Making dreams come true through books

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Victoria Forrest, through VIKA Books, revolutionizes the way we read books and makes pre-speech communication between babies and adults a reality

Victoria Forrest, director of VIKA Books, is revolutionizing the way we read. Victoria embeds smartphone technologies into the pages of the books she designs. This means readers can move seamlessly between the printed page and a smartphone, accessing video, text, sound and animation on demand, enriching the way we learn. Victoria’s first AR book, Where is the Bird? is a children’s book that makes pre-speech communication between babies and adults a reality.

Winner of the prestigious InnovateUK ‘Women in Innovation’ Award, D&AD Impact, National Technology Awards and Great British Entrepreneur of the Year for Creative Industries, VIKA, is a leader in publishing innovation.
“My connected books exclusively incorporate video, sound, augmented reality and sign language into the printed page, making books more dynamic and more accessible”, she said, in an interview with Jornal do Rio de Jneiro.

Eletrônicos: SUA MÃE MERECE!

Victoria‘s interest now is to introduce the concept to Brazil. “I would love to make a Portuguese translation of this book with Portuguese sign language. I’m in Brazil looking for the right partners”, she said.

The book that has won so many accolades in the UK is called ‘Where is the Bird?’ It is an Augmented Reality children’s book that inspires ALL families, both hearing and deaf, to interact in Sign Language at home.

Sign language can easily be used with babies and infants before they can speak, and eases a developmental phase called ‘The Terrible Twos, or ‘Crise dos 2 anos’, a stressful time in a child’s life when the complexity of their thoughts is greater than their ability to speak, resulting in temper tantrums. These tantrums do not exist in the same way in deaf communities in which sign language is used.

“It feels like such a missed opportunity”, says Victoria, “One of the most frustrating parts of being a parent is the tantrums. And they are so easy to avoid. If only more hearing people knew how powerful sign language is for communicating with children before they can speak!” explains Victoria.

The buggy book + smartphone app is designed to be as portable and accessible as possible. The pages wake-up magical illustrations that emerge from the page as colorful 3D animations before being combined with video demonstrations of a sign language sign.

“The technology is called Augmented Reality. Pop-up animations are embedded into the book’s illustrations and are activated by scanning them with a smartphone. Once the drawing, for example a bird, is woken up, it will show a 3D animation of a bird together with a video of how to do the sign for ‘bird’ in sign language. That’s just for this book though. I can make many different combinations of AR, video, sound and text for any subject. A book becomes a gateway to a world of multimedia learning.” says Victoria

Augmented Reality, or AR, is a technology that allows virtual elements to be superimposed over what we see. You need to have a smartphone or special glasses. The most popular use of AR is entertainment through Instagram filters and games like Pokémon GO. Vitória is one of very few people to successfully use this technology in books, and the first to use it to introduce the hearing community to sign language.

“I chose to publish my first ‘Connected Book’ in sign language because it’s an unprintable language. We think books are printed in all languages, they aren’t, they are printed in all spoken languages.”

“When you are signing with any child, hearing or deaf, it’s important to make sure that you have direct eye contact. Don’t worry about getting the sign exactly right. Often signs are descriptive of the object they describe, and as they involve movement they are more expressive than words. For example, the sign for a plane can be moved around in space to describe how it’s flying. And like with any language, the more you practice, the more rewarding it will be. Have a try, it’s really rewarding and delightful”, explains Victoria

SHOP: https://vikabooks.com/shop

ABOUT VICTORIA FORREST

Victoria design books and brands that showcase the artists and organizations of the future. She received an MA in Communication Art & Design from the Royal College of Art, London and founded VIKA Books to create innovative, quality fine art publications enhanced by creative technologies. In 2022, Victoria won Innovate UK’s prestigious Women in Innovation Award and is one of the UK’s TechWomen100 for her work on the future the book. Further endorsements range from Best Fine Art Publisher and Outstanding Entrepreneurship to D&AD Impact, International Business ‘Stevie’ Award, and National Technology Awards.

‘Victoria is disrupting the market in many ways. She pushes the boundaries of a traditional market, creating a niche that is specialised, innovative and needed. Victoria demonstrates the enormous value women can bring to the economy, whilst bringing up children, working from home, and balancing everyone’s needs.’ — Woman Who Achieves ‘Solopreneur’ Home Business Award

Find out more visit www.vikabooks.com online or @vikabooks on social.

To present your stories in the most elegant and dynamic format possible, send Victoria a message: hello@vikabooks.com