Design Honors Thesis 2016
Jason Lin
Shifting the Public Perception of Disabilities via Children’s Books is the title of the research conducted by Jason Lin for his Undergraduate Honors Thesis in Design at the University of California, Davis
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6 PROLOGUE 8 Proposal 10 Initial research
14 CHAPTER 1 16 Idea 18 Defining the Need 20 Audience 22 Quantitative Research 24 Early Drafts 26 Qualitative Research 28 Revisions 32 Refined Drafts 34 Visual Research 38 First Deliverable 40 Second Deliverable
44 CHAPTER 2 46 Moving Forward 48 Quantitative Research 50 Third Deliverable 52 Presentation 54 Reorienting 56 Format + Budget 58 Kicking off 60 Fourth Deliverable 62 Audience Testing 66 Fifth Deliverable
68 EPILOGUE 70 Timeline 71 Next Steps
proOCTOBER 2015 – JANUARY 2016
PROLOGUE
Proposal Initial research
PROPOSAL
PROPOSED RESEARCH PROJECT
My project centers primarily around the field of special education. I intend to build empathy for those with disabilities and other mental health issues through design. To do so, I am proposing the following:
2. Design a message campaign that will house this project to help raise both funds and awareness for how this conversation can be started at an early age. I hope to begin a Kickstarter to distribute the books created in part 1.
1. Redesign the DSM-5 (specifically portions on developmental disabilities) into a fun and engaging children’s book. I would like to design a minimum of 2 books. The disabilities I have in mind are ones that are not easily explained such as Cerebral Palsy, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Fragile X.
Ideally, I would want the book printed and distributed across a local small town and elementary or middle school to test its effectiveness in helping children understand disabilities. If successful, I would like to scale the project up as far as possible.
PROPOSED RESEARCH QUESTION
How can I alter the perceptions of disabilities in society such that they are easily understood and accepted? 9
INITIAL RESEARCH
BACKGROUND
In 2014, I had the opportunity to assist UC Davis psychologist Tasha Oswald in her research at the Student Disability Center. I designed guides that were specifically for university students who had disabilities such as ADHD or were on the Autism Spectrum. In my advanced sculpture class, I explored braille as a typographic element and installed a large wall piece titled “My Last Supper� which used braille as a method of encoding pictures and language. It sought to prove that disabilities were simply a separate experience rather than an inherent limitation.
In 2015, I designed a jacket with professor of design, Helen Koo, that assisted in the fastening of garments for those with movement disorders. Having had these experiences designing for individuals who were disabled, I decided to pursue an honors thesis that continued to address this topic.
Pictured above: iStudiez Pro app guide for students. Pictured right: The Enfold jacket
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INITIAL RESEARCH
INTERVIEWS AND OBSERVATION
I was fortunate enough to be able to talk to Mike May, a resident of Davis, California who is an esteemed member of the blind community. I talked to him about what a person with vision impairments needs help with in the world and how they learn. He showed me tactile picture books, braille maps, and talked to me about the issue of videos lacking good audio descriptions. Summer of 2015, I studied abroad in New Zealand, and volunteered at the Kimi Ora School for Special Education.
Because this was a dedicated special education school, the disabilities were quite severe: many of the students could not talk at all. Yet every day, I saw the students smile and slowly understood the work of the teachers. This sense of warmth and acceptance is the main source of inspiration for this message campaign and book project. I wanted to share these stories and experiences I have collected at this school in some manner that would help everyone understand what the children are able to do rather than focus on what they cannot.
Pictured above: Mike May Pictured right: The Kimi Ora School for Special Needs
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chapter JANUARY 2016 – MARCH 2016
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CHAPTER 1
Idea Defining the Need Audience Quantitative Research Early Drafts Qualitative Research Revisions Refined Drafts Visual Research First Deliverable Second Deliverable
IDEA
PLANNING A 10 WEEK PROJECT
In my initial project proposal, I had two main goals: Redesign the DSM-5 into a series of children’s books and to launch a message campaign to house the project that would spread awareness and promote my subsequent designs. Due to time constraints, I decided to solely pursue the children’s books. I mapped this project across 10 weeks (a school quarter), so that by the end of my two remaining quarters, I would have completed the two requisite books that I had proposed. The first disability that I decided to proceed with was Autism Spectrum Disorder due to its “inivisble” nature and many complexities.
Printing/Binding Refined Layout Target Audience Testing Rough Layout Refined Illustrations
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Schedule Elementary Meeting Rough Illustrations Visual Research (Avid Reader) Writing Refined Target Feedback Writing Draft Interviews Writing Professor Consultation Research-based story draft Research
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
Week 10
UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH CONFERENCE ABSTRACT DUE
My initial tentative timeline from research to finished print and bound book across the course of 10 weeks.
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DEFINING THE NEED
WHY IS THIS NECESSARY
Differently abled people are a minority in today’s society who are often disadvantaged in almost every aspect of everyday life. This is often due to prejudice and poorly designed systems. Often times, there is no willful harm, yet everyday, differently abled individuals experience discrimination in indirect and subtle forms due to a subconscious bias that differently abled people are “lesser.” This bias is often introduced at an incredibly early age in a form that is often manifested as confusion, fear, and discomfort. When children see their peers acting out of the norm or having to operate in wheelchairs, this unfamiliarity often breeds pity, avoidance, or mockery.
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) especially is an “invisible” disability which is often expressed as what one might describe as “peculiar” behavior. While children are often taught about physical disabilities, such as the need for wheelchairs and crutches, it is much harder to discuss mental disabilities and why certain people act in a certain way. A study by the Interactive Autism Network found that children with ASD are bullied at a very high rate and often times intentionally “triggered” by their own peers. The study which surveyed over 1000 children with ASD found that 64% of these children were bullied at some point in their lives.
Sources: http://www.tolerance.org/article/disability-awareness-were-it-together https://www.autismspeaks.org/family-services/bullying
Sources: http://www.iancommunity.org/cs/ian_research_reports/ian_research_report_bullying
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AUDIENCE
WHO IS THIS PROJECT SERVING The audience that I intend to write for are not those who are on the Autism Spectrum. The primary purpose of this project is not necessarily to empower those with disabilities or to console those whoare being bullied (although this may be a secondary effect.) This book is writen for the typical children from the ages of 6–10 in elementary school. These are the children who are still developing and learning a lot about the world at once. These are the children who are very impressionable. These are the children who may not necessarily be the ones doing the bullying, but are starting to question and step away from those who act in strange ways within their classroom.
My secondary audience consists of parents and teachers who belive that books such as mine would be incredibly valuable tools. These teachers are open and accepting individuals in first to fourth grade elementary school classrooms. They value compassion, empathy and understanding within their student’s behaviors and actively teach these qualities in their lessons.
Especially with younger audiences— things [students] read tend to have a lot more influence on them. – ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENT 21
QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
DSM-5
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is a book that classifies all mental disorders and is recognized by mental health professionals for use in the United States. The book contains diagnostic criteria and is a necessary tool to collect accurate and consistent information and statistics about psychiatric disorders. Many health professionals use the criteria in the DSM-5 to diagnose Autism Spectrum Disorder, so I believed that this would offer the strongest launching point for my project in terms of a scientific consensus as to what the behaviors of Autism Spectrum Disorder look like.
The five main points in diagnosing Autism Spectrum Disorder are: 1. Deficits in social communication and social interaction. 2. Restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior 3. Symptoms must be present in the early developmental period 4. Symptoms cause a significant impairment in school, occupational, or other important areas of current functioning. 5. These disturbances are not better explained by an intellectual disability or global developmental delay.
Sources: https://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism/diagnosis/dsm-5-diagnostic-criteria
Above: The DSM-5 Image from: https://autismsocietyofnc.wordpress.com/2014/01/16/dsm-5-and-its-impact-onautism-spectrum-disorder/
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EARLY DRAFTS
STORY DRAFT 1
Strictly using the information that I gathered from the DSM-5, I wrote an early draft of the book. This early draft would consist of a very straightforward presentation of all of the hard scientific facts that I wanted to present to children. I initially chose the names Austin and Fred (quite literally based off of the words “autism” and “friend”) for the main characters. The story was approximately 30 lines long.
The first rough draft of This is the story of my friend named David
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QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
JOSEPH SPECTOR
Joseph Spector is a psychologist and disability specialist at the University of California, Davis Student Disability Center. As a professional psychologist and researcher, I wanted to gain his perspective on my work. Joseph first reminded me that I was not the first to approach this type of idea. There are many children’s books already available that address the experiences of those on the autism spectrum. How would mine be different or more effective than current precedents?
I asked him if he felt there was a certain aspect of autism that he believed was not being talked about enough and he explained to me the phenomenon of “avoidance behavior” in which children on the autism spectrum have a bad habit of avoiding responsibilities regardless of how simple or necessary the task may be. The behavior applies to meeting counselors, taking medication, or going to the doctors.
Joseph Spector Image from: https://sdc.ucdavis.edu/about.html
Even if it is as easy as showing up to a meeting, they have a bad habit of avoiding responsibility 27
REVISIONS
KATIE AROSTEGUY
Katie Arosteguy is a lecturer in the University Writing Program at the University of California, Davis. She teaches courses in Advanced Composition, Sceience Writing, Technical Writing, and Elementary and Secondary Education writing. I asked her to review the writing of my story. Katie was the first to admit that she was not the most well-versed in children’s literature, but still offered helpful general writing advice. A lot of her advice centered around using writing to show something rather than telling it. Whereas books like the DSM-5 have to be very technical and straightforward, my children’s books should be more fun and engaging in order to best present the information to my desired audience. Katie Arosteguy Image from: writing.ucdavis.edu
Show, don’t tell. It’s a lot more interesting to let the reader form the pictures in their own head 29
REVISIONS
JANAY BROWN-WOOD
JaNay Brown-Wood is a published children’s book author. She has a B.A. in Psychology and Applied Developmental Psychology and an M.A. in Child Development. Her first book, Imani’s Moon, was the winner of the NAESP Children’s Book of the Year Award. I got the opportunity to talk to her in person and revise my current story draft. JaNay’s advice was very insightful. She too spoke of the “show, not tell” principle and helped give more concrete examples through the use of dialogue and illustration. She helped me determine how I might define my characters and who I really wanted the main character of the story to be. She also provided insight into the businiess of publishing as well. Source: http://www.janaybrownwood.com/about-me.html
JaNay Brown-Wood
Dialogue is a powerful way to move the story forward without having to just tell the reader what’s happening 31
REFINED DRAFTS
STORY DRAFT 2
From the feedback that I recieved from each of the people that I talked to, I made the following adjustments: 1. I introduced avoidance behavior as one of the symptoms and behaviors of the character with autism 2. I decided that the main character of the story would be the reader. The first person perspective is forced upon the friend of the child with autism forcing the reader to explicitly say statements such as “I help my friend when...� 3. I was less explicit in my descriptions of behavior and decided to allow my illustrations and background dialogue to inform the reader instead.
A refined draft of This is the story of my friend named David
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VISUAL RESEARCH
AVID READER
I visited the Avid Reader: a bookstore in Davis, California that sells numerous popular children’s books. I wanted to see which styles of illustration were popular, how illustrators depicted the flow of their stories, and how designers used their type in creative ways to drive the story as well.
The Day the Crayons Quit
Bike on, Bear!
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VISUAL RESEARCH
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FIRST DELIVERABLE
LINMARKER.OTF
In an effort to personalize the book series and create a more friendly and handwritten appeal to the book, I designed a new typeface using my own handwriting and a large marker. I scanned each letter I wrote and traced them in Adobe Illustrator before inputting them into an online font generating system.
A B C D E F G HIJKLMNO PQRSTUVW X Y Z a b c d e fghijklmno p q r s t u v w x y z 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 ! ? . , / LinMarker.otf
G
e o x
Jackdaws love my big sphinx of quartz The five boxing wizards jump quickly How vexingly quick daft zebras jump Bright vixens jump; dozy fowl quack asEmquiate venda nobis dolendae volorepro illendition etusciu sciae. Andit eatur? Si cum sequi aut peratis quam, ad maximint officaepe magnis modio mintum qui dit esequam lat verio. Ique adipsum faceper ioreperae voluptas et est, quid ma nust, sinus mil maximag nihiciusam landis molo molut reperunt vendebi taquasp ientium aut es qui odition emquam faccabo. Nam fuga. Obis aut eum saped quibusant aboruntibus moles repudit volute enis ea di iuri natiam volutas ea sintem aut odicilibus
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SECOND DELIVERABLE
THIS IS THE STORY OF MY FRIEND NAMED DAVID I completed writing and illustrating the first issue of my book series titled This is the story of my friend named David. The name David was chosen because it means “beloved” or “friend.” The name of the friend was removed and instead placed in the first person point of view to allow the reader to place themselves within that role.
This is the story of my friend named David book mock-up
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SECOND DELIVERABLE
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chapter MARCH 2016 – JUNE 2016
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CHAPTER 2
Moving Forward Quantitative Research Third Deliverable Presentation Reorienting Format + Budget Kicking off Fourth Deliverable Audience Testing Fifth Deliverable
MOVING FORWARD
PLANNING THE NEXT 10 WEEKS
With my first book complete, I realized the amount of time and effort that went into writing and illustrating even a single book. But now that I had solidified a visual style, it would be much easier to continue. I decided that the next 10 weeks would be devoted to writing another book. Choosing my next topic was not easy. I had experience working with children on the Autism Spectrum and it is a widely researched and popular topic in the psychology community. It would be difficult to find a disorder that would offer the same amount of resources and connections to me.
I decided to approach the opposite end of the age spectrum and address dementia and alzheimer’s disease. This is an incredibly common disorder and I had no doubt that it probably affected the grandparents of many children around the world.
A new tentative timeline
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QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
DSM-5
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) was once again my “go-to� resource to research this disorder. I had a lot more information to sort through as I was much less versed in dementia and alzheimer’s than I was at developmental disabilities.
The main points in diagnosing Neuro Cognitive Disorder s (dementia) are: 1. Significant cognitive decline from a previous level of performance in one or more cognitive domains. 2. Cognitive deficits that interfere with independence in everyday activities. 3. These cognitive deficits do not occur exclusively in the context of a delirium 4. The cognitive deficits are not better explained by another mental disorder such as major depressive disorder or schizophrenia
Above: The DSM-5
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THIRD DELIVERABLE
DAVID + FRIEND POSTER DESIGN
The University of California, Davis holds an undergraduate research conference every year. I submitted my abstract for this project and it was accepted. I knew that this research conference was going to be a very important opporunity to be able to talk to a wider audience about my topic, so I had to design large appealing posters that would draw the attention of the attendees of this research conference.
Each poster was 2’ x 3’ and their compositions represented the sheer complexity of the information that I was attempting to deal with in my research. There was an enormous amount of information that I had to filter through, condense, and present to an audience of elementary school aged children.
Posters designed for the Undergraduate Research Conference
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PRESENTATION
UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH CONFERENCE My research at this conference was recieved in an incredibly positive manner and it made me happy to see the support and love that the book received. Someone helped assist in starting an email list for me for everyone that was interested in buying the book. I additionally, left a sheet of paper open for anyone who had experiences with dementia and alzheimer’s so that I could interview them in the future for some more qualitative research.
Myself at the Undergraduate Research Conference
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REORIENTING
CHANGE OF PLANS
My survey and open call to people who had experiences with dementia failed. Despite its prevelance, there were simply not many people who could speak on their experiences with the disorder in the family. I also had to consider the fact that there appeared to be a mismatch between my target audience and the disorder itself. While many children may grow up with grandparents who have dementia, it often does not have as significant an impact as one might think. The weight of the stress is often placed on the caretakers and with my book being designed for children, it seemed that this topic was no longer appropriate.
The most popular question that I received whilst at the undergraduate research conference was “is the book published?” or “can I buy the book?” Many people visiting my area were interested in even donating to kickstarter or crowdfunding campaign of some sort to help get the book published. I decided then that the next portion of my honors project should be instead dedicated to marketing and publishing my first book.
Two visitors at the Undergraduate Research Conference stop by to read my book
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FORMAT + BUDGET
HOW DO I GET PUBLISHED?
Large publishing houses such as Penguin Random House or Harper Collins did not accept any unsolicited manuscripts. Smaller publishing houses such as Chronicle Books in San Francisco did recieve manuscripts, but took several months to process them. For the sake of immediacy, I knew I had to pursue an option in which I could have much more control over the level of production. I began researching self-publishing sites and deliberated between two services: CreateSpace (Amazon) and Ingram Spark. Each of these services is a print-on-demand service meaning that I did not have to pay upfront in order to use their service. Instead, each book would be printed as they were ordered. I opted for Ingram Spark due to its
wider network (my story was inspired by my experiences abroad, so I wanted this book to be available at a cheaper price internationally.) Unfortunately, IngramSpark did not offer a trim size of my current book size. I would have to reformat my entire book into a square. In exchange for this service, I would have to pay a $50 set-up fee and buy an ISBN number. ISBN’s can be purchased at 1 for $125 or 100 for $575. This $575 bundle is obviously the better deal and would allow me to publish more books in the future. I needed a method of raising the funds to pay for this.
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KICKING OFF
I NEED MONEY
After sorting out a formatting and budgeting plan for my book, it was obvious that I now needed to determine which crowdsourcing platform that I wanted to use. There were many options with some specifically built for the publishing of books. Ultimately, I decided to choose Kickstarter. Kickstarter is a widely known crowdsourcing website. This popularity allows the reach of my project to be extended much further than if I had used a lesser known service. Additionally, Kickstarter is known for specifically supporting creative projects where as other crowdfunding sites such as IndieGoGo appear to be built more for personal requests like family trips.
Lastly, I knew I wanted to use Kickstarter because of their “All-orNothing� policy. That is, the funds raised in this crowdsourcing campaign are only provided to me should we reach a certain goal. While there is a risk of obtaining no funds at all, this same risk provides a sense of urgency that promotes sharing the project to get it fully funded. Using a kickstarter would also help provide a strict timeline for myself so I would know when it would be appropriate to move forward or to end the project.
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FOURTH DELIVERABLE
DAVID’S KICKSTARTER
Over the course of the next few weeks, I built the kickstarter page for This is the story of my friend named David. This included setting the goal amount, creating unique prizes, and presenting my case in a series of words and illustrations that could be easily understood by anyone who stumbled upon the project. I set the goal amount at a very modest $1500 (low by Kickstarter standards.) However, this would be more than enough to buy the $50 publishing set-up fee, and the $575 ISBN bundle as well as ship the additional prizes during the entire campaign.
Kickstarter Preview Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1825136375/849750206?token=e2238aa9
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AUDIENCE TESTING
KOREMATSU ELEMENTARY
I felt that I could not truly present my research to the general public until I had tested and read my book with actual children in elementary schools. Thanks to the assistance of my professor, Glenda Drew, I was able to host a reading at Korematsu Elementary School in Davis, California. The class was a group of 6th graders. I discovered that that 6th graders were well beyond my target audience age. The students were very smart and eloquent and were able to speak intelligently about my topic. That is not to say that the book was not a powerful tool for this audience as it still provoked an insightful and meaningful conversation. Student at Korematsu Elementary School
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AUDIENCE TESTING
PIONEER ELEMENTARY
Thanks to a parent, Alicia Matson, I was able to schedule a reading at Pioneer Elementary School in Davis, California. The classes in attendance were two groups of first grade classes. This group of children definitely felt more like my intended audience. The book was still enjoyed by all, and offered a strong “stepping off” point for the teachers to begin discussion about more serious topics.
However, this group of children may still be a bit younger than my idea audience as the questions and conversations started becoming more superficial near the end of the session. (e.g. “How did you color it?” “When did you start writing stories?”) However, I believe the small moments in which the students did begin talking about friendship and inclusion were incredibly valuable
Myself, answering questions at Pioneer Elementary School
A teacher conducting a reading at Pioneer Elementary School
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FIFTH DELIVERABLE
VIDEO
No kickstarter campaign is complete without a video. While words and pictures are meaningful, it is hard to draw in an audience without an immersive, interactive, time-based story. Videos offer a way to draw and hold the attention of viewers and present information in a manner that you can control. Additionally, they’re incredibly easy to share. It is easy to scroll away from a page, but once someone have started watching a video, viewers are often invested enough to see it through. Using a compilation of video clips and illustrations, I created a video using Adobe After Effects to tell the entire story behind this project.
The video can be watched here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8vwRqnTPPs
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epiJUNE 2016 – ????? 20XX
EPILOGUE
Timeline Next Steps
TIMELINE
PLANNING THE NEXT ? WEEKS
The advantage of launching a kickstarter campaign was that it helped establish a timeline for my project beyond the original proposed 20 week project timeline. Should the project get funded, I will have to reformat my book into a square format, purchase the self-publishing deal, the bundle of ISBN’s, and begin shipping immediately to all of my project’s backers.
This extended timeline can range anywhere from Summer of 2016 to the next Summer of 2017 should someone request an additional book to be written (one of the prizes in the kickstarter campaign.)
NEXT STEPS
WHAT NOW?
This project originally started as a vision that saw a series of books detailing every disorder in the DSM-5 as well as a message campaign to help promote these books. Now after 20+ weeks of work, I have completed a single book and launched a crowdfunding campaign to get this book published.
Should this campaign be successful, I may find the drive and inspiration to continue with my book series. However as it stands, I find myself content with the progress and amount of work I have completed. After months of research, I have become interested in more concrete ways of assisting the differently abled through different tools, systems, and interfaces. While I do still have a passion for children’s books, I look forward to approching this problem from new perspectives and formats with different projects in the future.
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SPECIAL THANKS
Mom & Dad Katie Arosteguy Elise Brewin JaNay Brown-Wood Glenda Drew Joshua Hori Helen Koo Alan Lin Alicia Matson Mike May Peter Mundy Tasha Oswald Joseph Spector UC Davis Department of Design Korematsu Elementary School Pioneer Elementary School Kimi Ora School for Special Needs
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