Design Project: Enola Holmes Graphic Props & AR

The Enola Holmes Mystery series by Nancy Springer, and likewise the movie franchise, use a treasure trove of intricate clues and graphic design props to tell the story of Enola Holmes as she solves mystery after mystery. The idea behind this project is to use graphic props and AR animations to create a believable and authentic world in which Enola Holmes is solving mysteries using these props along the way.


The project includes nine graphic design props based on their descriptions from books and an AR animation, so they come to life when they are exhibited. The animations include decrypted messages, embroidery, a telegram message, a moving portrait and symbols, and writing.

the show reel

the graphic props

At the beginning of the Enola Holmes Mystery series, Enola's mother disappears from her home. Unsure what to do Enola sends a telegram to her brothers Mycroft and Sherlock Holmes about what has happened. The AR animation shows the message she sends to her brothers on top of a telegram form.

 
 

The Missing Marquess is the first mystery Enola Holmes solves when she runs away from home. She first reads of the case in the newspaper where she sees a full-body portrait of Tewksbury.

In the Enola Holmes Mysteries series, Enola poses as the secretary to the fictitious Dr Leslie T. Ragostin, a Scientific Perditorian, so that she can stay hidden from her brothers but still solve mysteries. During the books, she changes Dr Ragostin's calling card to use as her own, penning Mrs before his name as well as creating a new persona for herself Mrs John Jacobson. The AR animation shows these changes to Dr Ragostin's calling card.

In The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets, Dr John Watson is kidnapped and placed into the Colney Hatch Asylum under the name Mr Kippersalt. When Enola figures this out she sends a cryptic message to be placed in the newspaper for her brothers, Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes, to find and retrieve Watson. The AR animation shows the decrypted message Enola has sent to the newspaper.

 
 

In the Case of the Peculiar Pink Fan, Enola Holmes finds Lady Cecily in distress with this pink fan. When she is left with the pink fan, Enola looks closer to find that Lady Cecily has written an invisible (using lemon juice) coded (mason cipher) message on the paper. A little burning darkens the message so Enola is able to decode it. The AR animation shows the decrypted message.

Later in the story, Enola disguises herself as a lady news reporter to discover more about the origins of a pink fan that was a party favour during a trendy pink tea party. The AR animation shows the notes Enola makes as she is being recounted with the details of the party by a maid.

In The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline, Enola Holmes discovers an embroidered crinoline is actually a morse coded message from Florence Nightingale to Queen Victoria Regina. The AR animation reveals the decrypted message.

 

In the last novel, The Case of the Disappearing Duchess, a package is delivered to Ferndell Hall, Enola's home. Sherlock Holmes is first sent word of this package and discovers "crewed" charcoal symbols covering the entirety of the parcel. But on closer inspection, he sees the drawing of a Chrysanthemum and vines of ivy, which are the code names between his mother, Eudoria Vernet Holmes, and his sister Enola, and so must be from his mother to his sister. The AR animation shows the crewed symbols, which turns out to be made by Gypsies which their mother had run off with, since the beginning of the series.

 

Later in the story, the Duquesa del Campo is abducted in an underground train station. When Enola steps in to solve the case she finds the Duquesa's handkerchief with the embroidery picked out, in a second-hand store. The AR animation shows the embroidery of the Duquesa's handkerchief, red and gold to represent her Spanish heritage, using a backstitch method.

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