Vincenzo Pignatelli from Blue Quoll Digital Publishing holds a PHD in Neuroscience, is an innovator in children’s publishing and an eloquent speaker on the nuances of what makes a quality children’s book app. Here he takes us inside his creative space and gives a glimpse into the multi-faceted process of app development.
Where did you create your latest book app? How important to you is the space in which you create?
The App content and assets are physically delocalized across several computers. Because we collaborate with a developer in Perth and a graphic designer in Italy, we keep a server where we host the App content and code for easy review and sharing. So in a sense our workspace is all over the place 😉 Eventually everything is assembled by myself on my computer and prepared for delivery onto the AppStore.
The physical space where I work is important for me in the sense that I like it quite tidy. It’s an organisationally intense job and if I do not have things organised properly, even visually, around me, it’s easy to lose track of bits and pieces along the way. Keep in mind that besides putting together the App I work on the audio management and processing, digital image processing, social media and marketing.
Do you transform your space in any way for each app / book? Do you ‘get into character’ at all?
I surround myself with the original drawings and a series of printed tabs that I use to keep track of the various language versions, the interactivity on the pages and what has been done or needs to be done in our Apps.
How has the place that you create your apps evolved or changed since you first began creating?
It’s constantly evolving. Now that we are going to implement games and different types of interactivity in our future AppBooks I will need a bigger screen for sure which should allow me to juggle more comfortably between all the different software I use for development purposes.
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| From AppBook, Mr Wolf and the Ginger Cupcakes. |
Do you keep regular hours? If not, when do you create?
We try not to work on weekends (even though it can be hard at times, particularly upon launch). I am the kind of person that focuses enormously during work hours, I rather prefer to get something done quickly in a few intense sessions than to procrastinate and dilute it across several days. So I might put in long hours one day and take a few hours off the next one 😉
Do you have a morning ritual? Roald Dahl was said to sharpen pencils. What settles your mind for work?
What sets me to work mode really is closing the internet browser and the email client. When I do that I know there is no more distraction and I can start to work on what’s at hand 😉
Thanks Vincenzo. Next week children’s author Christine Harris will be in The Writer’s Studio.
