Matonkoni Interactive Storybook
for Parenting Research
for Parenting Research
Layout design | Event collateral design | Large format design
Overview
This project formed part of Rethinking Evidence, a research initiative led by Hello Brave exploring how evidence around children’s behaviour is understood and applied by families in Lambeth and Southwark.
The aim was to translate research insights into an interactive storybook, enabling children and parents to capture and reflect on their lived experiences through storytelling. The outcome needed to feel engaging, accessible, and relatable while allowing participants to see themselves within the narratives.
The Challenge
The project brought together multiple layers:
• Research findings from interviews with families and stakeholders
• Three distinct stories developed in collaboration with a storyteller
• Individual illustrations representing key moments within each narrative
• Research findings from interviews with families and stakeholders
• Three distinct stories developed in collaboration with a storyteller
• Individual illustrations representing key moments within each narrative
The core challenge was to translate complex, research-led content into a format that felt intuitive and meaningful for both children and adults.
There was also a structural challenge where each story had its own tone and visual language, yet the final outcome needed to feel like a cohesive, unified publication, rather than three separate pieces
The key focus became:
Structuring research-led insights in a way that is both emotionally engaging and visually coherent across multiple narratives?
Structuring research-led insights in a way that is both emotionally engaging and visually coherent across multiple narratives?
Approach
My role was to bring together the written narratives and illustrations into a cohesive storybook experience.
To create visual consistency across the three stories, I developed a unifying colour approach, drawing on block colours from each illustration and refining them into a shared palette that worked harmoniously across the full publication.
Given that each story was supported by a single key illustration, I explored ways to extend the visual narrative across multiple pages:
• Identified expressive moments within the text through close reading
• Extracted and reinterpreted elements from the original illustrations
• Developed supporting visuals to enhance pacing, emotion, and storytelling flow
This approach allowed the storybook to feel more immersive, while maintaining alignment with the original illustrative style.
Outcome
The final storybook brought together research, storytelling, and illustration into a cohesive and accessible format.
The design:
• Transformed research insights into a more human, relatable experience
• Created a visually consistent system across three distinct narratives
• Enhanced engagement by extending the storytelling beyond static illustrations
The project demonstrates how design can support the translation of complex subject matter into a format that is emotionally resonant and easy to navigate, particularly for mixed audiences.
