topics like mental health and other “taboo” subjects. In looking at why Harry Potter as a series was successful amoungst teens, common reasons were listed as how its story is immersive (a world that was imaginative and provided an escape from reality), and relatable (the emotions of the characters aligned and connected with teens). While it may be difficult to see Shakespeare as being a text that teens can relate to, it is the power of emotions that I personally felt through the stories, be it through love, anger, fear, sadness or joy.

As a teen, I loved comics. They were a visual text which blurred the boundaries of a book and a film. The worlds enthralled me, and the issues were small chapters that broke up the long reads. There were auditory modes in the expressive “AHHH”s or “zooms” which appeared often on the pages. The text was dialogue, and the images guided the story. If I could create anything as visually stimulating with expressive typography as the main medium, I hope it would stimulate teen minds as much as comics did mine.