ANIK is a technology-friendly interactive storybook for todayʼs techno-conscious generation. Going beyond traditional textbooks, this innovative storybook, where conductive ink of silver nano-particles replaces electronic wires, allows children to build electrical circuits themselves by drawing.

This innovative storybook, Panic in the Arctic, is an exemplary illustration of where tradition meets technology. It adopts the best of both worlds—a fairy-tale style storytelling embedded with captivating pictures and scientific knowledge targeted to a young audience. Here, illustrations of real-life appliances, which come to life when overlaid with the ink, explain how electrical circuits work. Although traditional methods of learning remain the primary educational tools, they often fail to grab childrenʼs attention. Anik creates engaging, interactive, and educational content that introduces children to the basics of electrical circuits through hands-on-play.

ANIK is designed with a combination of artistic and technical experiments, case studies, and user research. It started with the broad idea that interactive design in education could be used to grab the attention of children and prolong their concentration during study. We incorporated the idea of conductive ink pens into the working of our novel techno-friendly storybook, which is comprehensively described in our proposal. Through many experiments and prototypes, the most ideal materials and circuit designs for children were developed. Mock tests were performed on prospective users to expand on and refine key ideas. Several scenarios, stories, and styles of paintings were tested and those that best complemented children’s understanding and imagination were selected. After several workshops with primary students in the UK and Korea, we adjusted the level of difficulty with advice from parents and teachers. 

“Anik demonstrates a simple and intuitive way of educating children about science through design. Anik creates engaging, interactive, and educational content that introduces children to the basics of electrical circuits through hands-on-play.”

Credit 
In collaboration with Heeju Kim
Illustration by Dana Giurescu
Photo by Paul Plews
Sponsored by Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), the University of Tokyo, and Elephantech