A LIVING BOOK (TRANSPOSING TO THE WEB THE CHILDREN'S BOOK HISTÓRIAS DE PRETOS E DE BRANCOS)

This investigation is the result of several motivations and interests, namely the interest for illustration, the admiration for the work of Maria Keil, and the desire to preserve the aesthetic material of the book Histórias de pretos e de brancos as a contribution to the resistance against oblivion of this illustrator and this work in particular. Furthermore, there is a great shortage, in Portugal, of e- books that do not mimic the physical book and its way of interacting with the reader. By modelling Histórias de pretos e de brancos for the web, this project acknowledges the fact that children interact with electronic devices, and the artifacts of communication and ludicity conveyed through those devices, on an everyday basis. It also aims at helping reinforce values of inclusion across cultures, ethnicities and languages, as well as promoting media literacy in children through the discovery and exploration of this book.

The conceptual framework for this new reading medium is provided by theories of illustration for childrens books, and questions of the materiality and imateriality of the book as an artifact of communication and ludicity, and of design. The relevance of such a project lies in its ability to promote knowledge and to create conditions for new experiences such as familiarity with books, and the awareness of the pleasure, freedom and aesthetic satisfaction to be derived from the reading of both written texts and images. This is to be attempted through the discovery, exploration and interaction with the work of Maria Keil, a major name within the field of Portuguese illustration for children.
This project aims at emphasise the complimentary relationship between the printed book – a material artifact, and the e-book – an imaterial artifact.

This project is an essential part of our research of the design master and for that reason, as a working development prototype, we cannot present results at this moment.