ArtScience creates interactive Charlie Bone site

Communications agency ArtScience has created a new website for publishing giant Egmont Books to support the Charlie Bone series of books now enjoying phenomenal success in the US.

There will be a new Charlie Bone book 'Charlie and The Wilderness Wolf' launching into the UK market on 4 June to join the five published books in the series.

Egmont, founded in 1878, is one of Scandinavia's leading media groups.

Its activities range from print to plasma screen, from entertainment to education, from intellectual to popular culture.

Egmont encompasses weeklies, magazines, comics, books, film, TV programmes, textbooks, games, content for mobile services and electronic entertainment.

The company has activities in 23 countries, and more than 3,800 dedicated Egmont employees with revenues in excess of EUR 1,236 million.

Charlie Bone, the main character in the series, is the creation of British author Jenny Nimmo.

The books aimed at 8 to12-year-old boys and girls are popular around the globe.

The stories centre on Charlie, a descendant of The Red King, who reluctantly possesses a powerful endowment, along with many of his friends whom he meets at Bloor's Academy.

His family, the Yewbeams, have many dark secrets and Charlie embarks on a series of mysterious adventures to find out the truth about his past.

The books are very magical and mysterious, but with their roots in reality as Charlie struggles with his special powers at home and at school.

Pete Rope of ArtScience commented: "Late in 2006 Egmont approached us to design and build a Charlie Bone website for them; the series, although popular in the UK, has never enjoyed the huge success it is having in the US.

"In order to address this a community website that captured the essence of what Charlie Bone was all about was thought to be a step in the right direction.

"The new website is exciting, interactive and totally immersive - it uses Flash with a content management system which creates a compelling and evocative experience to encourage repeat visits".

Devised around a series of 'environments' to explore, the site doesn't have a typical navigation menu.

Instead, the users discover where to go themselves through a series of games, activities, information pop-ups and other interactive content.

A map of locations from the books, with clickable houses, castles, shops, libraries and so on, kicks off the visitor's navigation of the site which is being launched in a number of phases with the first phase viewable this week.

ArtScience's execution stays true to the books in both design details and activities.

Highlights include: The Piano Game - Charlie learns to play the piano in the first book; The Bloor's Entrance Exam - use the special pencil cursor to answer questions and gain entrance to the Bloor's Academy section of the site - just like Charlie does in the books; The Writing competition - a monthly writing competition.

Users tell us what their endowment would be and how they'd use it; and lastly Ask Jenny - the users chance to ask the author any question they like.

Jenny Nimmo will answer a select few and they will be published on the site.

ArtScience has also established a special community-building currency system, using Bones.

All activities and visits to the site will be rewarded with Bones.

A user must register to open an account, and can then watch their number of Bones grow.

These can eventually be redeemed against exclusive Charlie Bone merchandise such as pencil cases, notebooks and T-shirts.

The site is built to be flexible and able to continue growing beyond the initial proposal.

Future plans include the 'Pet's Cafe' - featured in the books.

This will be the place to meet other Charlie Bone fans and redeem your Bones.

Back to top