Student Project Ask

For their final project during the Undergraduate Programme at Lasalle College of the Arts (Singapore), students were at liberty to choose their own topic and subject of interest. However, it should benefit a part of any community or society in a significant manner. Their major, in this case, Graphic Design, along with extensive research was to be used as a medium to portray and carry out the year-long project. 

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The Solution

After four-month research and exploration on possible topics, I chose to go ahead with ‘Designing Tools to Aid Learning for Autistic Children’. An autistic child is exposed to constant high stimuli, as a consequence of which, learning becomes a much harder process. Special tools designed for their growth tend to be expensive, leaving their parents helpless many a time.
 
Taking that as a statement of purpose, the project aimed to explore how sensory stimulation can aid in their learning and prove therapeutic. The solution was to be kept simple in order for the parents to try something similar at home and guide their child's learning themselves.

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After nine months of volunteering in an autistic school & researching thoroughly about the children there, 'SENSISM' came into being. It is an interactive playset providing a platform to break the ice between a child with autism and others around them. The playset is equipped to pacify their tactile and visual sense to make them feel relaxed and calm.

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Tactile Therapy

A series of interactive books making children more aware of fauna under the sea and in the park around them. Different materials like felt, fur, rubber sheet, sandpaper etc. were used to depict the animal's look and character, adding visual interest as well as something to pacify the child's sense of touch. A shadow play of the animals can also be seen when put against the light. The books were open to interpretation by children, allowing their creativity to nurture as they could build their own storylines.

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Visual Therapy

A set of patterns and shapes that soothe the visual sense of the children backed by a lot of background research and user testing. To fit them in the child’s space and make them more functional, they were added on stationery and made into colouring books.

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An illustrated book to spark awareness, firstly, for autistic children so that they can relate to it and secondly, for other children to develop empathy and understanding towards kids acting differently than them. The book shows the struggle and daily issues an autistic child goes through especially when he is not understood by others. It does not mention the term autism anywhere or displays it like a health problem. Though the main character is autistic in this book, he is like any other child with a distinct behaviour. The book uses a robot in order to represent that child.

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My Role and Responsibility

• Understand the sensory pain points of autistic children through volunteering with them & teaching them art

• Interviews with parents and students, along with the study of what is already out there

• Concept and idea explorations, along with low-fi prototypes for testing

• Material testing through interaction audit with children themselves

• Create and modifying visual identity for the project as well as the contents of the playset

• User testing each step of the way and every detail of the project

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Key Deliverables

Detailed Primary & Secondary Research / Visual Design Explorations / User testing / Material Selection / Series of Tactile Books / Series of Visual Patterns

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All material produced in a Design Communication Undergraduate Programme at Lasalle College of the Arts, Singapore.