Writing the T&T graphic novel series was one of the best experiences of my life. This will be the first in a series of posts about it! I want to point out right away that I did not write the curriculum itself. That was done by people much smarter than me. I was the lead art director during that time and also had help in the process. When I worked at Awana Clubs International we updated the 3-6th grade curriculum, which took 4 1/2 years to do. Awana curriculum can be challenging for some kids, so we had a commitment to get away from art for decoration sake and integrate storytelling throughout the books.
The curriculum team decided to gut the original curriculum and start from the ground up. We launched a nation-wide research project, which eventually led us creating a full year of test curriculum that was tested by those churches. Usually it takes us 6-8 months to make the core curriculum, but with about 4 months left to go we decided the final version of the first book should have a graphic novel woven through it. We took the characters from the un-produced trading card game I developed and used them as decoration in the field test materials. I really struggled with the field test graphic design and branding because I didn’t know where to take it. After writing the story, all of the design direction seemed to fall into place. We received feedback from users asking, “who in the world are these characters?. So, I instigated the choice to trash all of the graphic design and illustration and start over again.
I had since been reading about how to write stories. Robert McKee’s book Story was a huge influence in getting the first drafts written in a matter of weeks. I locked myself in the library for days writing it and remember the pitch meeting clearly. I sat and told the story of the T&T Super Agents to our curriculum team and waited on bated breath to see if they would like it or not. One of my most potential critics said “hey, they story held together”. I took that as an immense compliment.
After a fast process and a lot of help from our great design team, we finally got the product done on time. We also had to create large group and small group teaching guides in the process too!
When the book released the reception was positive overall and we even saw a 30% increase over sales projections in the process. After that, we redesigned the core design and layout again for the second book after general feedback from the customers. We took those templates and applied them to the next 3 books in the series. After that, we went back and redesigned the first book again with those features. The images below is a whole unit of curriculum. You can buy it here: https://bit.ly/3B306wK
Thank you to the original team that started something big. Alicia Kuta, Gretchen Stibolt, Kristi Gravemann, Claudia Kruse & Mark Romin.
#kidsillustration #kidart #productinnovation #graphicnovel #devotional #comics #illustration #usertesting
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