Yesterday’s news was full of stories about the new book from Jay Greene, Design Is How It Works. The title loosely refers to a 2003 New York Times interview with Steve Jobs. When asked to discuss design, Jobs said, “…..it’s not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.”
So we’re thinking about this statement/idea a lot and how it applies to Smashing Ideas, the work we create for our clients and the youth market. We agree. Design IS how it works.
HOW the game works is often the biggest design principle, especially when it comes to building games for kids. We illustrate a few things we’ve learned in designing games for the preschool set (ages 3-5) from Jarrett our Senior Producer extraordinaire:
- Bold – Bright – Chunky: Design aesthetic for preschoolers (3-5) features lots of large, bright, colorful elements to engage and entertain.
- Graphic Elements: In designing for preschoolers all elements need to be represented in graphics copy has to be limited and voice-overs used often.
- Green and Yellow: Use colors that preschoolers recognize – make the “play” button green; “next” or “skip” buttons yellow – an industry standard that often gets overlooked.
- Motion Graphics: Clever rollover effects and motion graphics keep the preschool audience engaged in the games.
- Limit small areas: “Hit” areas (e.g. buttons, fill-in coloring areas, pick-ups, etc.) should be generous and not require the child to click on small areas that make it hard for children to achieve their goals.
The end result of these design principles creates a game that a preschooler has the opportunity to learn something new, gain confidence with words, letters or numbers, and most importantly have fun! A few examples below from Fresh Beats Band and Super Why
How do you see design as it relates to this space? Share your thoughts – we’d love to hear them! Oh and we’ve already added Greene’s book to our iPad bookshelf!
