POPO AND MOMO RIDE! RIDE! PHONEBOOK
DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY TO ENHANCE PARENTING
While the heated debate of ‘digital or print?’ goes on, Mobile Art Lab., a multi-media studio set up by Japanese advertising agency, set out to combine traditional print and digital technology. The company aims to integrate iPhone software and picture book, recently co-published children’s book ‘POPO And MOMO Ride! Ride!’ with Kodansha Limited.
Parents and their children are encouraged to interact through pages in the book as well as iPhone game set up, to participate in an imaginary adventure. The simple and engaging animation is paired with energetic background music. When objects are hit on the screen, different scenarios would unfold, such as dancing fruits, smiling sun, fish crowd waiting for order and imaginary trip speeding through the planet. This is a triumphal attempt to challenge the cliché concept of ‘digital world isolating people’. When properly utilised, technology can be a tool to build up healthy relationships.
The gaming software is free to download at iPhone App Store; the book is available on Amazon Japan, priced at 2,980 Yen.
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