Mulaqat: An interactive Graphic Novel

This graphic novel immerses readers in the ancient world of NatyaShastra, unraveling the Navarasas through the emotional journey of the nayika. The challenge was making these complex concepts accessible and engaging for people with no prior knowledge.

Domain

Interaction Design

Timeline

1 month, Semester I

Team

Arundhuti Dey, Tanya Verma

✨The Spark

Ancient NatyaShastra holds profound insights on emotion, but it's locked in academic texts. What if I unlocked it through one character's emotional journey?

The Result

Mulaqat immerses readers in the world of NatyaShastra through the story of a nayika, unraveling the nine emotions (Navarasas) as her journey unfolds. Interactive elements blend seamlessly with storytelling, making learning feel like discovery rather than education.

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Experience Mulaqat -

A story of emotions…

Instructions before you Interact & Navigate through the digital graphic novel

TAP ZONES

To make navigation easy on touch screens, each frame is divided in the following manner.

to go backward

to go forward

to read more about the theme

LEFT

RIGHT

CENTER

CENTER

CENTER

every frame which has this flower in the top right corner, has information overlay. Tapping on the centre of the frame reveals it and tapping it again hides it.

Process Overview

01. Background & Objectives

01.
Background & Objectives

02.
Research & Conceptualisation

02.
Research & Conceptualisation

03.
Building Blocks

03.
Building Blocks

04.
Final Construction & Testing

04.
Final Construction & Testing

01.

Background & Objectives

This graphic novel immerses readers in the ancient world of NatyaShastra, unraveling the Navarasas through the emotional journey of a nayika. By blending storytelling and interactive elements, it makes these concepts accessible and engaging for people with no prior knowledge.

ACCESSIBILITY TO INFORMATION

Firstly, This novel aimed to simplify the information on Navarasa for the muggles (or those don’t know about the concept) and interested novices alike.

AWARENESS & EDUCATION

Secondly, this project aims at spreading more awareness about the concept of Navarasas, a culturally rich and important part of the Indian classical history.

INTERACTIVE FUN

Lastly, the objective was to make the information easy to digest so that the burden to read through long texts is reduced and the process of learning becomes fun.

02.

Research & Conceptualisation

We researched various aspects of Navrasas and expression of emotions through it. Then we moved on to build a story that would allow us to impart knowledge through interaction and visuals.

ACCESSIBILITY TO INFORMATION

Firstly, This novel aimed to simplify the information on Navarasa for the muggles (or those don’t know about the concept) and interested novices alike.

AWARENESS & EDUCATION

Secondly, this project aims at spreading more awareness about the concept of Navarasas, a culturally rich and important part of the Indian classical history.

INTERACTIVE FUN

Lastly, the objective was to make the information easy to digest so that the burden to read through long texts is reduced and the process of learning becomes fun.

Concept Ideation

Moodboard

03.

Building Blocks

We researched various aspects of Navrasas and expression of emotions through it. Then we moved on to build a story that would allow us to impart knowledge through interaction and visuals.

Storyline

It is a tale of nayika’s journey to finding her love. The story encapsulates the different moods and emotions the nayika goes through along the way. The story starts off with her hanging around with her friends and coming into the notice of the nayak who falls in love with her at first sight...

The nayak day-dreams about her and one fine day bumps into her. He confesses his feelings to her then and there before losing sight of her again. And this time, the nayika also begins to notice him and accepts his feelings.

They start spending time together and are lost in their world, oblivious to the fact that her father has come to know of her relationship and is furious. One day, she reaches home and her father confronts her saying that she cannot be with the nayak and has to marry a guy of his choice with whom he has fixed her marriage.

She is shocked and sad but has to obey her father without an option. She informs nayak the next day secretly at the temple where she goes everyday but also gives him a reassurance that she would come back.


IThen she goes to the arranged meeting with the guy her father had chosen to clarify that she is in love with someone else. But before she could say anything, the guy starts misbehaving with her.

At this behaviour, she is disgusted. Her anger is aroused and she pushes him angrily to show him his place. She reaches her home and courageously tell hers father that she loves the nayak and that she will not settle for a guy so low and pathetic who dares to misbehaves with her. She says it with so much conviction that her family has to concede and accept.

She returns to meet the nayak and tells him that they can be together again and that she has explained it to her family what her intentions are.

There’s a sense of peace between them now that everything is sorted.

Storyboarding

Character Design

Staging

04.

Final Construction & Testing

I prototyped the entire graphic novel in Figma, pushing the tool beyond its typical use case. When animation roadblocks hit, I found creative workarounds using component variants and smart animate to bring the emotional expressions and interactive elements to life.

"Turns out, ancient wisdom just needed better storytelling."

"Turns out, ancient wisdom just needed better storytelling."

Collaterals

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