Four SIAT students with Kibooco Interactive help create a creative computer application

By Graham Cook

A team at the Vancouver-based company Kibooco Interactive, which includes a number of current students and recent grads of Simon Fraser University, has used the power of thinking like a child to create a computer application. The Kibooco Workshop allows children to create and customize their own book using redesigned tools most commonly found on more advanced designing software.
The portion of the team with connections to SFU includes: the technical lead Nathan Sorenson, who graduated with a Master’s of Science in Interactive Art and Technology in 2011; programmer and developer David Choy, who earned his Bachelor’s from SIAT in 2009; usability lead and current IAT PhD student Allen Bevans; and SIAT Media Arts student Allison Koberstein, who was hired on through the Co-Operative education program.
Allen Bevans began working with Kibooco in November of last year during his internship that puts Master’s and PhD students into positions with local in companies. He spoke with The Peak about the project stating that “we reimagined the common Photoshop tools . . . we took the stuff that we learned from Photoshop, like the arrow picks something up, the back button undoes an action . . . the paint bucket is used to fill out a space.” They evaluated which concepts children could grasp to make it easy to use.
Bevans also said that co-founders Molly Schneeberg and Earl Hong Tai had stated that they looked at applicants from other institutions such as Emily Carr University, B.C. Institute of Technology, and Capilano University, but were generally more impressed with the SIAT program at SFU.
One unusual approach to finding mistakes prior to the launch was enlisting children from a local centre to act as testers. “We were working with the kids and they were testing different versions of the interface,” said Bevans. “Getting feedback, seeing what things they struggled with.” They pointed out aspects of the product that would not have been noticed by more mature users.
Allen Bevans said that Kibooco is hoping to launch a basic form of the product sometime later this fall. In this version, users will be able to make things like mugs, t-shirts, and calendars that they can order in time for the holidays. The full book-making application will most likely be accessible sometime in the next year. One reason for the delay, he said, was that they “want to see how well things translate from the computer to the product because [they] are not relying on any single third party.”