NCKU Student Designs Hand-Made Children’s Book
Tainan, Taiwan, December 3rd, 2010
Student Fen-Ju Lin of Department of Industrial Design at National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), Tainan, Taiwan, has designed a hand-made children’s book named the Shadow Book which can change scenes or chapters of a story freely and produce layers of shadow under flashlight by applying the concept of shadow play, making this hand-made book more interesting and suitable for children between 5-year-old and 10-year-old to read.
Feng-Ju Lin has participated in the Overseas Training Program for the Arts and Design Elites promoted by the Ministry of Education, Taiwan, studied in School of Art and Design Berlin-Weissensee, Germany, for one year, and designed a hand-made children’s book with distinctive features.
The Shadow Book is beautifully designed inside out and its box can be painted as a book cover and be locked by two spines and every slide is a chapter of a story, where children can draw images freely, separate words from the images along the cutting line, place them in the order of the scenes, and stick them in each of the gaps of the spines, thus forming a three-dimensional book with layers.
After the process of a series of drawing and assembling, the hand-made children’s book can train children’s hand-making ability to change scenes freely and also their imagination to re-interpret and create new stories.
Noteworthy to mention, the lifelike figures and animal models designed by Fen-Ju Lin have adopted the concept of shadow play, so when lights are turned off and flashlight is being used, a shadow of layers will be produced, allowing parents and their children to enjoy bedtime stories before they go to sleep.
Fen-Ju Lin pointed out, “The Shadow Book is mostly made up of bamboo, the main material. It is the work of the “Low Tech-High Tech” project that I participated in School of Art and Design Berlin-Weissensee. Targeting the learning condition of local children and their interactions with the parents, the book is designed to be an educational and interactive book. I wanted to create a product which is suitable for the people in Guatemala, allowing them to increase their revenue and improve their lives by producing and selling the design process.”
She explained, “During the process of learning, a large amount of time was spend to collect the materials and understand the living conditions and resources and technologies of Guatemala, so we could design products that the local people can produce by themselves.”
During her stay at School of Art and Design Berlin-Weissensee, Fen-Ju Lin has discovered that at the semester-end achievement publication, a majority of students tended to make practical models from their design concepts, trying different materials with their own hands and materializing their concepts.
She believed it is an excellent process, because students could make full use of the resources at the school to make their design work more complete, and she was often motivated and inspired by the unlimited design thinking and bold design ideas of these students.
Fen-Ju Lin further pointed out, “Germany is a country noted for industrial design, valuing design as a professional technology which can help disadvantaged countries or groups and make contributions to the society or the world. Products designed by Germany emphasize the concept of practicability, which has given me many inspirations.”
In general, the fruitful learning process and after-class activities have enriched the life experience of Fen-Ju Lin and the Eastern and Western cultural exchange has transformed her ideas and concepts, so she could think more daringly and be ready for any future challenge.
Student Fen-Ju Lin of Department of Industrial Design at National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), Tainan, Taiwan, has designed a hand-made children’s book named the Shadow Book which can change scenes or chapters of a story freely and produce layers of shadow under flashlight by applying the concept of shadow play, making this hand-made book more interesting and suitable for children between 5-year-old and 10-year-old to read.
Feng-Ju Lin has participated in the Overseas Training Program for the Arts and Design Elites promoted by the Ministry of Education, Taiwan, studied in School of Art and Design Berlin-Weissensee, Germany, for one year, and designed a hand-made children’s book with distinctive features.
The Shadow Book is beautifully designed inside out and its box can be painted as a book cover and be locked by two spines and every slide is a chapter of a story, where children can draw images freely, separate words from the images along the cutting line, place them in the order of the scenes, and stick them in each of the gaps of the spines, thus forming a three-dimensional book with layers.
After the process of a series of drawing and assembling, the hand-made children’s book can train children’s hand-making ability to change scenes freely and also their imagination to re-interpret and create new stories.
Noteworthy to mention, the lifelike figures and animal models designed by Fen-Ju Lin have adopted the concept of shadow play, so when lights are turned off and flashlight is being used, a shadow of layers will be produced, allowing parents and their children to enjoy bedtime stories before they go to sleep.
Fen-Ju Lin pointed out, “The Shadow Book is mostly made up of bamboo, the main material. It is the work of the “Low Tech-High Tech” project that I participated in School of Art and Design Berlin-Weissensee. Targeting the learning condition of local children and their interactions with the parents, the book is designed to be an educational and interactive book. I wanted to create a product which is suitable for the people in Guatemala, allowing them to increase their revenue and improve their lives by producing and selling the design process.”
She explained, “During the process of learning, a large amount of time was spend to collect the materials and understand the living conditions and resources and technologies of Guatemala, so we could design products that the local people can produce by themselves.”
During her stay at School of Art and Design Berlin-Weissensee, Fen-Ju Lin has discovered that at the semester-end achievement publication, a majority of students tended to make practical models from their design concepts, trying different materials with their own hands and materializing their concepts.
She believed it is an excellent process, because students could make full use of the resources at the school to make their design work more complete, and she was often motivated and inspired by the unlimited design thinking and bold design ideas of these students.
Fen-Ju Lin further pointed out, “Germany is a country noted for industrial design, valuing design as a professional technology which can help disadvantaged countries or groups and make contributions to the society or the world. Products designed by Germany emphasize the concept of practicability, which has given me many inspirations.”
In general, the fruitful learning process and after-class activities have enriched the life experience of Fen-Ju Lin and the Eastern and Western cultural exchange has transformed her ideas and concepts, so she could think more daringly and be ready for any future challenge.
Click Num:
Share
