About the Book
What makes an interactive experience compelling for children? What turns a simple click or tap into a magical interchange? Mark Schlichting's book, Understanding Kids, Play, and Interactive Design, answers these questions, and more, with a deep dive into the multiple factors needed to create award-winning games and activities that children will love and come back to.
With insights, research, and practical knowledge gathered during over thirty years of designing award-winning games, this book is the bible of interactive design for children. It is a practical book that discusses the physiological and psychological dynamics of attention, the value of intrinsic play, and strategies to invent activities that support kids' engagement, entertainment, and learning.
It helps designers to better understand:
- The nature of play and how to recognize and support its presence.
- Over 30 natural play patterns with applied examples in games and toys.
- Learning theories, especially as they relate to optimum engagement.
- How to connect with a specific audience by understanding children's ages and developmental stages.
- Animation tips, tricks, and techniques for getting and holding attention.
- How to keep games alive by using the many varieties of surprise.
- How to maximize the impact of audio design in interactive experiences.
- How to create character and avatar designs that kids will love, use, and relate to.
- How to work with creative teams and clients to make the best products for kids.
Understanding Kids, Play, and Interactive Design features real-world stories, practical methods, tips, and design secrets that user experience practitioners and children's designers need to ensure that the products they create are successful and engaging for kids. It addresses all aspects of children's design in depth, and it is packed with hundreds of full color photographs, screenshots, illustrations, and effects that use many of the design principles outlined in the book, providing a look that practices what it preaches and teaches. Written in accessible style, it offers insights and inspiration to parents, designers, educators, and anyone looking to create content that will be an immediate hit with kids.
About the Author :
Mark Schlichting is a well-known pioneer of the children's interactive design industry. He is the CEO of NoodleWorks Interactive, a children's design and consulting firm, and probably best known as the creator of Brøderbund's Living Books series. For over thirty years he has been creating engaging and award winning activities and apps for children. He is also the author and illustrator of "Harry and The Haunted House," a children's book and software program. Mark speaks internationally at both software industry and academic gatherings about best practices and design secrets to create engaging and enduring children's games. In 2012 he received the Kids At Play interactive (KAPi) Legend Pioneer Award.
Review :
"Fortunately for us, Mark Schlichting has created this marvelous book. By understanding and thoughtfully explaining what children do in the Kingdom of Play, and how and why they do it, Mark has provided a wonderful resource to those of us who would create fresh, invigorating playthings." -Jesse Schell, CEO, Schell Games; Distinguished Professor of the Practice of Entertainment Technology, Carnegie Mellon University; author of The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses "Mark Schlichting's book, Understanding Kids, Play, and Interactive Design, is the magnum opus of a creative lifetime, full of usable details framed in engaging and visually captivating formats. His book pioneers the blend of ever present technology with culture-enhancing guidance for the next generation of play-savvy designers. Belongs on every kids' play/game designer's bedside table." -Stuart Brown, M.D., Founder and President, The National Institute for Play; author of Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul "Children play in order to have fun, not to learn; but learning is the side effect that, from an evolutionary perspective, is play's purpose. In this book, Mark Schlichting reveals a remarkably sophisticated and accessible understanding of play, learning, and children, including differences among children related to age, gender, culture, and personality. This book will go a long way toward connecting game designers to the minds of children." --Peter Gray, Ph.D., Research Professor of Developmental Psychology, Boston College; author of Free to Learn: Why Releasing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life. "For over 25 years, Mark Schlichting has been an indispensable voice in children's media. To those of us who've had the pleasure to know him, he has been a voice of wisdom and reason. To those lucky children who have discovered the products he's created, his voice has been one of playfulness, surprise, and supreme silliness. In Understanding Kids, Play, and Interactive Design, Mark sets out the principles that have animated his work, starting with the deepest respect for the power and passion children bring to their play, and following up with a fierce determination to create digital spaces where that play flourishes. We will all benefit from the clear, well-argued, and generous way he shares his wisdom with the next generation of designers." -Scot Osterweil, Creative Director, the Education Arcade, MIT "This book must be in every children's interactive designer's library. In fact, every interactive designer should read it. . . a few times." -Warren Buckleitner, Ph.D., Editor, Children's Technology Review "TeachersWithApps has had the honor and privilege of working directly with Mark Schlichting on several projects. He brings a wealth of knowledge, insight, and passion to everything he touches. Every page of Mark's new book brings another 'aha moment, ' and I thought I knew a bit about children's digital space. This book is the bible and a must read for anyone involved in any area related to children, education, and technology." -Jayne Clare, Co-Founder, TeachersWithApps "Mark Schlichting's new book, Understanding Kids, Play, and Interactive Design, is a fantastic resource-the best I've ever seen-for interactive designers and others who want to understand play and learning. Mark is a master creator of great interactive experiences. He's dazzled us for decades with his really funny, endearing products. Now we can learn how he does it. Mark is thorough, precise, and incredibly generous to share his secrets of success. Don't miss this book if you want to create great games children will love. It's a classic that teachers and others should have." -Ann H. McCormick, Founder of The Learning Company and Co-Founder of Learning Circle Kids
