Assignment 1: One Rule, Broken
A short prototype that breaks exactly one picture-book convention on purpose
Due: Week 5 · Weight: 20%
Pick one convention picture books normally follow, and break only that one. The constraint is the point: a single, legible break is easier to test, easier to defend, and easier to tell apart from a mistake than several changes made at once.
The brief
Find a rule a picture book normally obeys, and break it on purpose.
The rule can be visual, textual, spatial, or narrative. What matters is that the break is deliberate and that it does something specific to how the page is read, not that it looks unusual.
What you submit
A prototype of roughly 4–6 pages or spread-equivalents, in whatever medium suits the rule you are breaking — drawn, collaged, photographed, typeset, or built from found material. Alongside it, a short explanation of roughly 150–250 words covering the rule, how you broke it, and the reader effect you intended.
The spec
The brief poses the problem and leaves room for a response. The spec is the fixed part: what a marker checks. Some lines can be checked mechanically; the rest call for judgement.
- approximately 4–6 pages or spread-equivalents
- exactly one convention is broken, deliberately and legibly
- a short explanation (roughly 150–250 words) names the rule, how it was broken, and the intended reader effect
How it is marked
| Criterion | Weight |
|---|---|
| Clarity of the single rule broken | 30% |
| Reader effect the break creates | 40% |
| Written explanation of rule, break, and effect | 30% |