Snip & Chu
The Snip and Chu project includes a physical graphic novel, mobile game and webcomic; each a different narrative approach. The brightly coloured, physical novel echoes the book’s narrative, presented as a gaudy product. The game uses interactivity to satirically comment on the repetitive, grinding nature of recycling. With the original book out of print, the webcomic allows the story, with significant art and narrative updates, to be read by an online audience.
Graphic Novel
Contemporary, first-world society’s emphasis on convenience and quantity has created a consumer desire for ‘time-saving’ products: ‘fast’ food, ‘instant’ coffee, and so on. These designs are made to be eminently disposable, so a significant amount of waste is generated. Snip & Chu personifies these waste products as characters, who live out their lives as agents of worth, rather than detritus to absent-mindedly discard.
The Snip and Chu novel uses a colourful graphic style, and contemporary characters to represent pieces of rubbish, with a humorous, pun-filled narrative to make topical issues entertaining and educational. The book describes the ill-conceived and often energy-hungry attempts to recycle said waste, replacing what should more thoughtful, respectful product design in the first instance.
Game
The Snip and Chu game makes use of interactive media to involve players in the narrative, guiding digital characters on a repeated journey, to playfully provoke players to consider the lifecycle of waste. An ‘immanent critique’ of consumer behaviour, the game is designed as a 1980s Game-and-Watch device (a calculator-like gadget famous for its repetitive gameplay), thus reinforcing the overarching narrative theme of recycling.
Webcomic
A reworked version of the physical graphic novel, the story has been significantly expanded and additional art included.
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