Joop Akerboom (HvA): Scrollbook

Joop Akerboom (HvA): Scrollbook

Reading pleasure among young people is declining and it’s not that young people do not read, but they read different. Young people read a lot of short texts. What is not activated while reading short texts is the kind of concentration that is required of your brain when reading long texts, called deep reading.

As a result, young people lag behind in insights and vocabulary. The focus of Scrollbook is on the deliberate act of reading more thoughtfully with the aim of increasing understanding and reading pleasure. It’s a platform in which books are designed in the style of the content with animated visuals to guide the eyes and enhance the reading experience.  Centered around a scroll interaction, a portion of an existing book will be highlighted, which will act as a “trailer” for the book, exposing the user to the book and its design style which is a small commitment of 5-10 minutes. When the user chooses to read the book, which is the greater commitment in
this case, they are more likely to continue reading the book.

While reading both the book preview and the book itself, the reader’s eyes are guided with the help of enabled reading. This makes words visibly visualized and highlighted on scroll interaction. By highlighting words when performing a scrolling action and reading at the same time, the user can maintain a tone and focal point that will easily put them in a state of deep reading and memorizing text.

When young people start to enjoy reading a book again, they will read more, they will read deeply and then they will get better at it. It increases vocabulary and insights. This way you automatically tackle low literacy and the enjoyment of reading.