How Far Is Up? Bringing the Counterpointed Triad Technique to Digital Storybook Apps

Interactive storybooks, such as those available on the iPad, offer multiple ways to convey a story, mostly through visual, textual and audio content. How to effectively deliver this combination of content so that it supports positive social and educational development in pre-literate children is relatively underexplored. In order to address this issue we introduce the “Counterpointed Triad Technique”. Drawing from traditional literary theory we design visual, textual and audio content that each conveys different aspects of a story. We explore the use of this technique through a storybook we designed ourselves called “How Far Is Up?”. A study involving 26 kindergarten children shows that “How Far Is Up?” can engage pre-literature children while they are reading alone and also when they are reading with an adult. Based on our craft knowledge and study findings, we present a set of design strategies that aim to provide designers with practical guidance on how to create engaging interactive digital storybooks.