Exploring the Aesthetic Values and Components of Digital Graphic Novels: A Systematic Review
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32890/jcisc2022.1.3Keywords:
Aesthetic Values, Appealingness, Digital Graphic Novels, Graphic Narrative, Graphic NovelsAbstract
The digital graphic novel (DGN) is a comic book evolution that tells stories in a range of genres. Due to its benefits, DGN has gained a reputation over the years. This paper explores the theoretical parts of DGNs that make them valuable resources for research and infor-mation, identifies the benefits for designers, researchers, and DGN readers. Nonetheless, this study focuses on the aesthetic values and components in designing appealing DGNs. A systematic literature review has been performed on 128 sources. In general, findings from this review have classified five benefits of DGN that impact the educational areas; DGN can encourage learners to read, able to improve critical thinking, serve as a new dimension of learning, build visualliteracy, and able to give positive values in learning. This study sum-marizes the current literature and identified six aesthetic elements and fourteen components that affect the design of DGNs. This study presented a research outline with several oppor-tunities for researchers and practitioners to explore aesthetic values.
References
Abrams, R. J., Dorst’s, D., & Danielewski’s, M. Z. (2019). The Readable Experimental Novel. Journal of Creative Industry and Sustainable Culture (October) 2022, : 47-
Aggleton, J. (2019). Defining digital comics: a British Library perspective. Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, 10(4), 393-409.https://doi.org/10.1080/21504857.2018.1503189
Alexander, B. (2017). The New Digital Storytelling: Creating Narratives with New Media--Revised and Updated Edition. Abc-clio.
Ali, B., & Husseinudin, S. (2018). The Dynamic Tensions of The Postmodern Self: Fragmenting Identities in The Selected Short Stories of Karim Raslan and Dina Zaman (Doctoral dissertation, Universiti Sains Malaysia).
Alves, C., de Oliveira, J. A. P., & Jansen, S. (2017). Software Ecosystems Governance-A Systematic Literature Review and Research Agenda. In ICEIS (3) (pp. 215-226).
Arumugam, K., & Ali, R. M. (2019). Buku kanak-kanak: Analisis unsur Estetika. PENDETA: Journal of Malay Language, Education and Literature, 10, 151-165.
Barbre, J. O. (2019). Crafting a Critical Literacy Skillset: An Improved Use of Visual Modalities. International Journal of Education and Literacy Studies, 7(2), 139-143.
Basal, A., Aytan, T., & Demir, İ. (2016). Teaching Vocabulary with Graphic Novels. English Language Teaching, 9(9), 95-109.
Bateman, J. A., Veloso, F. O., Wildfeuer, J., Cheung, F. H., & Guo, N. S. (2017). An open multilevel classification scheme for the visual layout of comics and graphic novels: Motivation and design. Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, 32(3), 476-510.
Begoray, D., & Brown, A. (2018). Empowering Indigenous Learners through the Creation of Graphic Novels. Journal of Media Literacy Education, 10(3), 132-151.Bernard, M., & Carter, J. B. (2004). Alan Moore and the graphic novel: Confronting the fourthdimension. ImageTexT: Interdisciplinary Comics Studies, 1(2).
Bleier, A., Harmeling, C. M., & Palmatier, R. W. (2019). Creating effective online customer experiences. Journal of marketing, 83(2), 98-119.
Brenner, R. (2011). Comics and graphic novels. Handbook of research on children’s and young adult literature, 256-274.
Brugar, K. A., Roberts, K. L., Jiménez, L. M., & Meyer, C. K. (2018). More than mere motivation: Learning specific content through multimodal narratives. Literacy Research and Instruction, 57(2), 183-208.https://doi.org/10.1080/19388071.2017.1351586
Chute, H. L., & DeKoven, M. (2006). Introduction: graphic narrative. MFS Modern Fiction Studies, 52(4), 767-782.
Cohn, N. (2013). Visual narrative structure. Cognitive science. 37, 413-452. DOI: 10.1111/cogs.12016.
Cohn, N. (2014). The architecture of visual narrative comprehension: Journal of Creative Industry and Sustainable Culture (October) 2022, : 47-the interaction of narrative structure and page layout in understanding comics. Frontiers of psychology. Vol 5, July. 1-9. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00680.
Cohn, N. (2019). Being explicit about the implicit: inference generating techniques in visual narrative. Language and Cognition, 11(1), 66-97. https://doi.org/10.1017/langcog.2019.6
Connors, S. P. (2010). Multimodal reading: A case study of high school students in an after-school graphic novel reading group (Doctoral dissertation, The Ohio State University).
Cook, M. P., & Kirchoff, J. S. (2017). Teaching multimodal literacy through reading and writing graphic novels. Language and literacy, 19(4), 76-95.https://doi.org/10.20360/G2P38R
Cooney, D. (2011). Writing and Illustrating the Graphic Novel. Barrons.
Crucifix, B., & Dozo, B. O. (2018). E-Graphic Novels. The Cambridge History of the Graphic Novel, 574-590.https://doi.org/10.32890/jcisc2022.1.3
Downey, E. M. (2009). Graphic novels in curriculum and instruction collections. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 181-188.
Dunst, A., Hartel, R., & Laubrock, J. (2017, November). The graphic narrative corpus (GNC): design, annotation, and analysis for the digital humanities. In 2017 14th IAPR International Conference on Document Analysis and Recognition (ICDAR) (Vol. 3, pp. 15-20). IEEE.
Eisner, E. W. (2002). What can education learn from the arts about the practice of education?. Journal of curriculum and supervision, 18(1), 4-16.
Eisner, W. (1985). Comics and sequential art. Paramus, NJ: Poorhouse Press.
Eisner, W. (1996). Graphic storytelling and visual narrative. Paramus, NJ: Poorhouse Press
El Refaie, E. (2019). Visual metaphor and embodiment in graphic illness narratives. Oxford University Press, USA.
Endarini, E. R. (2018, November). Visual Analysis of the Comic Genre on Digital Comic. In International Conference on Business, Economic, Social Science and Humanities (ICOBEST 2018). Atlantis Press.
Felsenthal, M. (2019). Student engagement within the use of graphic novels.
Fenty, N. S., & Brydon, M. (2020). Using Graphic Novels to Engage Students With Learning Disabilities During Fluency Instruction. Intervention in School and Clinic, 55(5), 278-285.https://doi.org/10.1177/1053451219881749
Findley, M. G., Jensen, N. M., Malesky, E. J., & Pepinsky, T. B. Journal of Creative Industry and Sustainable Culture (October) 2022, : 47- (2016). Can results-free review reduce publication bias? The results and implications of a pilot study. Comparative Political Studies, 49(13), 1667-1703.https://doi.org/10.1177/0010414016655539
Fischer, D., Stanszus, L., Geiger, S., Grossman, P., & Schrader, U. (2017). Mindfulness and sustainable consumption: A systematic literature review of research approaches and findings. Journal of Cleaner Production, 162, 544-558.
Forsey, J. (2017). Aesthetic experience, aesthetic value. Estetika: The Central European Journal of Aesthetics, 54(2), 175-188.
Friesen, J., Van Stan, J. T., & Elleuche, S. (2018). Communicating science through comics: a method. Publications, 6(3), 38.https://doi.org/10.3390/publications6030038
Gardner, H. (2006). The development and education of the mind: The selected works of Howard Gardner. Routledge.
Goffin, K. (2019). The affective experience of aesthetic properties. Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, 100(1), 283-300. https://doi.org/10.1111/papq.12245Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
Golding, S., & Verrier, D. (2020). Teaching people to read comics: the impact of a visual literacy intervention on comprehension of educational comics. Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, 1-13.https://doi.org/10.1080/21504857.2020.1786419
Grimm, S., & Meeks, A. (2017). Break the stereotype! Critical visual literacy in art and design librarianship. Art Documentation: Journal of the Art Libraries Society of North America, 36(2), 173-190.https://doi.org/10.1086/694238
Hammond, H. K. (2009). Graphic novels and multimodal literacy: a reader response study.
Han, J., Forbes, H., & Schaefer, D. (2019, July). An Exploration of the Relations between Functionality, Aesthetics and Creativityin Design. In Proceedings of the Design Society: International Conferenceon Engineering Design (Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 259-268). Cambridge University Press.https://doi.org/10.1017/dsi.2019.29
Hargadon, E. E. (2019). Using Graphic Novels to Motivate Readers. The Reading Teacher, 72(4), 529-530.
Hasan, S. N. (2017). Comics and Graphic Novels: Counter Narratives to Cultural Products. A Journal of English Studies, 8, 69.https://doi.org/10.59817/cjes.v8i.124
Hefter, M. H., ten Hagen, I., Krense, C., Berthold, K., & Renkl, A. (2019). Effective and efficient acquisition of argumentation knowledge by self-explaining examples: Videos, texts, or graphic novels?. Journal of Educational Psychology, Journal of Creative Industry and Sustainable Culture (October) 2022, : 47-111(8),1396.https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000350
Hermann, A., Ferré, S., Ducassé, M. (2012). Guided Semantic Annotation of Comic Panels With Sewelis. In: EKAW, volume 7603 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science, pp. 430–433. Springer.
Hughes, J., & Morrison, L. (2014). The evolution of teaching with graphic novels. Jeunesse: Young People, Texts, Cultures, 6(2), 116-127.https://doi.org/10.3138/jeunesse.6.2.116
Jamaludin, Z. (2015). Digital graphic novels: Technology enhanced narrative for learning. Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Computing and Informatics, ICOCI 2015, Istanbul, Turkey. http://www.icoci.cms.net.my/ proceedings/2015/PDF/keynote_1.pdf
Jamaludin, Z. (2017, May). Modelling a digital graphic novel. In 2017 8th International Conference on Information Technology (ICIT) (pp. 344-350). IEEE.
Jiang, Z., Wang, W., Tan, B. C., & Yu, J. (2016). The determinants and impacts of aesthetics in users’ first interaction with websites. Journal of Management Information Systems, 33(1), 229-259.https://doi.org/10.1080/07421222.2016.1172443
Kane, B. M. (2013). Adapting the graphic novel format for undergraduate level textbooks (Doctoral dissertation, The Ohio State University).
Kelley, B. (2010). Sequential art, graphic novels, and comics. SANE journal: Sequential Art Narrative in Education, 1(1), 10.
Kirchoff, J. S., & Cook, M. (2015). Overviewing Software Applications for Graphic Novel Creation in the Post-Secondary and Secondary Classroom. SANE Journal: Sequential Art Narrative in Education, 2(1), n1.
Kitchenham, B. (2004). Procedures for performing systematic reviews. Keele, UK, Keele University, 33(2004), 1-26.
Kitchenham, B., & Charters, S. (2007). Guidelines for performing systematic literature reviews in software engineering.
Kucirkova, N., & Flewitt, R. (2020). The future-gazing potential of digital personalization in young children’s reading: views from education professionals and app designers. Early Child Development and Care, 190(2), 135-149.https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2018.1458718
Leong, A. C. H., Abidin, M. J. Z., & Saibon, J. (2019). Learners’perceptions of the Impact of Using Digital Storytelling on Vocabulary Learning. Teaching English with Technology, 19(4), 3-26.
Linnes, C., & Metcalf, B. (2017). iGeneration and their acceptance Journal of Creative Industry and Sustainable Culture (October) 2022, : 47-of technology. International Journal of Management & Information Systems (IJMIS), 21(2), 11-26.
Maloy, V. (2010). An Introduction to the Graphic Novel.
Maniace, E. M. (2014). Reading Process Comparison between Graphic Novel and Traditional Novels.
Manurung, S. R., & Mihardi, S. (2016). Improving the Conceptual Understanding in Kinematics Subject Matter with Hypertext Media Learning and Formal Thinking. Journal of Education and Practice, 7(9), 91-98.
Marianthi, V., Boulodakis, M., & Retalis, S. (2016). From digitised comic books to digital hypermedia comic books: their use in education. Piraeus: University of Piraeus, 1.
Marlatt, R., & Dallacqua, A. K. (2019). Loud and Clear: Using the Graphic Novel to Challenge the Status Quo in Content Area Literacy. Journal of Language and Literacy Education, 15(1), n1.
McClanahan, B. J., & Nottingham, M. (2019). A suite of strategies for navigating graphic novels: A dual coding approach. The Reading Teacher, 73(1), 39-50. https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.1797Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
Moore, A. B., Nowostawski, M., Frantz, C., & Hulbe, C. (2018). Comic strip narratives in Time geography. ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information, 7(7), 245. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi7070245
Moorefield-Lang, H., & Gavigan, K. (2012). The new world of digital graphic novels.
Neuman, S. B., Wong, K. M., Flynn, R., & Kaefer, T. (2019). Learning vocabulary from educational media: The role of pedagogical supports for low-income preschoolers. Journal of Educational Psychology, 111(1), 32.https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000278
Newman, M., & Ogle, D. (2019). Visual Literacy: Reading, Thinking, and Communicating with Visuals. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Ortega, M. (2020). Engaging English Language Learners Through the Use of Graphic Novels.
Pagliaro, M. (2014). Is a picture worth a thousand words? Determining the criteria for graphic novels with literary merit. English Journal, 103(4), 31.https://doi.org/10.58680/ej201424642
Pantaleo, S. (2014). Reading images in graphic novels: Taking students to a’greater thinking level’. English in Australia, 49(1), 38.
Pantaleo, S. (2018). Elementary students’ meaning-making of graphic novels. Language and Education, 32(3), 242-256.https://doi.org/10.1080/09500782.2018.1434788 Journal of Creative Industry and Sustainable Culture (October) 2022, : 47-
Pascoe, R., & Wright, P. R. (2018). Representation, Authenticity and the Graphic Novel in Arts Education Inquiry: Transubstantiating Research. In Drama Research Methods: Provocations of Practice (pp. 147-159). Brill Sense.
Peng, Y. H., Hsi, M. W., Taele, P., Lin, T. Y., Lai, P. E., Hsu, L.,... & Chen, M. Y. (2018, April). Speechbubbles: enhancing captioning experiences for deaf and hard-of-hearing people in group conversations. In Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-10).
Pentury, H. J., Anggraeni, A. D., & Pratama, D. (2020). Improving Students’ 21st Century Skills Through Creative Writing as A Creative Media. DEIKSIS, 12(02), 164-178.
Poai, S. T. (2020). Teaching English Vocabulary Using Comic Strips. Sintuwu Maroso Journal of English Teaching, 4(1), 51-58.https://doi.org/10.71127/2829-9426.153
Ponsard, C., & Fries, V. (2008.). An Accessible Viewer for Digital Comic Books. Computers Helping People with Special Needs, 569–577.
Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the horizon. (9)5. Retrieved from www.marcprensky.com on 22 Mar, 2015.
Putri, A. (2019, July). Digital Graphic Novel as a Learning History Media in Digital Literacy Era. In 6th International Conference on Educational Research and Innovation (ICERI 2018). Atlantis Press.
Rajendra, T. R. (2018). Multimodality in Malaysian Schools: The Case for the Graphic Novel. MOJES: Malaysian Online Journal of Educational Sciences, [S.l.], v. 3, n. 2, p. 11-20. ISSN 2289-3024. https://mojes.um.edu.my/article/view/12691.
Razak, R. A. (2013). Pembelajaran Berasaskan Penghasilan Penceritaan Digital Multimedia Bagi Menganalisis Novel Bahasa Melayu. Jurnal Pendidikan Malaysia, 38(1), 53-64.
Rengur, Z., & Sugirin, S. (2019, July). The Effectiveness of using Comic Strips to Increase Students’ Reading Comprehension for the Eighth Grade Students of SMPN 1 Pundong. In 6th International Conference on Educational Research and Innovation (ICERI 2018). Atlantis Press.
Rigaud, C., & Burie, J. C. (2018). Computer vision applied to comic book images. In Empirical Comics Research (pp. 104-124). Routledge.https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315102542-7
Rigaud, C., Guérin, C., Karatzas, D. Burie, J-C. & Ogier, J-M. (2015). Knowledge-driven understanding of images in comic books, IJDAR, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. DOI 10.1007/ s10032-015-0243-1 Journal of Creative Industry and Sustainable Culture (October) 2022, : 47-
Rosenberg, B. (2018). A Case for the Inclusion of Graphic Novels in the Classroom.
Rosly, N. S., Rahim, N. A., & Halim, H. A. (2016). Interaksi Ujaran Kanak-kanak Menerusi Elemen Pendigitalan dalam Penceritaan. GEMA Online Journal of Language Studies, 16(1).https://doi.org/10.17576/gema-2016-1601-08
Sabbah, M., Masood, M., & Iranmanesh, M. (2013). Effects of graphic novels on reading comprehension in Malaysian year 5 students. Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, 4(1), 146-160.https://doi.org/10.1080/21504857.2013.794939
Segel, E., & Heer, J. (2010). Narrative visualization: Telling stories with data. IEEE transactions on visualization and computer graphics, 16(6), 1139-1148.https://doi.org/10.1109/TVCG.2010.179
Seifert, C., & Chattaraman, V. (2020). A picture is worth a thousand words! How visual storytelling transforms the aesthetic experience of novel designs. Journal of Product & Brand Management.https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBM-05-2019-2384
Serafini, F. (2017). Visual literacy. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education.https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/978019026409.013.2
Shipwright, S., Mallory, D., Atack, L., & Demacio, P. (2010). An online graphic novel: students’ experiences and research literacy gains. Journal of Online Learning and Teaching (JOLT).
Short, J. C., & Reeves, T. C. (2009). The graphic novel: A “cool” format for communicating to generation Y. Business Communication Quarterly, 72(4), 414-430.
Siette, J., Cassidy, M., & Priebe, S. (2017). Effectiveness of befriending interventions: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ open, 7(4).
Skwarzyński, J. (2019). Translating Images. Comic Books and Graphic Novels as Multimodal Texts in Translation. New Horizons in English Studies, 4(1), 102-117.
Smetana, L., Odelson, D., Burns, H., & Grisham, D. L. (2009). Using graphic novels in the high school classroom: Engagingdeaf students with a new genre. Journal of adolescent & adult literacy, 53(3), 228-240.
Smith,J. M., & Pole, K. (2018). What’s Going On in a Graphic Novel? The Reading Teacher.
Tibek, S. R. (2006). Seni Membentuk Nilai Murni. In Proceeding of Seminar Serantau Dakwah dan Kesenian Islam (pp. 1-6).
Tsai, S. (2017). Design of Intelligent Comic Make System for Journal of Creative Industry and Sustainable Culture (October) 2022, : 47-Educational Application Based on Comic Script Creation. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 14(3), 1023-1041.
Tseng, C. I., & Bateman, J. A. (2018). Cohesion in comics and graphic novels: An empirical comparative approach to transmedia adaptation in City of Glass. Adaptation, 11(2), 122-143.
Vakos, P. (2013). “Why the Blank Stare? Strategies for Visual Learners.” New York: Pearson Prentice Hall eTeach. Retrieved on March 20, 2013 from http://www.phschool.com/eteach/ social_studies/2003_05/essay.html
Van Spall, H. G., Toren, A., Kiss, A., & Fowler, R. A. (2007). Eligibility criteria of randomized controlled trials published in high-impact general medical journals: a systematic sampling review. Jama, 297(11), 1233-1240.
Wallace, M. (2017). Graphic Novels: A Brief History, Their Use in Business Education, and the Potential for Negotiation Pedagogy. Negotiation and Conflict Management Research, 10(4), 324-335.
Wong, K. M., & Neuman, S. B. (2019). Learning vocabulary on screen: A content analysis of pedagogical supports in educational media programs for dual-language learners. Bilingual Research Journal, 42(1), 54-72.
Wood, M. (2015). The effect of graphic novel supplements on reading comprehension and motivation in secondary students. University of Central Arkansas.
Yang, G. (2008). Graphic novels in the classroom. Language arts, 85(3), 185.
Zaibon, S. B., Azman, F. N., & Shiratuddin, N. (2019). Instrument for evaluating digital educational comic. International Journal of Advanced Computer Research, 9(44), 316-324.
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Journal of Creative Industry and Sustainable Culture

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
How to Cite
Research impact
Harvested 2026-09-08Counts differ between services because each indexes a different body of literature. None of them is the whole picture.


