NANDINI BHOTIKA BACHELOR OF DESIGN | 2016 NO LOGO BRANDING | PANDRANG ROW
FOREWORD “Design is in everything we make, but it’s also between those things. It’s a mix of craft, science, storytelling, propaganda, and philosophy.” Erik Adigard My understanding of design has grown and evolved several times in the past four years. It started from thinking about design as aesthetics to understanding that good design works well in both visual and functional senses and is transparent. Design is multi-disciplinary. As as design student, I have thoroughly enjoyed experimenting with different mediums, as well as disciplines, though my focus has always been on visual communication. Taking up No Logo Branding course as my final graduation project seemed appropriate because I felt that through this project I had the opportunity of not just learning about branding, but also contributing in creating an inclusive environment for people with dyslexia, specially children. To achieve this, it was extremely important to reach people around them (parents, teachers, peers, society), and help these people see the hidden potential that a person with dyslexia has. I have worked on redesigning a diagnosis tool kit to help in early diagnosis. The tool kit has two major segments, screening tool for teachers and language assessment battery for psychologists.
CONTENT COURSE ABSTRACT RESEARCH
1 2 - 18
Dyslexia Research Questions Secondary Research Primary Research Insights
3 5 7 15 17
BRAND STRATEGY
21
INITIAL PROPOSAL
25 - 32
Intent Early Diagnosis Intervention Review 1
IDEATION Diagnosis tools in India Dr Singh - DALI Target Audience User Personas Swot Analysis Intent And Intervention Hide and Seek Tone of voice Content Structure Visual Language Review 2
27 29 31 32
33 - 56 35 36 37 38 40 41 42 43 44 45 56
EXECUTION Intent and Intervention Process DALI Logo Typography Colour Palette Patterns
JUNIOR SCREENING TOOL About Icons Handbook Test Form Package Feedback
LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT BATTERY About Decoding iLAB Manual Components Alphapet Making of Alphapets Package Testing Feedback
57 - 70 59 63 64 67 68 69
71 - 84 73 74 75 77 79 84
85 - 117 87 88 89 95 96 107 113 114
REFLECTION
119
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
120
BIBLIOGRAPHY
121
8
COURSE ABSTRACT Typically, the first thing we do when confronted by a branding project is to think of a physical representation if a brand - its typography, its colours, its logo and of course, the brand book. However, a brand is far more than this. The new reality is that a brand is more than just a commercial undertaking. It is a way of behaving, a way of being. This project will question the theories and practices of branding. Students will be encouraged to research and study the principles of branding and strategic thinking and then build on this understanding and knowledge to define new strategies and processes to impact consumers through social and cultural spaces, products, digital media and other, different sorts of services. There is a certain odium associated with learning disabilities. Although they are not necessarily associated with retardation, in the public mind, they are a disability. As a result many people with dyslexia suffer from depression, inferiority complex and other issues. Again, there is an anomaly. Many people with dyslexia have turned their disadvantage into a strength and made a huge success of themselves - by an standard. Can we re-brand dyslexia and change both people’s image of it and the image of a diagnosed person with dyslexia? 1
1
RESEARCH
2
DYSLEXIA Dyslexia is a neurological condition which results in a difficulty with language and sequencing at various levels, and is often seen as a disease. It can more appropriately be described as a condition that reflects a different kind of mind, mostly gifted and productive, a mind that learns differently to other children in the pool. Unfortunately, dyslexia goes undetected in the formative years of schooling and the children with dyslexia are usually labelled a s stupid, dumb or lazy. This results in frustration and low self-esteem. It is important to note that any condition becomes a disability only when there are barriers, which get created for people because of lack of clarity or understanding which others usually have of the situation. Instead of committing the deep rooted tendency of Fundamental Attribution Error by looking down upon, alienating/ mocking someone, it is important to question our own idea of “normal� or acceptable. What is valued by us? 3 | RESEARCH
35 million school going children in India probably have dyslexia. - Dr Harsh Vardhan
I strongly believe that we should embrace the difference rather than trying to correct it. Einstein said,
“If you judge a fish for its ability to climb a tree, you are forever going to feel frustrated. And that fish is always going to feel stupid.�
Dyslexia is a hidden difficulty as people with dyslexia are otherwise intelligent and usually excel by adopting alternative learning methods of processing information. So it is hard to recognize them. Sadly, our education system focuses on evaluating us on our linguistic skills and being a brilliant dancer or an artist may not help in most schools. Even this would not have been a problem if people with dyslexia got the support they needed to decode complex symbols which form any language. To get support, the teachers or parents need to know if there is someone who needs that extra help. Hence, early diagnosis is extremely important to support and empower children with dyslexia from the very beginning, so that they are not treated wrongly for something they do not have control on.
4 | RESEARCH
RESEARCH QUESTIONS These are some of the questions with which I started my research: • What is dyslexia? • What is thought of dyslexia by A special education teacher, A person with dyslexia (self- image), Parents of people with dyslexia and Other people in general (colleagues, peers, neighbours etc.)? • Usually are teachers able to recognize children who might have dyslexia? • What are the major concerns of teachers who have children with dyslexia in their class? How should teachers try and reach out to those children? • How do children usually respond to getting special attention? Do they prefer being treated with special care or are they hesitant? What would be better? • Should there be special schools or separate classes for people with dyslexia?
5 | RESEARCH
• What are the early signs of dyslexia in children? What is the earliest age in which it can be diagnosed? • How do parents respond to their children being diagnosed with dyslexia? • How do people feel when the dyslexia diagnosis turns out to be positive? • When is the right time for diagnosis of dyslexia? Is early diagnosis favourable?
6 | RESEARCH
SECONDARY RESEARCH My secondary research comprises of articles, TEDtalks, blogs, short films and books. This section includes some of the readings or talks that have influenced my project and what I got from them. For a detailed list of articles, please check the bibliography. 1. Switch by Chip and Dan Heath 2. David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell
1. How we suppress genius and create learning disability by Scot Sonnon 2. The true gifts of dyslexic mind – Dean Bragonier 3. Overcoming Dyslexia, Finding Passion by Piper Otterbein 4. A Second Opinion on Developmental Disorders by Aditi Shankardas 5. Stop Climbing, Start Swimming : The hidden advantages of dyslexia by Jonathan Buchanan 1. HBO Documentary: Rethinking Dyslexia 2. Dyslexia – Short Film 3. The Gift of Dyslexia (Professor John Stein) 7 | RESEARCH
DAVID AND GOLIATH: UNDERDOGS, MISFITS AND THE ART OF BATTLING GIANTS
Usual diagnosis – 8/9 years (struggling for 3 years already) Result – Frustration, Low self-esteem, Depression Reason – Labelling by peers (stupid, dumb), parents (plain lazy), teachers (not working hard enough). A desirable difficulty : What is learned out of necessity is inevitably more powerful than the learning that comes easily. Capitalization learning – Playing on your naturally given strengths Playwright George Bernard, “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” 8 | RESEARCH
HBO DOCUMENTARY: RETHINKING DYSLEXIA
Dylan’s story : Refused diagnosis until third grade Expectations : Too much? Too less? Not a disease, but a condition which can be improved by devising alternative techniques. Skye’s story : Diagnosed, supportive parents but the school refuses. Support: Too much? Too little? Special Schools or no? Subjective “Dyslexia is an island of weakness, surrounded by an ocean of strengths.” The further along you get, it becomes easier. The younger you are, the more difficult it is. 9 | RESEARCH
TRUE GIFTS OF DYSLEXIC MIND BY DEAN BRAGONIER
Mainly columns (antennas) placed far off providing significant cognitive advantage - blend seemingly desperate pieces of information into a narrative Language is an inevitable part of being considered literate, failing which leads to shame. Negativity around you affects you deeply. 50% of Nasa scientists have dyslexia. Capitalization Learning – Empowering children through their strengths.
10 | RESEARCH
DYSLEXIA - SHORT FILM
The non-supportive schooling system creates unnecessary pressure on the kid amplifying the problem. More difficult for the underprivileged. Everyday challenges – Lost on the way back from school.
HOW WE SUPPRESS GENIUS AND CREATE LEARNING DISABILITY BY SCOT SONNON
71 learning styles – only one is verbal linguistic. Mental as well as physical violence disables learning. DYS (difficult) with LEXIA(language). 11 | RESEARCH
A SECOND OPINION ON DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS BY ADITI SHANKARDAS
1 out of 6 children have developmental disorders. Misdiagnosis : 50% of children diagnosed with autism, actually have brain seizures. One more puzzle in one more brain will be unlocked.
OVERCOMING DYSLEXIA, FINDING PASSION BY PIPER OTTERBEIN
Hated special Classrooms – Desperately wanted to be in a “normal” classroom 5 times more effort with language than others (phonetic decoding) Spell-check is confusing, not helpful. 12 | RESEARCH
SWITCH - HOW TO CHANGE THINGS WHEN CHANGE IS HARD BY CHIP AND DAN HEATH
Reading Switch by Chip and Dan Heath has helped me understand how change is a process which requires the Rider, Elephant and the Path to be aligned in support of the switch. These are some of the parts of the book which really helped me understand how to bring about change: • • • •
What looks like a people problem is often a situation problem. If you want people to change, you must provide one crystal clear direction. Knowledge doesn’t change behaviour. Until you ladder your way down from a change idea to a specific behaviour, you’re not ready to lead a switch. • When the time comes to change the behaviour of other people, our first instinct is to teach them something. (Speaking to the rider, not the elephant.) 13 | RESEARCH
• Make the change small enough that they can’t help but score a victory. • Identities are central to the way people make decisions, any change effort that violates someone’s identity is likely to doomed to failure.
• Situations are easier to tweak then people’s core character. • We instinctively try to fit in with our peer group, behaviour is contagious, sometimes in surprising ways. • Problems are easy to spot, progress much harder.
14 | RESEARCH
PRIMARY RESEARCH For my primary research I spoke to special educators, clinical psychologists, teachers, parents of young children and few people with dyslexia. This list kept growing as my project progressed. • Suchitra Narayan (Special Educator, founder of SANSKRITI and President of the Indian Epilepsy Association, Cochin) • Dr. M. Nithya Poornima, Assistant Professor at NIMHANS • Dr. Manjari Singh (Co-ordinator at CERTAD) • Parents of children below 6 (Isha Bhotika and Vivek Bhotika, Khushbu Thard) • Maitree Shah and Shrishti Kedlaya (People with dyslexia) • Mohua Chatterjee (School Teacher)
15 | RESEARCH
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE INTERVIEWS
Overcompensation and under compensation are both taxing. - Dr Manjari Singh
Any condition becomes a disability only by creating barriers. - Suchitra Narayan
Each and every interaction makes a huge difference as there is low self-esteem in most cases. - Dr Nithya Poornima
Why not give unrationed support? - Dr Manjari
My child cannot have dyslexia. Why will he have any problems? - Khushbu Thard
Expectations in any situation is not right. - Suchitra Narayan
Knowing about my dyslexia was a relief, at least to me. - Maitree Shah
16 | RESEARCH
INSIGHTS
PARENTS
TEACHERS
DYSLEXICS
PEERS
After talking about dyslexia to the various stakeholders and society in general, two major aspects came to light :
IGNORANCE
NEGATIVITY
Lack of awareness of not just the difficulties but also the strengths that come with dyslexia.
Labelling in classrooms, low self esteem, feeling of inadequacy, frustration and embarrassment.
17 | RESEARCH
Based on both my primary and secondary research, my insights are: • Dyslexia has nothing to do with mental retardation. • Importance of diagnosis is understood by some parents, but not sure when it should be done. • Most people can not look beyond the difficulty.
18 | RESEARCH
19
BRAND STRATEGY
20
DISGUISED GENIUS The brand strategy of dyslexia was collaboratively developed by our class. We started by discussing our qualitative and quantitative data as a group and looked at the various insights that were generated. Over the course of time, with our heads together, we came up with the brand essence based on the internally generated values and the externally demanded values. At this stage we identified important words and eliminated some.
21 | BRAND STRATEGY
RESEARCH INSIGHT
Most people can not look beyond the difficulty.
CORE VALUES
Creativity
Human Potential
Coping Mechanisms
BRAND ESSENCE
Disguised Genius
Oxford defines genius as exceptional intellectual or creative power or other natural ability.
22 | BRAND STRATEGY
DYSLEXIA AS AN ENTITY
WALT DISNEY Always positive An element of surprise Persistent Imaginative Curiosity Altered Perception
FUNCTIONAL PROPOSITION
Can’t read, can see larger patterns and alter perceptions
23 | BRAND STRATEGY
EMOTIONAL BENEFIT
I feel greatly changed and elated to have discovered my student’s/ my own/my son’s or daughter’s own unique strengths.
BRAND POSITIONING STATEMENT
A diagnosis of Dyslexia is actually a signal that you/your child/ your student has a genius that you must discover.
DESIRED CONSUMER REACTION
Dyslexia? A gift waiting to be opened.
24 | BRAND STRATEGY
25
INITIAL PROPOSAL
26
INTENT 35% 70% 50%
of high school dropouts
of juvenile delinquents
of adolescents in rehabilitation centers
40% 35% 50% of millionaires
of entrepreneurs of NASA scientists
Dyslexia has a unique impact on society and the individual. These are the statistics of people with dyslexia which was shared by Dean Bragonier. These statistics alone warrant a solution. When we juxtapose these stats with those of empowered people with dyslexia – 35% of all entrepreneurs, 40% of all self-made millionaires – it is evident that this is a population that has tremendous potential to be change agents on a macro level. I want to work on significantly increasing the number of people with dyslexia who are diagnosed and supported early. This will then not only make it easier for all the stakeholders involved, i.e. parents, teachers, people with dyslexia and peers, but will also remove the social stigma attached to dyslexia. What if, even 10% of the people with dyslexia in India are 27 | INITIAL PROPOSAL
diagnosed at an early stage; 3.5 million children can be relieved of the trauma that they have to face during their school years. This will improve equality, diversity and allow inclusion for people with dyslexia. They do not have to feel alienated any more. There will be no fear or worry in the minds of the parents. The individual will not only benefit greatly in terms of self-actualization and satisfaction with life but will also benefit our society with their exceptional skills.
28 | INITIAL PROPOSAL
EARLY DIAGNOSIS ADVANTAGES
Early detection – early intervention. It can reduce the negative impact or trauma faced by the child due to labelling and pressure from parents and teachers.
Support can be provided early by focussing on the strengths, using multi sensorial techniques and alternative learning tools.
eat ate
29 | INITIAL PROPOSAL
Early intervention results in significant gains in reading accuracy and increased activation in key brain areas for reading. 80% of children with dyslexia if helped, can compete in normal classrooms.
PROCESS OF DIAGNOSIS
LOOKING FOR
RULING OUT
Cognitive Deficits
Sensory Issues
Change of schools Poor schooling Mother tongue not medium of instruction
Sensory Integration (hyper/ hyper)
Other learning difficulties (LD) Language Assessment Battery A good assessment is done by a multi disciplinary team. 30 | INITIAL PROPOSAL
INTERVENTION The interventions for dyslexia appear to be most effective in early childhood. It helps in building the confidence of the child by recognizing the challenges faced and helping them overcome it. This will enable people with dyslexia to access within themselves a new narrative, an empowered narrative. If the teachers and parents do not know about dyslexia, then how can the diagnosis take place? What is the right time to get your child diagnosed? What do you do after diagnosis? A dyslexia diagnosis tool (app or kit or website) which can be used by parents of all children between 4-6 years to provide guidance and support to parents, that is, from detecting early signs of dyslexia to finding a nearby diagnostic centre or finding the right school for the child.
31 | INITIAL PROPOSAL
This diagnostic tool can then help parents discover the genius in their child, that is, their child’s exceptional intellectual or creative power or other natural ability. The tool doesn’t focus or mention dyslexia until the test results and parents don’t have to know about dyslexia to use this tool. Say, if the test score is below 100, then the kit which could be in the form of an app, can advise the parents to get a formal diagnosis done. If the diagnosis result is positive, then further help can be provided to parents along with details on how to support their child and help finding schools with an enabling environment.
REVIEW 1 The idea of designing a screening tool for parents by not mentioning dyslexia in the beginning was appreciated. I was advised to not try and create a test, which is beyond my skill set but focus on modifying or working with an existing test to enhance the experience of the test. Keeping this in mind, I started looking again at the existing dyslexia diagnosis tools in India, which has only been designed for teachers and psychologists so far.
32 | INITIAL PROPOSAL
33
IDEATION
34
DIAGNOSIS TOOLS IN INDIA The Dyslexia Screening Test - Junior (DST-J) India is for teachers and professionals to screen children between 6 - 11 years. To administer this screening tool, the examiner needs to be trained. This screening tool is not designed specifically keeping the Indian education system in mind. This screening kit can only be purchased by institutions and costs around 11,000 INR. DALI (Dyslexia Assessment for Languages of India) is a diagnosis tool which is designed for teachers and psychologists in 3 Indian languages (Hindi, Marathi and Kannada) along with English. It designed under the leadership of Dr Nandini Singh from National Brain Research Centre, India. This diagnosis tool emphasizes the importance of diagnosis in at least two languages, to get accurate results. It has been standardised and validated after testing on 6000 students in India in four different states. Currently, DALI is not available for sale. 35 | IDEATION
DR SINGH - DALI After reading about DALI, I decided to contact Dr Singh for her help on modifying the screening tool which is currently for teachers, and create a screening tool for parents as well. After several emails and 2 weeks, I finally managed to get in touch with her. On sharing my idea with Dr Singh, “This sounds very interesting but developing a screening tool for parents cannot happen over two months. The screening tool for teachers took us more than 3 years to develop.� This gave me an idea about the amount of research, time and help of professionals from various fields will be required to even modify an existing test. Keeping this in mind, I decided to study DALI a little bit more before deciding my intervention. Dr Singh agreed to share with me the screening tool developed for teachers.
36 | IDEATION
TARGET AUDIENCE TARGET MARKET - JUNIOR SCHOOL TEACHERS
Government School
Private School
International School
TARGET AUDIENCE
Government School 37 | IDEATION
Private School
International School
USER PERSONAS NAMRATA JOSHI | CLASS TEACHER - CLASS 1 RELATIONSHIP WITH STUDENTS Namrata Joshi has high expectations for her students and is very particular about their performance in class. She has zero tolerance for mischief. Parents respect her & appreciate her efforts. The students are scared of her. She tends to lose her temper easily because of few naughty students who disrupt the class frequently.
BACKGROUND
STUDENT GOALS
Age Gender School Subjects Experience Income
Namrata wants her students to understand the importance of education in having a bright future. She believes that to have structure in her classroom, she has to be strict with her students, and over time they will appreciate the value of discipline.
31 Female M.B.S.V - Kolkata Maths, History 4 Years Middle Income Group
CHARACTERISTICS Organized, strict, caring and quick tempered. 38 | IDEATION
SHEKHAR SAXENA | CLASS TEACHER - CLASS 3 RELATIONSHIP WITH STUDENTS Shekhar’s students go to him with their problems or even funny stories. Other teachers often advise him to be a little more strict. After his 12 year old son was diagnosed with dyslexia, he became more sensitive to his student’s learning needs. His students love him and respect him a lot. They enjoy his classes.
BACKGROUND
STUDENT GOALS
Age Gender
Shekhar wants all his students to become confident and enjoy learning. He even emphasizes that learning does not happen only in classrooms and through textbooks. He wants his students to achieve their full potential and is ready to support them.
School Subjects Experience Income
48 Male Modern High School English 14 Years Middle Income Group
CHARACTERISTICS Love for learning, patient, flexible, accessible and enthusiastic. 39 | IDEATION
JST SWOT ANALYSIS S
W
STRENGTHS
WEAKNESSES
Only dyslexia diagnosis tool standardized and validated across Hindi, English, Marathi & Kannada.
Too elaborate, text heavy and feels like a lot of work. Solution: Visual appeal and enhanced user experience.
Developed by trusted and recognized organizations and experts.
Currently focussing on the functional delivery, i.e. telling them how to act but not motivating them to act. Solution: Getting the teachers emotionally involved.
Comprehensive assessment - test form.
O
T
OPPORTUNITIES
THREATS
Making it available on the web for wider reach.
Lack of awareness of the strengths and difficulties of dyslexia.
Change in the perception of dyslexia and people with dyslexia by looking beyond the difficulty and discovering the hidden genius - Wider acceptance and support.
Too many students in a class for teachers to adopt person centric approach. Negative social stigma associated with learning difficulties.
40 | IDEATION
INTENT AND INTERVENTION The intent of this project is to design the screening tool for teachers in such a way that the teachers feel motivated to carry out the screening for their students and become more sensitive towards their students needs. I would like to simplify and enhance the experience of the screening tool for school teachers by balancing functional and emotional delivery.
FUNCTIONAL DELIVERY
EMOTIONAL DELIVERY
Screening the students for dyslexia in languages of India.
Motivating teachers to carry out the screening and support their students.
I want the teachers to feel confident, curious, positive, supportive, responsible and satisfied after using the screening tool. The entire process of diagnosis is focussing on the child’s weaknesses, but the screening tool should allow the teacher to look beyond the difficulties that the child is facing and look for the hidden genius in a child.
41 | IDEATION
HIDE AND SEEK After a lot of brainstorming and mindmapping I decided to work on using the idea of Hide and Seek to design the screening tool for teachers, where the teachers are seeking the hidden genius in their students.
42 | IDEATION
Using DALI, the teacher searches behind the defences a child with dyslexia may create
for the signs of dyslexia which has no physical manifestation
to understand the language development and recognizes students who might need their time.
TONE OF VOICE Positive
Fun
Curiosity
Altered Perception
The tool does not try to teach, but highlights the struggles of the students without painting a negative image of the teachers. “If we look carefully, if we search behind the defences a child erects, we will find the treasure that is in every child. But it takes a little bit of peekaboo.�
43 | IDEATION
CONTENT STRUCTURE PEEK
SEEK
TWEAK
Peek is a brief introduction which uses Aisha’s story to sensitize teachers and make them aware of the struggles that students with dyslexia might face regularly.
In seek, the teacher is introduced to DALI JST. It includes all the administration guidelines, scoring and results. Aisha’s story is used to give suggestions or address few questions.
Peek generates interest, curiosity.
If the teacher is not very confident about the skills of her students in a particular section of the screening tool form, then they can conduct activities for students from tweak section before filling the forms.
Tweak introduces teachers to few activities and suggestions which will help the teachers adopt a balanced approach for all the students who have scored below the cut-off, which is 12 in English JST. These students might or might not have dyslexia but they do have language difficulty which could be due to multiple reasons. The teachers will then have to talk to parents and explain them what they have to do. Tweak encourages a balanced outlook on life.
This section should make the screening process very simple.
44 | IDEATION
VISUAL LANGUAGE COLOUR PALETTE PEEK
SEEK
TWEAK
Optimistic with a positive outlook.
Caring and responsible.
Colour of change and transformation.
INITIAL LOGO ITERATION
After working out the visual style, I realised that this logo does not work. 45 | IDEATION
FEW EXPLORATIONS
46 | IDEATION
INITIAL ILLUSTRATION STYLE
This was the first illustration style that I tried. I was not satisfied with it so I decided to try clay modelling.
47 | IDEATION
CLAY MODELLING
As illustration was not working for me, I decided to explore clay modelling. The clay used for the models is homemade polymer clay. I decided to photograph clay models of my characters for Aisha’s story in the Peek section.
48 | IDEATION
49 | IDEATION
50 | IDEATION
51 | IDEATION
52 | IDEATION
53 | IDEATION
FIRST ITERATION
54 | IDEATION
55 | IDEATION
REVIEW 2 The feedback that I received in my second seminar was extremely unexpected and helpful at the same time. The jury members felt that the idea of Hide and Seek was not relevant for the screening tool and the visual language was not suitable for teachers. This kind of visual language would have worked if the children were interacting with the materials designed for the screening tool. The primary users were teachers for whom this idea didn’t work. As I was already two months into the project, I was upset. This feedback made me realize that somewhere down the line, I had lost the essence of the project. I decided to re-look at all the work I had done so far. After a discussion with my course facilitator, Pandrang Row, I decided to work both on the screening tool for teachers and the assessment battery for the psychologists.
56 | IDEATION
57
EXECUTION
58
INTENT AND INTERVENTION PROJECT FOCUS ENGLISH
HINDI
MARATHI
KANNADA
SCREENING TOOL FOR TEACHERS
LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT BATTERY FOR PSYCHOLOGISTS
JST Junior | Class 1 - 2
LAB 1 Class 1 - 2
MST Middle | Class 3 - 5
LAB 2 Class 3 - 5
59 | EXECUTION
INTENT The intent of this project is to make the process of screening (for teachers) and diagnosis (for psychologists and the child) much smoother and effective by making the tests:
Visually engaging and organised
JUNIOR SCREENING TOOL FOR TEACHERS
Balancing functional delivery with emotional delivery. Motivate the teachers to conduct the screening and support their students by not just telling them how to act (which speaks to their rational side) but also getting them emotionally involved.
User Friendly
LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT BATTERY FOR PSYCHOLOGISTS
Transform the experience for the child by removing the stress and making the closely woven with the test. This will help motivate the child to actively participate in the test and give his or her best.
60 | EXECUTION
INTERVENTION JUNIOR SCREENING TOOL FOR TEACHERS
Adding the student’s perspective to the content and changing the tone of voice. For instance, “Though dyslexia is defined, detected and diagnosed primarily based on the weaknesses associated with dyslexia, it is important to look beyond this difficulty.” A certificate of Appreciation awarded to teachers for screening students in their class as a small reward. This certificate will be issued by the National Brain Research Centre of India. Approach to be adopted by teachers for students who score below a cut off score. For instance, As such, there is a need to balance remediation with a rich and stimulating curriculum that identifies and nurtures their strengths and talents.
Designing the JST to make it visually engaging and packaging it as a folder instead of a book to make it more convenient for the teachers.
61 | EXECUTION
LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT BATTERY FOR PSYCHOLOGISTS
Introducing the psychologists to “Alphapet”, a game designed for the children to be interested and motivated in doing the assessment and reducing their stress so that they can perform to the best of their abilities by actively participating in the assessment.
Adding notes and pointers on the assessment form so that the psychologist doesn’t have to refer the manual during the assessment.
Designing the iLAB to make it visually engaging and packaging it as a folder instead of a book to make it more convenient for the psychologists. The test cards are redesigned to make it more engaging and interesting for the child.
62 | EXECUTION
PROCESS The process that I followed while modifying the JST and the iLAB was very different from my previous projects. Here, I didn’t just have to take feedback from my facilitator/s but also work with psychologists and language experts to make sure that the modifications do not disturb the assessment in any way or loose essence of the test. The steps of the process are: • Existing Content Study • Identifying the problem areas and coming up with solutions based on primary and secondary research • Sharing the idea with Dr Nandini Singh and Dr Chaitra Rao • Making changes after getting the approval • Sending it again to both Dr Singh and Dr Rao for feedback, to make sure that the changes have not affected the test adversely. • Making other minor changes based on the feedback.
63 | EXECUTION
DALI LOGO The visual language of DALI (Dyslexia Assessment for Languages of India) was designed keeping in mind the attributes and personality of DALI. DALI is Reliable
Supportive
Caring
Positive
LOGO ITERATIONS The initial logo iterations had the human brain as a common element. The ideas were focussed on diagnosing a gifted child, celebrating the differences, juxtaposing the left brain and the right brain, etc.
64 | EXECUTION
The repetition of the alphabets in DALI’s logo signifies how DALI makes the challenging process of recognizing children with dyslexia in multilingual context of Indian education a simple, structured and thorough process for ducators. Though risk for dyslexia is defined and detected primarily based on the problem areas and challenges associated with dyslexia, DALI shows how important it is to look beyond this difficulty by being positive, reliable, caring and supportive which is reflected through the tone of voice. DALI emphasizes on dyslexia assessment in languages of India. The use of only English didn’t capture the essence of DALI.
65 | EXECUTION
FINAL LOGO
66 | EXECUTION
TYPOGRAPHY Avenir LT Std (95 Black) 30 point | 36 point leading 75 tracking
Adobe Garamond Pro (Regular) 12 point | 18 point leading
67 | EXECUTION
HEADING Simo tem elessincitat in cus rerae. Musciur maio blaborpor aliquas aliquod iatiae vit quaernam quodi consendi alitas verempo rempeli gnimus mi, aperiberitia
COLOUR PALETTE PRIMARY COLOURS
0 | 0 | 0 | 80
JUNIOR SCREENING TOOL
0 | 35 | 85 | 0
0 | 80 | 95 | 0
25 | 25 | 40 | 0
5 | 10 | 25 | 0
LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT BATTERY
10 | 100 | 50 | 0
60 | 75 | 40 | 30
68 | EXECUTION
PATTERNS
69 | EXECUTION
70 | EXECUTION
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JUNIOR SCREENING TOOL
72
ABOUT The Junior Screening Tool (JST) which is a part of the DALI project will help educators to take the first step in discovering the genius in their students. It will help them to identify students who need a little extra guidance and time to achieve their full potential. The DALI – JST can be used to identify children at risk for dyslexia. The screening tool is relatively short, objectively scored, multi-faceted check-lists that an educator can use to evaluate his or her students. This screening tool is comprehensive and can be used as referral questionnaires. If the JST score for a particular child suggests that s/he is facing serious difficulty in the classroom, then the teacher can refer the child for a comprehensive diagnostic assessment by a psychologist. These are the aspects of JST that I have focused on:
Tone of voice and content
73 | JST
Certificate of Appreciation
Teacher’s approach
Information design
ICONS rat mat
eat ate
page 15, chapter 13
cat pat
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SOUND AWARENESS
SKILL ACQUISITION
COMMUNICATION
MOTOR COORDINATION
BEHAVIOUR
VISION
HEARING
COGNITION
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JST HANDBOOK
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TEST FORM
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PACKAGE
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FEEDBACK The content that I had written for the junior screening tool had been shared at a UNESCO workshop conducted by Dr Nandini Singh and Dr Chaitra Rao with 500 teachers on the 8th and 9th of April at New Delhi. The teachers responded well to the approach section. Including the child’s perspective has added more depth to it. - Dr Singh
I found the modified layout that you’ve devised for the screening tool (JST) to be quite attractive. It ought to make reading and completing the form much easier for teachers. - Dr Chaitra Rao
The idea of giving a certificate of appreciation to a teacher who completes the form is really good. - Dr Singh
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LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT BATTERY
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ABOUT The Language Assessment Battery is a comprehensive test battery which can be used to identify children at risk for dyslexia. This test can be carried out only by a an expert or psychologist. This test assesses crucial components of reading-related cognitive skills in English. There are three Indian languages, Hindi, Kannada and Marathi also available. This test is for children between 5-7 years (classes 1 and 2). These are the aspects of iLAB that I have focused on:
Alphapet - a game
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Information design
DECODING iLAB MANUAL
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COMPONENTS OF iLAB
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HANDBOOK
RECORD FORM
3 TEST CARDS
1 SAMPLE CARD
STOPWATCH
STATIONERY BLANK SHEETS, PENCILS
TESTS IN iLAB 1
3
2 P Q S
A T F
help book nose
PICTURE NAMING
LETTER READING
WORD READING
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cap map van
cap _ap /m/ap
FRUITS mango apple
RHYME TEST
PHONEME REPLACEMENT
SEMANTIC FLUENCY
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They play together.
VERBAL FLUENCY
LISTENING COMPREHENSION
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help book nose SPELLING TEST
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HANDBOOK
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ASSESSMENT FORM
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TEST CARD
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ALPHAPET WHAT A game to make the child feel at ease during the assessment. Alphapets are abstract version of letters keeping in mind the free spirit of creativity which is appealing to a child and generates his/her curiosity. .
WHY The assessment requires the child to actively participate to get accurate results but the child usually gets intimidated by this situation.
WHEN Before the assessment starts and is taken ahead between the tests.
HOW The child is introduced to a new alphapet after the completion of each test as a reward to motivate him/ her to participate actively throughout the session.The child is handed over the Alphapet finger puppets only after he/she has completed all the tests.
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MAKING OF ALPHAPETS ALPHAPET SKETCHES
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EXPLORING OIL BASED CLAY Initially I had used homemade polymer clay for making the clay models, but I felt that using oil based clay would be a better option, as then I would be able to change the postures of the characters. After working with this clay I realised that oil based clay will not give me the finish that polymer clay would.
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FINAL CLAY MODELS
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FINGER PUPPETS
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ALPHAPET COMPONENTS
1 FOLDABLE
8 FINGER PUPPETS
A4 FOLDABLE TEMPLATE
2 FINGER PUPPET TEMPLATES
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ORDER OF APPEARANCE 1 Hello! I am Weedy Speedy. Second is Pick Quick. He is twice quick.
2-3 Hello! I am Pick Quick. Next is Lime Rhyme. She is always on time.
P A book nose
4 cap map van
5 I am Picky Tricky. Next is Kenny Penny. He knows many.
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cap _ap /m/ap
Hey! I am Lime Rhyme. Now find Picky. He thinks he is tricky.
6 FRUITS mango apple
Hi, I am Kenny Penny. Next is Inky Clinky. She is stringy.
7 Hello, I am Inky Clinky. Now find Furry Blurry. She does not hurry.
C cat cut
8 They play together.
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Hey, I am Furry Blurry. The last one is Bite Write. He cannot Write.
9 I am Bite Write. Me and my friends don’t bite.
help book nose
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PACKAGE
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TESTING
A small part of the assessment (3 tests) was carried out with few children between the ages of 4-8 years to see if children are actually getting excited by the puppets. The response was positive. The children started calling the puppets by names and playing with them. Though the testing environment was extremely different from an actual assessment, this testing gave me a much better idea about Alphapets. 113 | iLAB
FEEDBACK DALI iLAB with Alphapet was shared with the 5 psychologists who worked on creating the assessment in English and the other three languages for their feedback. A small feedback form was prepared and sent to these psychologists to get their focussed feedback on the addition of Alphapet and ther modifications. Few excerpts from the feedback: What do you think about the new layout of the test and manual? Will it help the examiner? New layout is attractive. Children will be more at ease. It will definitely help the examiner. - Dr Kshipra Vaidya
The modified layout is attractive, and on the whole, more user-friendly. In my opinion, this should make it easier for the psychologist/ other qualified professional to administer the DALI iLAB. - Dr Chaitra Rao
The new layout of DALI – iLAB is colourful and attractive. I certainful feel that it will make it easier for the examiner/assessor to not only assess but also engage the child. - Dr Nandini Singh 114 | iLAB
What do you think about the idea of using Alphapet to involve the child in the assessment? Use of alphabet is a good idea. Children will feel comfortable when these alphabets are coming as a toy in front of them. This will help children till Std 3. I am doubtful about the reaction / response of children above 3rd Std. I know this has been done for junior test just now. - Dr Kshipra Vaidya
I think the idea of using Alphapet is quite novel and extremely innovative and I congratulate Nandini for this excellent idea. However, given this is unusual approach it will be important to ensure clarity of instructions to the assessors to ensure that uniformity in implementation. - Dr Nandini Singh
What do you think Alphapet will do for a child? I think the idea of Alphapet will be exciting and attractive for a child and will hopefully make the process of assessment like a fun game and less of a ‘test’. However, I look forward to some pilot data to assess its impact both on assessor and assessee. - Dr Nandini Singh
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Is there any aspect of Alphapet which you would like to change? Why? I was wondering if the Alphapets could be made more distinct from each other and be given names that were culturally relevant or pertinent to Indian kids. One possibility could be to have names from different Indian languages. - Dr Nandini Signh
Alphabets are good but there should be more similarity in the puppet and the actual alphabet it wants to represent. Few children have difficulty in recognising alphabets. They will feel nervous if they cannot recognise it easily. Can we have alphabets of all vowels? At the end examiner can explain that, these are so important alphabets that we cannot complete even a single English word without vowels. Each vowel has 2 sounds. These children tend to forget longer sound many a times. These puppets can help them to remember this fact. Personification of vowels will help them. - Dr Kshipra Vaidya
On a scale of 1-10, where 1 is the least and 10 is the highest, where would you place alphapet as an addition to DALI iLAB? In terms of concept I would rate it 10, in terms of implementation I would rate it 9 in lieu of comments in pt.4. - Dr Singh
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8 – It is going to motivate the child. It will keep the child’s interest in the test. It will help to establish a rapport. - Dr Kshipra Vaidya
Rating – 9. Rationale – ‘Alphapet’ is definitely a value addition to the DALI iLAB. In its current form, there is still scope for improvement (e.g., see point #4 above). Therefore, the addition is not rated ‘10’. - Dr Chaitra Rao
Any other feedback or recommendations? I would like to use this opportunity to commend Nandini’s work in this short span of time. Given that she does not belong to the field of learning disability she has shown remarkable understanding and sensitivity to the cause and I appreciate immensely the input she has brought to this project. We would like to formally incorporate her suggestions and also acknowledge her contribution to the branding of DALI. - Dr Singh
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REFLECTION In the past four years at Srishti, I have taken up different projects set in diverse contexts which has built my understanding of communication design. I expected No Logo Branding to be one of those projects, just a little more important as it is my final graduation project. This project took me by surprise, I just did not learn a lot more about brand strategy and development but about my own practice as a designer. I have always believed that no matter what, if you work hard, you get rewarded for your efforts. During this project, I realised that there was another aspect to it which I had taken for granted so far, it was, the direction. My intervention focused on rebranding the junior screening tool and the language assessment battery of DALI, which was a very different experience as this time I was working with researchers, scientists, language experts and psychologists. These experts are technical and detailed in their writing. Hence, each and every addition or modification to DALI was a challenge. For instance,there were certain situations where I felt that a certain peice of information was “good to know� but irrelevant. The journey of this course may have been a shaky one, but it was unforgettable. I do hope that as a designer I continue to discover, follow and experiment with newer things by the day. 119
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS THANK YOU, Pandrang Row for the mentoring, guidance and motivation. Dr Nandini Singh and Dr Chaitra Rao for allowing me to work on DALI, your constant feedback and support. Swati for helping me keep it together and the love. My family and friends for the tolerance, love and support.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY PEOPLE: 1. Dr Nandini Singh - DALI 2. Dr Chaitra Rao (Language Expert and Psychologist) BOOKS: 1. Switch: How to Change Things when Change is Hard by Chip and Dan Heath 2. David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants by Malcolm Gladwell TED TALKS: 1. How we supress genius and create learning disability: Scot Sonnon 2. The true gifts of dyslexic mind – Dean Bragonier 3. Overcoming Dyslexia, Finding Passion by Piper Otterbein 4. A Second Opinion on Developmental Disorders by Aditi Shankardas 5. Stop Climbing, Start Swimming : The hidden advantages of dyslexia by Jonathan Buchanan FILMS: 1. HBO Documentary: Rethinking Dyslexia 2. Dyslexia – Short Film 3. The Gift of Dyslexia (Professor John Stein) 121