Callum Benfell
Multidisciplinary designer and storytellerWork
Method RecyclingPolicy NZ
Torotoro
Sam & Spoons
Common Ground
Beansprout
Bella
Mozart! Poster
Sam & Spoons
University projectIllustration
2023
Brief
Sam & Spoons was created for a university project in which I was tasked with “meeting children at their level” to deliver specific messages in a way that they would best understand. These messages generally involved helping young children understand large, complex topics like death, friendship and loneliness.Solution
After speaking with a primary school teacher and several children aged from 5—10, I decided that a series of short, illustrated stories would be the best way to present these concepts. The teacher noted that her students tended to connect best with familiar, recurring characters, and so I developed Sam and Spoons— the boy and his cat that the short stories revolved around.Throughout the process of writing and illustrating the four Sam & Spoons stories, I spoke with as many children within my chosen age bracket as possible. 5-10 year old children proved to be a uniquely challenging and delightful group of clients and target audience for the project. I figure that if I can work with them, I can work with anyone!
Ultimately, I decided that the series should be hosted online so that it is accessible and free for children and their parents, and used Webflow to make a website that is easy to navigate for my target audience. You can read one of the stories, called ‘The Tūi’ below.
A kōwhai tree’s branches reach into the sky; tall, strong and covered in splendid yellow flowers.
In the yard below, Sam and Spoons find a tūī lying in the grass.
“It looks hurt,” thinks Sam.
“I bet Dad will know how to help it.”
“I bet Dad will know how to help it.”
Sam hurries Dad along, pointing at the little bird lying in their yard.
“I don’t think there’s anything we can do, mate,” Dad sighs.
“The wee fella has died.”
“The wee fella has died.”
“There must be something we can do to help it,” Sam insists.
“There’s nothing we can do, Sam,” Dad responds. “And it’s not your fault. Everything beautiful comes and goes. That’s the thing about life, and there’s nothing we can do about that!”
“There’s nothing we can do, Sam,” Dad responds. “And it’s not your fault. Everything beautiful comes and goes. That’s the thing about life, and there’s nothing we can do about that!”
“I think I understand,” says Sam. “Can we give the tūī a proper funeral?”
“Of course,” Dad replies.
“Of course,” Dad replies.
Each leaf leaps off its branch and tumbles through the air, one by one until the tree is bare.
But there are already tiny, green sprouts forming on the tree’s branches, and next spring it will be covered in beautiful yellow once again.