Conversations with friends

Abstract

"Conversations with Friends: A Guide to Communicating with Furry Friends." An illustrative guidebook for children that aims to incorporate animal perspectives to foster empathy and respect for animals. It features vibrant illustrations and engaging text, enhanced by doodle art, to capture the attention of young readers. The book includes interactive activities and reflections on animal behavior, designed to foster empathy and raise awareness among children about the consequences of their actions. It guides children on adopting behaviors that ensure compassionate interactions with animals. For the better understanding, the main animal of this book will focus on dogs and cats in general.Utilizing a blend of co-creation workshop and participatory design methodologies, this project investigates how animal perspectives can be effectively transformed into instructional content. The target audience includes children aged 5-10, who can enjoy the book with parental guidance, and those aged 10 and above, who can read independently. The book is designed to accommodate various literacy levels and learning styles, making it accessible to a broad range of young readers. The goal of this project is to contribute to the sparse literature on animal abuse by utilizing qualitative research methods and integrating service design and social design methodologies, such as prototype testing and feedback loops with children. Few studies have directly addressed children's cognitive processes through the lens of animal perspectives. Understanding how animals might misinterpret children's invitations to play, such as feeling threatened when interrupted during sleep, is crucial. By enabling children to grasp an animal’s interpretation of vital aspects of a situation, we can improve child-animal interactions. The goal is to establish design principles that facilitate learning through multiple touch points—visual, textual, and interactive. These principles can be broadly implemented in educational materials aimed at instilling compassion and ethical behavior towards animals in young learners.