Why our games app idea is not feasible for Bevlab off the bat
Neopets is a similar website to the app we were proposing. In this video it explains it was costing mega dollars to sustain updates, new pets, new adventures etc to the site. Consequently, the development of the site has steadily declined since 2011. However, neopets still exists and other sites have been created using this same pet site genre, so there is still a market for virtual pets apps and websites. Our strategy for Bevlab then, would have to be a progressive one in which they can generate additional income somehow.
Well, as you can see, there’s nothing specific in the law about walking to school or going to the park. What the law does say, and here’s the important part, is that when a child is under 14, you need to make sure that you make reasonable provision for the care of the child. The tricky part of this is that it will different from situation to situation.For some children, it will be totally reasonable for them to go to the park by themselves at 10. It might be that the park is nearby, the child is mature and sensible, and there are no busy roads to cross. However, in other cases, this may not be reasonable. Some factors that you might need to consider when thinking about whether it is reasonable are:
Hazards that may exist on their journey to the park or while at the park
The experience and maturity of the child
How long it will take them to get there
How they might be able to get help if they need it
These things may also be considerations if you are thinking about letting your child walk to school or other local destinations alone.
It’s probably also worth noting that it’s not enough to say that you would consider it reasonable – other people would need to be able to consider it reasonable as well. For example, you may believe it to be reasonable for your 6 year old to be allowed to go to the park alone for 4 hours but many other people would not consider this reasonable.
Comment from mothers on Huggies website State they would allow their child to start walking or biking to school alone from, the youngest 8 years old, but majority at the age of 10.
AGES 5-9: KIDS SHOULD BE EARNING THEIR POCKET MONEY
Pocket money payments should begin at about 6, but kids have to earn it. Children should do some chores for nothing as part of the family like making the bed and tidying their room. Beyond that, there should be an advertised list of jobs they can choose from to do to earn pocket money. If they don't do the extra jobs, they don't get paid and they don't get the extra treats, which the pocket money buys.
Encourage children to split their money into three parcels: money to spend, money to save, and money to share or gift, this shows them how saving now can be useful in the future. But the pocket money is the child's to do what they want with.
AGES 10-13: EARNING POCKET MONEY IS COMPULSARY
Earning pocket money is now compulsory. If children don't choose to earn their coins, privileges like screen time are lost. This teaches them that not earning is not an option in the real world.
Children should also be given an allowance. This is money the family would have spent on them for things like clothes and entertainment. Now the child gets to choose how and when to spend it on those things, teaching them skills of budgeting and spending.
Children learn there are compromises around spending.
"It's about learning what the budget is, when the money runs out and how to get what you want."
Monsters are an enduring theme throughout childrens books, movies, tv series and toys. Perhaps these are used to stop children fearing the monsters under the bed or in the closet. They are generally portrayed as cute, cuddly and friendly, with large eyes and cheeky personalities.
The bonus to monsters is there is an endless number of creations you can make. You are only limited by your imagination. Both genders can be targeted by them. Girls will like cute creatures based on animals, with big eyes, wings and floppy ears. Where boys would more likely be drawn to grosser, slightly scarier versions, with claws, horns and big teeth. These would be more based on sharks, dinosaurs, reptiles and insects.
This paper presents the results of interviews with 79 children, 72 of whom had a collection (or collections) of one kind or another. We observed that the type of collections which children pursue depends upon the ease of entry (i.e., cost) into a collecting domain, gender norms, and current fads started by movies or cartoons. The primary objective of this study was to explore the motives underlying children's collecting behaviors using a phenomenological philosophy. We suggest that children are motivated to collect because they (1) enjoy the process of collecting as it allows them to escape boredom and sometimes reality, (2) learn or satisfy curiosity about their collecting domain, (3) satiate a passion for the objects which are desired, (4) want to differentiate themselves from others, and (5) desire to associate with others, especially family and friends. Although one of the above motives was illustrated in each of the interviews, the text suggests that children often have multiple motives for collecting.
Having a collection can be an exercise in acquisitiveness. A collection can exist for its own sake, in fact, most collections do. So acquiring a new member of the collection is seen as good all by itself, even if the new member is not very attractive or interesting. Many kids want to “collect them all,” as marketers well know, so that adding to the collection achieves a feeling of closure or completeness.
As we can see in this video there has been a long standing market for virtual pets. From the link we see these can be a great learning tool for children to take care of other living things. A lot of parents either can't have pets or don't want the real life responsibility if their child doesn't care for the pet properly. In that situation there are real life consequences. Virtual pets are an alternative method.
Why Stickers?
Stickers are relatively cheap to produce. They become part of a collection. There is an opportunity to add a sticker book. They can be coloured, traded, used to decorate school books, and for some reason children love them.
Children prefer brighter colors from an early age because their eyes are not fully developed yet. They can actually perceive these colors better than fainter shades. Bright colors and contrasting colors are more likely to stand out in their field of vision. As children constantly strive to make sense of their environments, objects that are stark and bright are more stimulating and interesting. One of the first ways they learn to sort things is by color, and colors are some of the earlier words they tend to learn -- so these easily named, more basic colors are appealing.
How can we influence 7-10 year olds to reach for the healthy option?
Revised Demographic
7-10 year old
We have decided it is most beneficial for Bevlab to focus on the lower end of their demographic. This will establish a positive behaviour pattern that can be carried through the teen years and into adulthood. This age bracket is entrusted with pocket and lunch money, meaning they are beginning to make choices for themselves. They are also starting to get themselves to school in the later portion of the demographic, meaning unsupervised trips to the dairy before and after school are common occurrence, we want them to want to make healthy choices. This demographic could potentially be split again to 5-7 and 8-11, but is certainly targetable depending the big idea.
Revised Big Idea
Create-a-monster stickers and self-colour sticker book The idea is to have collectible stickers of monster body parts that children then "Frankenstein" into their own little monsters. The stickers will be just outlines to engage the children's creativity by allowing them to be coloured in; this way they are also not pre-prompted to match the body parts by colour.Each drink comes with a piece of a monster, which could be a head, arms, legs or a torso. The idea is to mix and match the parts to make something unique. There could also be a colouring sticker book containing different scenes and environments, such as desert, forest, under the sea. This could come with some accessory stickers for the monsters, or even castles, clouds, houses and animals to place around the environments. This could a separate item available for purchase, or there could be a "loyalty card" system. The system could involve a card which you place 25? monster eggs and redeem the card for a copy of the book. You would receive these eggs along with your body part sticker with each purchase. The book could contain a short story with prompts for the children to fill in details, such as the creatures name or adjectives, verbs, places etc. making their story unique. There is an opportunity here to make a competition or two. One could be send in a photo of your monster creation, and win a free plushie of your monster. This would mean another additional item would then be available for purchase without incurring more design costs. Alternatively the submission could be a the unique stories. This idea has the ability to also become a basic virtual pet app. The children could photograph their creation and have it hatch from an egg. They would have to feed it, bathe it, train it, pat it, play basic games with it like paper scissors rock to keep it happy. There is also an option to have battles with friends like digimon had to appeal to males. For this a code could be added to the drink and unlock different colours, basic games, accessories, foods. Alternatively, the codes could add points to level up your pet faster, adding to it's stats for the battle dome, and unlock rare abilities and special powers. Or there could be a choice what to do with the code Lover or Fighter, but in more child-like terms. To incorporate the active aspect to the app, we could have gps co-ordinates of obelisks that unlock a power or upgrade for the monsters. These could be located on bush walks or hiking trails, in parks etc. Parents would need to take the child to these places, and a puzzle could appear on their screen when they get to the co-ordinates. solving the puzzle would unlock its power. This would also get their minds and their parents active too. These stickers would potentially peel off of the can and be stuck into their sticker book.
Issues to address
Is the sticker book the Frankenstein slab or other equivalents in a different scene? or is it just scenes? If its just scenes then how does the creation part work? If the stickers peel off the can is there no mystery aspect, no luck, the child just chooses the piece of monster they want? if it is on the can and peelable how do you stop people stealing the stickers off it without buying the drink? If the stickers are colourable not glossy will the condensation ruin them? How does the colouring book work with stickers, if they are stuck down they are stuck for good?
children have short attentions spans, is 6 drinks too many to make one monster?
Re-Revised Big Idea
Pre-Release Promote at School Sports Day Stage One
Collectable Monster stickers and self-colour sticker book The idea is to have collectible monster stickers and a colour-in sticker book. Each can will have a label that peels off to reveal a mystery monster sticker and a code for an interactive games website. The sticker book will be available for purchase as an additional item. Ideally, children will utilise their nag power to influence their parents to buy it. The sticker book will contain different scenes and environments, such as deserts, forests, and under the sea. There will be outlines within the scenes for the stickers to be placed, engaging the child's impulse to "collect them all." The book will also come with its own stickers of buildings (such as castles, houses), animals, clouds and trees, to be placed within the scenes. The purpose of this is to engage the children's creativity by allowing them freedom to place these item's. This could come with some accessory stickers for the monsters. Stage Two
Website The website could start out as a basic virtual pet site where the children enter the codes for the monsters they have collected. These species then hatch from an egg on a "collection" page full of eggs, and become available for them as a pet. Additional codes for the same species would unlock accessories and level up the Monsters stats for the battle dome. The child would have to feed, train, and play games to earn points, with their pet to keep it happy and healthy. They can also compete with their friends in a battle dome, this would appeal to males. The colour of the pet would be customisable along with the collected accessories. Virtual healthy foods and the Bevlab water would be purchasable with points to feed the pets.
Stage Three
Plushie Competition
There is an opportunity to another additional product for purchase through a competition. The website could host a monster creation Frankenstein's lab competition, where the children create their own monsters from different pre programmed pieces. The winner/s will receive a free plushie of their monster, and it will be put into production for other people to buy. This would mean another additional item available for purchase without incurring more design costs. With the purchase of the plushie child would unlock that character with rare abilities and special powers. Stage Four
Get Active
To incorporate the active aspect we could have gps co-ordinates of obelisks that unlock a rare powers or special abilities for the monsters. These could be located on bush walks or hiking trails, in parks etc. Parents would need to take the child to these places, and a puzzle could appear on their screen when they get to the co-ordinates. solving the puzzle would unlock its power. This would also get their minds and their parents active too.
First seen on DaFont: October 25, 2012 - Updated: September 08, 2014, this typeface is by Gomarice and is 100% free for commercial use. It evokes the monster theme with its boldness and squared off edges, while remaining legible enough for children to read.
Cute Monster
Flow
Body font:
Cona - This is really clear, easy to read, it is friendly and rounded and a little bit quirky. It has a fresh feel and fluidity of water. Uni sans - http://fontoteka.com/font/uni-sans-regular - FREEWARE again quite organic forms evoking nature and a roundedness for a friendly aesthetic
Typeface combination sample
Unfortunately when we combined these water like designerly typefaces with the monster ones they don't look like they belong together. these typefaces are, as Malaki pointed out, too sophisticated for our audience.
