The aim of the progress chart is to give the child something to mark of as an accomplishment. It also gives both the father and the child a goal to aim for and allows them to track the progress; seeing how far they have come, how much they have read and for how long. After running through a few possible ideas we both decided that the best way for the chart to work would be to 'complete missions'. A mission would be reading for 10+ minutes a day for a whole week. Each week would be in relation to a planet so there would be 8 weeks. At the end of each day the child could put a gold star next to the day. At the end of each week the child could put a 'mission completed' sticker next to the planet. This would act as a visual representation of how well the reading is going.
With the planets designed I decided to put them into an accurate size line up. As you can see below on the A3 page, the first four planets can't really be seen and Jupiter and Saturn take up too much room on the page. It meant I was left with a very limited amount of space to fit in the grids (represented by the rectangle outline).
So instead I have created a more compact, however inaccurate, planet line up. The planets are still in the correct size order however the vast amount of difference between them has been significantly lowered so that all the planets can be seen and no planet in particular takes away the attention.
A dark blue background was added to represent the universe. All the colours work nicely against the colour.
Above shows the original weekly chart I created. Using the great icons Vanessa has created, I made two rows; one to write in the book and one to write in the time read for. I decided to redesign it as there wasn't really enough room to write. Below you can see the redesign, I have only changed it slightly so that there is more room and there is also now a light background which works nicely against the dark blue but is light enough to be written on.
You can faintly see the difference in sizes between the two designs.
I began to design the progression chart on A3 having the planets in a row along the top. However this looks cluttered and messy. There clearly isn't enough space for all 8 planets to go down the side next to the weeks as well.
After quite a bit of experimentation I decided it would be best to work A2 and also portrait. This has allowed 8 whole weeks to be fitted in.
I played around leaving a white space above each day of the week. My idea behind this was that it would leave room for the child to stick a gold star above each day after they have finished reading. It would then keep them motivated each day rather than at the end of the week when they may have lost focus.
All eight planets and weeks fitted into the design. However as great the planets across the top look I have had to remove them as it is too cluttered with them down the side as well. It is more important for them to be down the side so that they are in relation to the 8 weeks.
I realised that the chart would need some form of instructions so that they know what to do and how to use it. The last screenshot is the one that works best because everything is balanced and symmetrical. The rockets pointing to the title keep the eye focused there whilst also suggesting themselves the idea of movement and progress. The bottom screen shot also shows an example of the mission completed sticker and how it could work.
This is an example of how the space would be filled. With the title of the book and how long it was read for.
This is the final chart (for now) the planets down the right hand side are linked to each week. The way of filling in information means that it is clear and easy to see where your child is. The colours and simple illustrations make something quite boring into something fun and exciting. The chart makes you want to read so that you can fill it out. I will send it to the parents we have previously emailed and ask for feedback as well as trying to find out if it would work for their children.
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