The Wonderful Colorful House

roles: concept development • creative direction • illustration • animation

Once the iPad version of “It’s About Life” was finished, I wanted to make more storybooks. I knew I would have to work with a small team since doing it all by myself was an impossible task. I posted a message on LinkedIn to find like-minded people who would be willing to join forces. Sure enough, I received a reply from a writer who had been sitting on a story. We hit it off and formed a small team around us. I took on the role of Creative Director.

The story was not originally written to be interactive. Rather, it was a bedtime story that the writer used to tell his kids. That was our first challenge. We had to create a good flow to the story and make it fun to interact with. Our target audience was young kids, ages 3 to 6.

First, I broke the story up into pages. Next, I created interactions that felt natural, as if they were there from the beginning. When a composer joined our team, he and I worked closely together to make sure his score elevated the story at just the right moments.

THE STORY

Tullik is a boy who lives on the North Pole with his family. He hates white and cannot stand to live in a world without color. He leaves his home to look for a colorful life. At first, he is super excited when he discovers a new part of the world. One that is filled with color, new friends and a new house. But then he realizes how much he misses his family. He buys a ticket for a return flight. On the way to the airport, he stumbles upon a solution to his colorless life and races home to reunite with his family.

Drag the bar across the image below to see the progression from the first storyboard sketches to a more final colored script.

Move the slider in the image below to see the storyboard development

The project was lining up to become a success. Until it wasn’t. Our marketing specialist left the team, which left us without a contact at Apple. It became very clear that without a solid marketing strategy, the app would not reach an audience. We sold a small number of copies, but nothing like what we had hoped for.

For me, that did not ruin the experience. Bringing so many elements of storytelling together was just a huge creative treat. I had a real vision of where I wanted to take the app creatively, and I feel we succeeded in that completely. It taught me some very valuable lessons that ring true to this day. If the opportunity would arise I would do it again in an Artbeat :)