Press Release
Kappa Jizo Picture Book App by Kaori Hamura Long Receives the A' Design Award in Mobile Technologies, Applications and Software Design
Kaori Hamura Long recognized for mobile technologies, applications and software design by the international grand jury of the 2020 - 2021 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 23, 2021 /DesignNewswire/ Kappa Jizo Picture Book App by Kaori Hamura Long, designed for Moss Moon Studio, has been granted the A' Design Award in the Mobile Technologies, Applications and Software Design category, A' Design Award & Competition has announced. The recognition forms part of the 2020 - 2021 A' Design Award & Competition and was decided through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who assessed anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
The A' Design Award Explained
The Iron A' Design Award is awarded to good designs that meet the rigorous professional and industrial standards set by the A' Design Awards. This recognition is reserved for works that demonstrate a solid understanding of design principles and show creativity within their execution. Recipients of the Iron A' Design Award are acknowledged for their practical innovations and contributions to their respective fields, providing solutions that improve quality of life and foster positive change. These designs are a testament to the skill and dedication of their creators, showcasing their ability to address real-world challenges through thoughtful design.
Regarding Kappa Jizo Picture Book App
Kappa Jizo is an interactive picture book application for mobile devices. The story encourages children to be open-minded towards people from different backgrounds. Audio narration is available in English and in Japanese. Children can tap, drag and pinch the characters and objects while the story plays, and a coloring page is also included. All illustrations were drawn by hand with pencil on paper, then scanned and colored digitally. Voices and music were recorded for the application. The intent is to teach respect and to reduce prejudice.
About Kaori Hamura Long
Kaori Hamura Long is an artist, illustrator, and character designer based in Japan and the United States. No matter what media she uses, she creates with a passion and the mission for world peace and protecting the environment. Kaori has made a picture book app to teach children about equality and tolerance and several animations about protecting our environment. She also creates paintings to uplift our spirits and address awareness about caring for our earth. Since Kaori was little, the only thing she could do well was drawing. She comes from a family of artists, and she did not doubt that she could live on her art as well.
Award Record
Kaori Hamura Long is a winner of 2 A' Design Awards, including this recognition. The awards were granted in the 2020 - 2021 edition of the A' Design Award & Competition.
About the A' Mobile Technologies, Applications and Software Design Award
The A' Mobile Design Award is an international design competition recognizing good design in mobile industry by leading designers and brands worldwide. It is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to mobile designers, application developers, software engineers and user interface designers from all countries. Typical entries include smartphones, tablets, wearables, mobile applications, mobile games and mobile software. The awarded mobile designs are published at https://designers.org/design-category/mobile
About A' Design Award & Competition
Organized annually since 2008, A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The philanthropic mission of the A' Design Award is to advance society through good design, by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Nominations are peer reviewed and evaluated anonymously by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. Eligible laureates receive the A' Design Prize, which includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, uploading a work and receiving a preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. More information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://designers.org/113064
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/113064
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!113064
- Laureate Profile: https://designers.org/d/274174
- Further Information from the Laureate: http://kaorihamura.com/
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
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Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- Kappa Jizo Picture Book App
- Function
- Picture Book App
- Category
- Mobile Technologies, Applications and Software Design
- Discipline
- Communication Design
- Industry
- Software and Electronics & Appliances
- Colors
- Black, Lavender, Midnight Blue, Dark Slate Blue and Dark Slate Gray
- Images
- 5
- Client
- Moss Moon Studio
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Kaori Hamura Long
- Country
- Japan
- Recognition
- A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2020 - 2021
- Design ID
- #113064
Credits
- Team
- Bill Long and Mika Long
- Image Credits
- 5: Illustrator/Writer/Music: Kaori Hamura Long, Voices: Kaori Hamura Long, Bill Long, and Mika Long
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- This hand-drawn interactive picture book app will get children thinking about the importance of being open-minded towards people who are different from them. Kids can listen along with audio recorded in English or Japanese and they can also have fun with interactive characters and the coloring page. They can tap, drag, and pinch the characters and objects while the story plays. The children will find that they can be friends with people even though they come from different backgrounds.
- Inspiration
- Living in a time of the divided world, with bias and hate crimes rising, the artist felt that she had to do something to teach the next generation that it doesn't have to be that way. By changing our mindset, we could change the world to be more united, respectful for people with different backgrounds, and show love for each other. She wrote the story and made a picturebook and decided to turn it into an interactive picturebook app.
- Research
- Once the artist decided to take on a challenge to make her picturebook into an interactive picturebook app, she had done an extensive research to create it without too much knowledge of programming. There were few software and extension choices to create an app without extensive knowledge of programming, so she has tried out a few. She decided to use the Photoshop extension program called Kwik, and their tech support was beneficial, so she decided to use the software.
- Challenge
- The creative part came quickly and naturally for the artist, but the challenge was to create programming without knowledge. Even as an artist and writer with no programming background, she made her first interactive picture book app using the Photoshop extension called Kwik. With easy to use interface within Photoshop, she was able to program her book the way she wanted. However, submitting the app to App Store and Google Play was a totally different challenge, and she has to keep updating the app according to the technological changes.
- Realization and Technology
- First, the storyboard and dummy book was made and then created illustrated pages with pencils and paper. Then the illustrations were scanned and colored in Photoshop. There, all the layers were separated, heads, eyes, arms, etc. for animation. The sprite sheets were created using the extension software called Kwik in Photoshop. We recorded voices and music in Garage Band, and the sound files were imported into Kwik programming. All the pages were published into Solar 2D programming software to build for Xcode (App Store) and Android Studio (Google Play).
- Operation and Interaction
- It is an interactive children's book app for Apple and Android devices. The reader can listen along with audio recorded in English or Japanese. Children can also have fun with interactive characters and the coloring page. They can tap, drag, and pinch the characters and objects while the story plays.
- Project Duration and Location
- The manuscript and dummy book was created in October 2007 in Vermont, U.S.A. The app development started in 2015 and was released in June 2017 in Fukuoka, Japan. The updated version was released in October 2020.
- Specifications
- 2048 x 2732 pixel (214.9mm x 280.6mm)
- Keywords
- picture book app, children’s book app, book app, children’s book, picture book, iTune, Google Play, Japanese book, kid’s book app, app, jizo, app jizo, kaori hamura, kaori hamura long, moss moon, mission, moss moon studio, tolerance, prejudice,
