🎨 Before we even picked up a pen or even hooked on a mouse, we started with building paper models to show it to kids in our circles to bring the village in "ጓደኛዬ" to life.

🎥 If you haven't seen the song yet now is you chance to do so... Don't worry will wait😁.

https://youtu.be/d7gfsgEgpaU?si=iNaiCV7RMAJK6kaz

From the simple shapes of the houses to the quirky plants, from the swirly clouds to the ሳፋ፣ መዘፍዘፊያ እና ጎማ😁😁, every element was designed and presented to kids, so as to make it as playful and engaging as it can be. This hands-on approach gave us a fresh perspective on how the world of "Guadegnaye" should feel from the get go.

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These are our 3 main take aways from the whole process:

🎨 Kids love simplicity, but simplicity doesn’t mean boring:
The simple, playful shapes of the model sparked more imagination than we expected. It turns out that kids’ minds thrive on basic, recognizable forms—creating space for them to dream up their own stories and sense of scale in the world we built. Designing for kids meant leaving room for their creativity to fill in the blanks. You don't need to show them everything; they have this unique capability of filling in the gaps.

🎨🎨 Feeling the world in 3D helps create magic in 2D:
Working with these physical models gave us insights we wouldn’t have had from sketches alone. We found it to be exciting and fun not only for the kids but also for us as it continuously took us back to the good old days of ጭቃ ማቡካትና እቃ እቃ ጨዋታ.

🎨 🎨 🎨 Imperfect is perfect for kids:
The little quirks like the torn edges, pealed off layers revealing details underneath, drawing on surfaces for extra detail actually add charm and help create something truly unique. We call them "simple sophistications".

🏛Building is just as fun as drawing!✍🏻

#Animation #KidsContent #CreativeProcess #Guadegnaye #DesignForKids #PlayfulDesign