Kappa Jizo
Kappa Jizo is an interactive picture book application for mobile devices. The story encourages children to be open-minded towards people from different backgrounds. Audio narration is available in English and in Japanese. Children can tap, drag and pinch the characters and objects while the story plays, and a coloring page is also included. All illustrations were drawn by hand with pencil on paper, then scanned and colored digitally. Voices and music were recorded for the application. The intent is to teach respect and to reduce prejudice.
Kappa Jizo Picture Book App by Kaori Hamura Long was featured as an exceptional example of communication design by the A' Design Award. Kappa Jizo Picture Book App was awarded the Iron A' Design Award in Mobile Technologies, Applications and Software Design in 2021. The A' Mobile Technologies, Applications and Software Design Award is an international, jury-voted, fair and ethical design award which celebrates outstanding design of smartphones, tablets, wearables, mobile applications, mobile games, mobile software, mobile platforms, mobile interfaces and more.
