Parent Handbook Update

Last week I worked on developing the cover for the Parent Handbook. The one selected to build upon is below:



You can find the other concepts in a PDF by clicking here.

While showing these covers to my advisor, the conversation turned to this idea of how "Eat & Act" relates to Simon. Questions like "What is Eat & Act?" were asked. So I was asked to think about these things this week.

I've always seen Eat & Act as the name of a program who's purpose is to get parents talking to their children about healthy lifestyle habits. Simon is the way in which Eat & Act will go about achieving that goal.

Essentially Simon is a creation of Eat & Act.

For me, Eat & Act was never an organization. For lack of a better explanation, let's just say that Eat & Act is a fictional program of healthy lifestyle priorities developed by a group of doctors, dieticians, and concerned parents to educate and empower parents to get them to talk to their kids about those healthy lifestyle habits. Simon Bean is a character created to pass on the information parents can learn from the Eat & Act Parent Handbook to their children in a fun way.

It's true that, I've developed the Simon Books and character in a way that a parent wouldn't HAVE to possess the handbook to use the Simon books successfully, but it lays out a full scope of what the Healthy Priorities attached to the Simon Books mean and why a parent should adopt them into their family's lifestyle.

This explanation always made sense in my head, it seemed to make sense to my advisor. I just hope it makes sense to my Thesis final review committee.

Feel free to leave comments on this matter.

Two Posts In Almost One Day

I'm pretty excited about getting things up on this blog today I think. I figured I'd give snapshots into where each component is at currently. All of this is driven by my Marketing Plan:



1. Simon Books
I've already given snapshots of the Simon Books. So the rest of this is in regards to other things on my deliverables list.

2. Parent Handbook:
Right now, the parent handbook is 75% written. It definitely needs to be read over by someone who isn't me, and preferably by someone who is familiar with the english language on a writer's level. There are little to no images in the book at this point in time because I am responsible for all photography and illustrations that will go into it. Getting to the point of having images is just a part of the design process. First I wanted focus on the pacing of the text and then the imagery will help tell the story visually once I've gotten it done.

I've uploaded a .pdf of it's current state here.

3. Slip Case:
Starting the design of this this week.

4. Marketing Poster:
Right now I have just some very rough layouts for the major elements of the Marketing Poster. The point of this component is to create awareness of Simon and the Eat & Act program.



5. Book Point of Sale Display
Thanks to the suggestion of my advisor this semester, I was able to find a pre-cut cardboard display to use for my final presentation to add emphasis to my thesis as something that has publishing potential. I put it together and took some pictures of it recently then played around with laying out the graphics on it. This is all still very rough, but based on feedback from my advisor, large Simon's scale will remain the same, and there may be a separate Simon coming off of the header of the display. I'm thinking of doing the display's header in a vertical fashion based on the Marketing Poster.



Inside the trays I'm having custom wrapping paper made to line the trays. Here's a sample of the wrapping paper pattern. Then I may package the left over paper as another product of the Simon brand.



6. Brochure
My idea is that the brochure is a fold out Simon poster on one side and then information for parents on the other. This component will live in Doctor's offices, Free Clinics, and Libraries as a free take away for parents. The Simon Poster can be for the kids. The point being that this information goes home and has a presence. The style of the Poster will mimic the Marketing Poster. The style of the information will mimic the Parent Handbook.

7. Portion Size Poster
Haven't started this. but it will be small enough to fold and tack into the back of Simon Tests His Strength It will be something to hang on the fridge and act as a reference for Parents and kids about portion sizes.

8. Activity Reward Poster
Haven't started this either. but it will be small enough to fold and tack into the back of Simon Goes on an Adventure It will be something to hang on the fridge as well, or in the child's room. It will come with stickers to reward the child with when they participate in an activity each day.

9. Reward Stickers
I was recommended a great website www.moo.com where I could get some sticker books printed. Once I finish the 4th Simon Book I will finish choosing images for the sticker book. But right now this is how many stickers I will get in a book, 15 sheets of 6 stickers. This is what they will look like with some minor adjustments from recommendations from my advisor today.



10. Good Snack / Bad Snack Memory Game
Haven't' started this. It's a simple memory game idea in which the child will flip cards over to match good snacks with bad snacks or the same image of a good snack or bad snack.

11. Kid's Cooking Kit
Haven't started this. Was just recently developed, but bringing the elements together would be easy enough with some rubdowns and a mesh bag with a cardboard tag.

12. Magnets
You can get Inkjet printable Magnets... may give them a try. This mainly stemmed from the posters that will hang on the fridge.

*whew* I have a lot of work done but way more to still do. You should see the To Do list hanging next to my desk. It's going to be a long 2 months. I want to be done designing things by the end of January. Start Printing & Production in February, and bind books in March.

I want to be done with the bulk of my thesis by the end of March. Will it happen? Doubt it... but that's the goal I've set.

One Year Later

So much has happened with my thesis since I started this blog, and maybe I haven't utilized it to the best that I could have, but I will try my hardest to keep it updated for these last 6 months of the process. Especially now that I have things to look at. Up until about 5 months ago, this project lived as an idea in my head, and I've only just now been able to produce things I'm not ashamed to show.

Essentially my thesis geared towards getting parents talking to their children about healthy lifestyle habits earlier in their lives as a way to address and prevent unhealthy weight gain. The main character Simon Bean acts as a bridge between parents and their children. The parent handbook provides motivation and tools for parents to take action in their child's life (and hopefully theirs) in regards to instilling healthy lifestyle habits.

My thesis currently consists of the following:
1. Simon Bean Children books (each 36 pages long):
Simon Wants to Rock Out
Simon Has Rumbles in his Tummy
Simon Tests his Strength
Simon Goes on an Adventure
2. Eat&Act Parent Handbook (about 100 pages long)
3. Slipcase for all 5 books (Will have 3 sets of books printed, bound, and encased -- for a total of 15 books!!)
4. Marketing Poster
5. Book Point of Sale Display
6. Brochure
7. Portion Size Poster (to live in the back of Simon Tests his Strength)
8. Activity Reward Poster (to live in the back of Simon Goes on an Adventure)
9. Reward Poster Stickers (to either be found at the back of book or in their own separate booklet or both!)
10. Good Snack/Bad Snack Memory Game
11. Kid's cooking kit which includes chef's had, apron, measuring cups, & spoons. All with Simon's face on them.
12. Magnets

3.5 of my 4 Childrens books are written, illustrated, and designed. 2 of them have final covers, 1 of them has a cover that I need to really work on, and 1 of them (the one that's only half written and illustrated) has no cover. I had to put the Children's books down and start on the parent handbook as well as the other components of my thesis, but 3 of the books have about 2 days of work left on them, and the 4th half finished one, is about 4 days from being done.

The hero of my Children's books is Simon Bean, the lima bean. Shown below:



I'm maddly in love with Simon, he is just too cute, and his expressions were really fun to create.

The two completely done covers are below:






This one needs a little work, but it kind of shows the idea:



If you are interested in reading through one of the books. The one that is closest to being finished is "Simon Has Rumbles in His Tummy" click to see a .pdf.

I'm in the process of working on other parts of the project all at the same time, so they are all at different points of design.