Institute of Art Design + Technology
Dún Laoghaire

Kayde Middleton 

BA [Hons] Animation

Hi! I'm a mature student with experience in graphic design and coordinating creative group workshops. I am interested in a wide range of different creative media, and I’m happiest when creating and problem solving. Having just graduated with First Class Honours I am excited to join the animation industry, with specific interests in storyboarding, design, and stop motion.

Ellen McCullough and I ran the Animation Society 2019-2020, reawakening it's online presence and always striving to push new and fun events for our members.

Graduate Short film project

Tony, a pro skater, introduces his new skate shop “Clay” - name inspired by the old skate wheels (made of clay) from the 1960s. Tony gives an in-depth tutorial on how to put a skateboard together unfortunately making silly mistakes along the way.

Coming soon


Thesis

Designing Visual Tools for Playful Development

The influence of visual media has been a topic of study since the early 1960s, at a time when animation was becoming ever more synonymous with children’s visual story telling.
Defining child development theories of children aged 4 – 10-year-olds (the ‘intuitive’ age) gives insight and understanding to how fantasy narratives from literature and visual media are interpreted and utilised to advance their social development. Book related pretend play studies show the importance of repeated exposure and engagement in pretend play. Studies have shown that animated movies have promising short-term prosocial influences that encourage spontaneous helping behaviour.
Using the findings of recent studies into book related pretend play and the prosocial influences of animated films, the thesis extrapolates research outcomes to suggest a long-term positive influence on children’s development and prosocial habits.