Isaac, The Mountain & The Moon: blended materiality: designing a hybrid picture-book

Innovations in tangible interaction, computer vision and emerging trends in digital reading offer novel opportunities in integrating physical and digital graphic storytelling. Research findings identified design and market opportunities in hybrid publications with blended materiality, that when applied to picture-books, would likely have readers perceiving the hybrid whole as more valuable than the sum of its parts. These findings informed the design of Isaac, The Mountain and The Moon, a hybrid physical-digital picture-book that maintains a singular story-world across media, while allowing affordances specific to each. The book’s design acts as a model that integrates considerate enhancements and affordances of both physical and digital objects; explores strategies that further engage reader communities in digital craft and social editions; encourages learning, curiosity and new media literacy through storytelling and the interactive experience. Presented are the motivations for the book, an elaboration of its design and future evaluation.