A storytelling tool to develop empathy in young children.
Nobu is an interactive storytelling tool that aims to curb pre-bullying behaviours in an elementary school by fostering empathy and care in children aged 6-8 years old.
Facilitated by teachers in a group setting in a classroom environment, Nobu contains stories about different kinds of bullying, ranging from cyber to physical and emotional. Each story has multiple points where the child has an option to take an action from multiple choices presented to them in order for the story to move forward. Each action has a resulting change in the storyline.
Through these interactive stories, Nobu aims to help children understand the power and consequences of their actions as a bystander in any bullying situation. Nobu also has a provision for the teacher to have a discussion about the story to encourage healthy and open communication about bullying.
Character Design
The audience follows the story from the perspective of the bystander, as he sees a bullying scenario and tries to make the right decisions to diffuse it.
• Simple but distinctive character design.
• Avoided stereotyping certain characters, such as a bully needs to look big and mean or a victim needs to be small and tiny, in
order to promote inclusivity and to not distract from or imply anything unintentional/unrelated in the story.
From left to right: Tony (the bystander), Janish (the victim), Sammy (the bully)
Background Design
The background was meant to be kept simple, bright, and in line with the visual look of the characters.
The characters are different shades of brown not only to differentiate from each other, but from the background tree as well, as they will be positioned in front of it.
Style Frames
A project concept made at The Centre for Digital Media by Team NOBU
Art Direction / Illustration : Meghan Ang and Annie Shen
UX/UI : Kavya Satyakumar
