Graduation Project by Poorti Bapat

COPYRIGHT ©2020 Student documentation publication, meant for private circulation only. No part of this documennt may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means ,electronic or mechanical, including photography, illustrations, recording or any other information and retrieval system without prior permission in writing from the publisher. Poorti Naveen Bapat & National institute of Design, Andhra Pradesh All rights reserved. B.Des, Textile and Apparel Design, 2016-2020, National institute of Design Andhra Pradesh Edited and Designed by- Poorti Naveen Bapat Sponsor: Indian Institute of Technology Delhi Guide: Arnab Senapati

Originality Statement

I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and it contains no full or substantial copy of previously published material and concepts, except where due acknowledgment is made in this document. I further declare that the intellectual content of this graduation project is the product of my own work, except to the extent of acknowledged assistance from others in the project’s design, conception, presentation or linguistic expression, wherever applicable. This graduation project (or any part of it) was not be submitted as assessed work in any other academic course.

I hereby grant the National Institute of Design the right to archive and to make available my graduation project/ thesis/dissertation in whole or in part in the institute’s library in all forms of media, now or hereafter known, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act. I have either used no substantial portions of copyright material in my document or I have obtained permission to use copyright material.

“Design everything on the assumption that people are not heartless or stupid but marvelously capable, given the chance.” - John Chris Jones

Acknowledgement My thanks are due to everyone who helped me with this exciting journey and believed in my endeavors. Without their help, I wouldn’t have been able to push my limits and explore as a designer. My first debt of gratitude goes to Prof. PVM Roa for giving me once in a lifetime opportunity. My second debt of gratitude goes to Piyush Chanana, Pulkit Sapra, and Lipika for their passionate involvement and for lending all the possible support and help whenever there was a need. Thank you to the production team for making all the exploration come to life. Due to the coronavirus outbreak around the world, it became difficult to stay in Delhi, and shifting back home became the need of the hour. With all the support from the RLF team, I was able to complete this project successfully. Being a part of the National Institute of Design, Andhra Pradesh, I was able to develop an inquisitive mindset and a proactive attitude that helped during the graduation project, which will also assist me practice design for the coming years.

POORTI NAVEEN BAPAT • NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN, ANDHRA PRADESH • 2020

I would also like to thank all the faculties and staff of NID especially my guide Arnab Senapati for looking after us throughout the intense process of becoming a designer. Thank you for all the support and for pushing me to take the right decision and stepping down to become a friend in need. A big thank you to Ram Mattegunta for always being there to give valuable insights and teaching me to dig deeper into your idea. I would also like to show my gratitude to my batchmates for sharing this adventure and making this journey a story of a lifetime. And my seniors and juniors of NID, AP to create an atmosphere so comfortable to grow and get inspired from each other. To all my friends, who are like family to me now. Simran Kamboj, my roommate for four years and best friend forever, thank you for being there for me through thick and thin. You celebrated all the good things that came in my way like it was yours and never made me go through my rough times alone. You are my constant source of motivation and comfort. You taught me to be loyal in every aspect

Shweta Bindu Alam, for always be there for me no matter what, for staying up late and sharing the experience like a sister. Your dedication and take on life inspire me and push me to be a better self. You are the best bindu. Parth Jhawar, I wouldn’t have done it without you, thank you for your blunt and honest feedback on everything I have ever done. I have seen the best and worst with you and had a lot of fun while doing so. You are my constant source of support and my confidante. I am grateful to have you in my life. Nirmal Arya and Shreya Ts, for always being there to listen to me, my endless rubbish rant about anything and everything. You both are a blessing and beautiful people in and out. Tushaar Sonkar, for being the best traveling partner and a very good friend. Your thought process inspires me, thank you for being so real and full of life, keep telling stories. Ashish Dibyaprakas, my first friend at NID, thank you for being with me through the rough times and making memories of a lifetime. You deserve the best. Swarnima, Suniti to make my studio hours fun and bearable at times. To the best days with you all and creating healthy competition, you guys made me grow into my better version.

I would like to mention my best friend since childhood, Shibani Sharma. You always helped me to stay connected to my roots and become a better version. Thank you for being just a call away and making me not feel lonely, even when I felt alone. Finally, I can’t put in words how much gratitude and love, I have for my mom, papa, and atya. They are the sole reason for whoI am today. I have seen them sacrificing for giving the best of the world to me. They have worked hard and are a big inspiration to me. My father always stood behind me like a rock and believed in me. I also want to thank my elder sister, Abhisha for being the biggest support in my life, you are the one who taught me how to dream and achieve them. My younger sister, Aishwarya for helping me to take pictures, and being the l oving and best hype person around, lockdown would have been difficult without you.My bitch piku, for showering all the selfless love through kisses. I would like to remember my grandmother at the end, Asha Bapat. Where ever you are, I know you are looking after me. I wish you could be with us. Thank you for everything, I want to become a strong woman like you were and want to set an example for girls aspiring to do good with their lives.

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POORTI NAVEEN BAPAT • NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN, ANDHRA PRADESH • 2020

Synopsis Raised Lines Foundation is a not-for-profit, incubated out of IIT Delhi. They develop end-to-end solutions for the development of tactile diagrams in an affordable and scalable manner. The project was to create a tactile book that is affordable and has quality tactile graphics, as they were more concentrated on making essentials/educational tactile graphics for textbooks. I started researching and reading a lot of papers related to the education and perception of people with visual impairment. The research involved studying the production techniques through site visits to the main office at the Sonipath campus. It included going through the universal guidelines made to create tactile graphics and studying the existing tactile books. After a month of working on the campus of IIT Delhi, the pandemic forced us to head back home and the whole project had to be done sitting 788.2km away from the office. But with a lot of patience and dedication, I made different prototypes through which we were able to get results that could be significant, if somebody considers making a tactile book in large-scale production. The project completed over a long period, which allowed me to learn more about the importance of design in creating equality in various aspects of education. The time we saw has changed the way we see the world and motivated us to be a better person and a conscious human. I am very grateful to everyone, involved in making this project possible.

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Contents Introduction

Understaning the Context

About NID, AP About Textile & Apparel Design at NID, AP What inspired me to take this project

Design methodology Little did we know Cognitive development of the children with visual impairment Tactile perception What happened in last two decades Importance of story books What is inclusive design Why inclusive tactile books

The Sponsor About the sponsor The products by the sponsor About the project Brief

Understaning the Production Production Techniques Studying of BANA Guidelines Market research Studying existing Prototypes

POORTI NAVEEN BAPAT • NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN, ANDHRA PRADESH • 2020

Material sourcing

Costing

Prototype 1

Conclusion

Visual and tactile graphic Questionnnaire Proofreading Insights

Prototype 2 SVG Files Visual and tactile graphic Proofreading Insights

Learning Reflection Links and refrences Colophon

The late 1950s saw a confluence of these forces, and this time would be a significant one for Indian culture and education. A young nation was confronted with the mammoth task of nation-building, of balancing ageold traditions with modern technology and ideas. There was a search for the Indian identity across all aspects of life. On April 7, 1958, the Eameses presented the India Report to the Government of India. The Eames Report defined the underlying spirit that would lead to the founding of NID and the beginning of design education in India. The Report recommended a problem-solving design consciousness that linked learning with actual experience and suggested that the designer could be a bridge between tradition and modernity. Based on the recommendations made in the India Report, the Government of India with the assistance of the Ford Foundation and the Sarabhai family established the National Institute of Industrial Design, as it was originally called an autonomous all-India body in September 1961 at Ahmedabad. National Institute of Design is internationally acclaimed as one of the finest educational and research institutions for industrial, communication, textile, and integrated design. 1st National Institute of Design of East Coast! The National Institute of Design, Andhra Pradesh , established in September 2015, is the second autonomous multi-disciplinary design institute, under the DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India. It is the first NID to be set up by the National Design Policy, GOI, after five decades of the existence of the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad.

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Textile and Apparel The Textile and Apparel Design program in the National Institute of Design Andhra Pradesh is a unique program that combines and blends theory and practice of both these disciplines. The program is built on a strong technical foundation combined with basic design sensibilities and multi-disciplinary learning. This is further layered with an understanding of culture as a resource for design through, field studies and documentation to rediscover the traditional wisdom of using skills, materials, tools and approaches. The program aims to develop new design applications using various traditional and innovative perspectives and achieves this by developing a student’s intellectual, aesthetic, analytical and technological abilities. Fundamentals of design basics and inputs specific to textile and apparel design, including textile fibres, weave structures, surface design, dyeing techniques and colouration, printing methods, pattern making, draping and sewing techniques, constructed textiles and other inputs related to art appreciation, design research, design process, design management, sustainable textile and apparel design methods are inherent to this program. NID provides a wealth of opportunities for study and inspiration during this program. Graduates find positions as textile designers, apparel designers, freelance entrepreneurs, interior and spatial designers and sectors like research and development, automobile, space and defence among many others.

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Inspiration behind the project Ever since I joined NID, I wanted to persue textile annd apparel as my discipline. After six semesters of intense studying, I wanted to explore the unconventional side of textile. I always thought it involves more than just clothing or aesthetic surface, that it has the potential to take any other forms. In India, many textile ethnic groups practice storytelling through textiles, for example, kalamkari. During the initial course of NID, I fell in love with the surface development aspect of the curriculum, in which we created surfaces by taking inspiration. That’s when I understood how we could recreate different surfaces, while maintaining the tactile feel of the inspiration chosen. During the open elective, I took graphic design. In this, I was introduced to graphic narrative and storytelling. Being from a textile background, it was an all-new experience to learn illustrations and it hhas stayed with me ffor the rest of thhe jouney at NID. I used to keep a sketchbook and always tried to maintain my journal. Attempting my textile assignment with the zest of storytelling, was my priority. I always thought of design as a tool for finding solutions. Hence, I wanted an opportunity to put my design knowledge in making

a difference. My inclination towards children’s products came forward and I was motivated to work around it with textiles. When I was in my seventh semester, Chitrakatha was organized in our campus and a series of competitions were held, in which one of the categories was textile narrative. I participated with a project proposal of a tactile children’s book and was the runner up. That inspired me to find my graduation project along the similar lines. With the full support of my coordinator, I started applying for my graduation project, that was not a conventional one. But, as such couldn’t find a place working solely for tactile graphic, until I found an article about RLF. It was a big deal because a few months ago, I didn’t know that I could be a part of something that can contribute towards inititiating a dialogue about inclusivity in education. I had a great learning experience, something out of the box. Textiles did help me to be sensitive towards the texture and surfaces. It made me realize that the sense of touch is so powerful and affects our memory in ways innumerable. I am also very grateful for the culture of NID, as it allowed me to explore different design aspects and empowered me to give my best to the society.

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Raised Lines Foundation is a not for profit,

Indian Institute of Technology Delhi is one of the 23 IITs created to be Centres of Excellence for training, research and development in science, engineering and technology in India. Established as College of Engineering in 1961, the Institute was later declared as an Institution of National Importance under the “Institutes of Technology (Amendment) Act, 1963” and was renamed as “Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. It was then accorded the status of a Deemed University with powers to decide its own academic policy, to conduct its own examinations, and to award its own degrees. These alumni today work as scientists, technologists, business managers and entrepreneurs. There are several alumni who have moved away from their original disciplines and have taken to administrative services, active politics or are with NGOs. In doing so, they have contributed significantly to building of this nation, and to industrialization varound the world.

Section 8 company incubated out of IIT Delhi. They started working4 years ago under Centre of Excellence in Tactile Graphics (CoETG), established at IIT Delhi, with an objective of developing end to end solutions for the development of tactile diagrams in affordable and scalable manner. Raised Lines Foundation (RLF) is incubated from the know how developed at CoETG to meet the huge unmet demand of tactile diagrams throughout the country and the same team is taking this endeavour forward. RLF provides tactile design and production services and is closely working with NCERT, Sarv Shiksha Abhiyaan (Govt. of India), WSSCC (UN organization) and other organization working in the field of blindness to covert textbooks, resource books, manual etc. in accessible formats along with the tactile diagrams.

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POORTI NAVEEN BAPAT • NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN, ANDHRA PRADESH • 2020

Sponsor’s Product

• Developed 30+ titles comprising of more than 2000 unique diagrams • NCERT Curriculum Books - Science and Mathematics for Class 6 to 10, • Maps of India, Economics for higher classes • Books of common relevance- Indian monuments; National symbols, Father of the Nation, Tactil Atlas etc. • Books for children - Tactile colouring book, All in one, Learning with tactile graphics, Mathematics primer • Tactile training manuals for learning Computers, Mobility, Yoga, Guitar, Menstrual hygiene etc, • International Books - World Atlas; International monuments • Developed teaching learning aids and other tactile products • DIY kit for learning graphs, Tactile models, Tactile drawing board • Accessible calendars, Greeting cards, Site layouts

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The Project

POORTI NAVEEN BAPAT • NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN, ANDHRA PRADESH • 2020

80 percent of learning occurs through vision. Any child with restrictions in their visual ability will lose a lot of information. Young children learn most of the things through incidental learning while growing up. The objects they see when they walk around, asking questions about what they saw as they continue becoming curious to know more. While on the other hand, kids with visual impairment lack in the same learning process. Therefore, they require concrete tactile experience in very early life to help them reach their cognitive potential. They could develop their memory bank through touch and by feeling it through hands and thus develop tactile sensitivity. They don’t have the motor skills to process tactile information, so it has to develop from an early stage. The project revolves around finding a solution to create tactile children’s storybooks, majorly to induce active tactile graphic reading and putting them in charge of seeking information on their own. It will also help to build tactile memory and interpretation skills to create a base for the future education. The design approach for this project was going back and forth and bring forward the best results. There were a lot of factors to be studied and proofreadings to be done, in order to figure out the different levels of what might work. Playing with textures and placement played an important role. We tried to get the closest possible handmade tactile book experience, that is affordable and has quality tactile graphics. Today, there is little to no access to tactile storybooks for kids with visual impairment. That limits their tactile perception skills, which in the future might also limit their ability to pursue higher studies, career choices, and job opportunities. Therefore, this project gave me an opportunity to use my design education so far to create something and support the noble cause of equality in education.

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Brie

POORTI NAVEEN BAPAT • NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN, ANDHRA PRADESH • 2020

The brief was decided after a long discussion between me and Piyush sir. We wanted to keep it short and on point to get the maximum outcome over time. The project initially started with an idea to create a tactile picture book. But after many intense discussions, we concluded to find a design solution. The project included creating a solution for making tactile books with quality tactile graphics, for the visually impaired children. The books should create an experience similar to a handmade tactile book. The main focus was to make the production less time-consuming and cost-effective while maintaining the quality at the same time.

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Design Methodology

Creating tactile books is not a direct conversion of visual images into a dimensional surface. With vision, one can learn and understand a lot about the subject. But additionally, it is imperative that information is sequentially gathered, on which formation of the final image depends. Many factors affect the growth of a visually impaired child. So to create products, it becomes significant to learn how they function and how they perceive their surroundings. Several factors affect creating tactile graphics. One has to go back and forth within the design to decide what works and what doesn’t. Every child might have a different degree of visual impairment. The design process for this project is user-based, it helps you locate your flaws as it is flexible and aids you to move forward in finding the design solution.

POORTI NAVEEN BAPAT • NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN, ANDHRA PRADESH • 2020

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A week before I came to Delhi, we heard about a new disease spreading across China. The news around it was too bizarre to be real, little did we know! The first step was to create a brief, which I later discussed with Piyush sir and decided a timeline for this project. The brief initially was to create a tactile book with different materials. Eventually, it shifted to creating a solution for efficient tactile books with Panchatantra stories as our base. The next step was to go through BANA guidelines and study the document properly to know more about the universal standard of creating a tactile graphic. In the campus, a few Ph.D. scholars were researching along the same lines, therefore I was asked to get in touch withthem. I met Anchal, who was doing her Ph.D. in converting information from 3d to 2d objects for people with visual impairment. Over a cup of tea we discussed how they have sense of prespective and perceive the environment around them. Every day at the campus would teach me something new and fascinating. How people can still dream without having any visuals. How the sense of touch is significant in one’s life and is as crucial as the visual for seeking information around the environment. Prof. Rao suggested that we visit the Rlf office at the new IITD campus in Sonipat. We planned our visit for the second week of my stay in Delhi. It was an early morning affair and took 2.5 hours to reach the campus. After reaching the campus, they gave me an in-depth description of their production techniques.

POORTI NAVEEN BAPAT • NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN, ANDHRA PRADESH • 2020

The production unit made a lot of noise because of the braille embosser. We analyzed their existing tactile books and NCERT books to have a better idea of their design process. Most of their books had tactile diagrams made of PVC sheets using thermoform technique. We discussed the proofreading of the available products and particular problems which should be considered while creating graphics. They also made an inclusive tactile storybook of 5-6 pages using thermoforming and basic illustrations. There were problems because of which the navigation and information through graphics became misleading. As coming from a textile background, it gave me a starting point for the journey. Studying existing products gave me the motivation to create something equally interesting. I visited the campus twice, in which we decided to start with a simple story of the ant and the grasshopper. We also wanted to create books having textures close to traditional handmade tactile books in terms of the feel. After doing desk research of the products available in the market and the studies related to it, we then did ideation for the visuals. I went for material sourcing, to get some textured papers. Chawadi bazaar was the best option as it has a lane of handmade paper vendors selling it at a wholesale price. I got some more for the second story I was planning to do. Around this time news of deadly corona entering India was all over the place and, you could see people wearing a mask. I was hesitant to go to the bazaar as avoiding crowded places was the need of the hour. The next day I went to the campus and saw fewer people, most of them were the faculty and staff.

The government authorities hhad asked the studenst to evacuate their hostels and go home due to the covid-19 outbreak in the capital. I left Delhi on such short notice as public transportation was going to shut soon. After a couple of days, the whole country was under lockdown due to the wild spread of the virus and increasing deaths. It was like a nightmare, everything became uncertain as the graduation project went on hold. Initially, I thought things would get better in a month, and returning to Delhi was possible by the end of May. The first wave went longer than our expectations and, the whole world ceased to function in the middle of this pandemic. I did make my prototype of the two selected stories and, hand-painted everything as the printing shop was closed. Getting art supplies was a tough job. For approx three months, we didn’t go out and followed social distancing when necessary. It was a crazy experience, to not meet people, do normal stuff, or even go for a walk. The roads that always saw traffic were covered in silence. After the first lockdown got lifted, I made the prototype and sent it to the team at the Sonipat office through the post for proofreading. We had a virtual proofreading via Zoom for which a questionnaire was prepared. The reviews gave more clarity of what changes could make the graphics and flow more efficient. We focused on the feedback and started to modify the previous idea. While making the visual again, I also tried to incorporate the embossing techniques for different elements. As the lockdown got lifted sourcing of the material became easy.

There was a delay in getting the material as few people at the office tested covid positive which slowed the production. When the materials arrived I made the prototype, assembled and sent it through post. As we were thinking of doing our second proofreading, the covid second wave came into our lives like a wrecking ball. Everybody was depressed, grieving, or trying to make it through the night. The second wave was worse than the first, with many people losing their loved ones. The country went through another lockdown for three months. When things got better, Rlf came into action and, the material went for proofreading. We had good results with just a few corrections. One can take forward these results for higher-conclusions. But I was delighted to find that the graphics I made were working for the user. The project took more time than was expected. I got to learn so much personally and professionally in this course of time. There is more work to be done but as of yet, this is what I did. My project was completed despite of the pandemic and I am proud of where we came with it. I hope you have a great time going through this document, I made with lots of love and dedication. Stay safe.

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C c

Piaget indicates that the cognitive functioning of the visually impaired child is slower to develop than that of his sighted counterpart. In addition, there may be a developmental gap between the operative and figurative aspects of his thought as well as difficulties in image formation.

POORTI NAVEEN BAPAT • NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN, ANDHRA PRADESH • 2020

Cognitive development of the children with Visual Impairment Children grow and develop rapidly in the first few years across the area of their motor, language, cognitive, and emotional/social development.Cognitive development refers to the construction of thought processes, including learning, remembering, problem-solving and decision making since childhood. Infants are aware of their surroundings and are interested in exploration to gain knowledge. It’s significant to foster cognitive development from early childhood, as it lays the foundation for a child to perform better in later aspects of life. Exploration in the environment is critical in cognitive development. The more you question, feel, and perceive, it effects your process of decision-making. When a visual impairment is present from birth or acquired later in life, it has a particular impact on the growth and learning of the child. Loss of vision can affect certain areas of development. Social development is affected as kids are not able to pick up a verbal and nonverbal cues.They are unable to make eye contact and analyze the reactions of people around them which reduces sustained social interaction. Loss of vision affects the motor skills too, as the child is not motivated towards things which can’t be seen and she eventually develop a fear of moving around. Therefore the cognitive development gets disturbed, as the children cannot recognize the objects and events around them to form opinions.

Though all visually impaired kids can be different, the degree of visual impairment, personality, background, and the presence of disabilities all have varying effects on the visual ability of the affected child. Cognitive ability will increase the ability to conceptualize the environment in the absence or reduction of visual information to form an opinion. Berthold Lowenfeld; an advocate for the blind hypothesized the three imitations for a person with visual impairment. Loss of range and variety of experience, loss of ability to get around, and loss of control of environment and selfrelation to it. Although, the lack of sight forces kids with visual impairment to rely on the other senses, they get acquainted with the world through the sense of noise and smell, mainly. The amount of tactile and haptic information they collect, gives them information about the spatial existence of objects around them. These kids are denied many experiences, ultimately inhibiting cognitive development. They do not get to create a frame of reference to decode the representation of the objects and the surroundings. The solution is to present as many experiences, through tactile or verbal explanation. It is for mental health and recognition of their position in the social heirarchy. By using the remaining senses, numerous experiences can help develop cognitive ability. If a child gets exposed to tactile graphics at an early age, it could help them finding meaning, which lays the foundation for higher studies. Understanding complicated diagrams might be difficult even for an adult with visual impairment as it’s not easy to perceive, if not introduced at an early age.

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POORTI NAVEEN BAPAT • NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN, ANDHRA PRADESH • 2020

Tactile Perception

Tactile perception is the proximal view that the visually impaired use to discriminate against objects, animals, and people. The development of this perception is essential to allow them to make the relationship between the linguistic sign (word) and the meaning (object). Hence visually impaired children need to be recruited to recognize the data received from the outside world. Researchers have found that skills surrounding tactile perception and body awareness are not only linked with self care, but also with social and academic skills as well. For example, a significant percentage of children with SPD, ADHD, or ASD tend to show a degree of “Tactile Defensiveness”, which is an aversion to touch sensations. This impacts a wide range of social behavior such as choice of clothing worn (due to resulting touch sensations to the skin), food eaten (due to touch sensations in the mouth), and even friendships as people use touch as gestures of communication (i.e. pat on the back, high five’s)

During formal educational learning, children (between 6 and 12 years old) are in the process of cognitive development and therefore need constructive stimuli. When the children are in the stage of the concrete operative stage, they acquire skills to think logically and, thus, begin to solve the problems from internalized actions originating from the sensory-motor stages and preoperative. It is in his operative phase that the child builds assimilation and accommodation schemes to establish cognitive development. The production and distribution of tactile material for children with visual impairment in elementary school should be demanded and incorporated. Tactile books should tactfully translate the illustrations into the content of regular book into tags. Thus, it is important to compose tactile books with elements representing drawings, maps, figures, photos, among other resources that are imperceptible to blind children at an early age. Activities that involve tactile perception can be fun. Furthermore, since these activities allow for generalization of information from the somatosensory system to problem solving skills, they can be helpful in addressing deficits in self care as well as academic skills. There is no doubt that the adoption of the tactile book in special schools represents a resource that helps the insertion of the blind or low vision students in the scenario of visual information and concepts. Therefore, the development of such a illuminating method leads them to learn and build their knowledge and give them a base to build their future.

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POORTI NAVEEN BAPAT • NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN, ANDHRA PRADESH • 2020

at happened in last two decades

been an increased accessibility of educational material for visually tudents because of the dynamism of the technology. It has opened enues for people with special needs to achieve their dream. There and more efficient ways to mass-produce tactile books now, which ordable and make education accessible. But how was it when making books was more of a hands-on job and technology wasn’t there yet?

es ago there was no proper training for educators for making / tactile books. Educators who used to teach back then, pursued in education (B.ed) and parallelly took up a course for learning ion for visually impaired children. They use to create tactile books y, with all the materials available; For example, threads, pulses, c. Mostly they made maps, alphabets or numbers as they were easily d forms of information. They focused on things like map borders, but ails like the subdivision of states. This means storybooks were not ly available as they did not have enough knowledge to translate content s into a tactile surface. It also was a tiresome job, and so educators did the efforts due to lack of motivation. They also didn’t have the skills tly convert a graphic into a tactile image without

Storybooks back then were not really focused on. The educators who wanted to put an effort, were not able to create tactile graphics to teach them heavy concepts. They did try to create tactile graphics for teaching shapes, fruits, vegetables with basic shapes. Tactile graphics was not easy to teach as it was a developing concept, not introduced to them in the early years. It was also tough to teach kids together as everybody had a different pace to perceive tactile graphics. As already said, it was a time taking job and require myriads of effort to create the perfect experience of storytelling. Instead, they used audiobooks or other methods. Around the 2000s, few publishers did publish multiple textured books for sighted kids. This was a great alternative for making stories interesting for even the kids with special needs, but they were expensive. Schools with less budget couldn’t afford these books for everyone.However, few educators bought them for quality storytelling. Audiobooks played a significant role as educators relied on them, instead of the books. But before the technology of portable/compact memory was introduced, the recording was only available in a single place. The lessons/stories were recorded into cassettes which were bulky to carry around and not everybody could afford it, unlike the current situation. Creating content 10-15 years ago faced a lot of repetition among the organizations working for children with visual impairment. A better range of educational products was not available for people as they were monotonous and not even mass-produced. Hence, people working in the field of education for special children, have seen drastic changes as technological advacement continued over time. It made learning easy and content became readily available for kids who aspired for a stable future and wanted to support their families— an idea nowhere to be found two decades ago.

nformation and quality.

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“As a child, I was always curious about the illustrations in storybooks. I always picked books with more visuals and visit them again and again. Comic strips, cartoons, and illustrations have certainly affected my childhood. And have a major role in pushing me towards a creative field.”

POORTI NAVEEN BAPAT • NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN, ANDHRA PRADESH • 2020

Importance of story books

Inclusive design The British Standards Institute defines inclusive design as: ‘The design of mainstream products and/or services that are accessible to, and usable by, as many people as reasonably possible without the need for special adaptation or specialised design.’

It’s a big world, design for all

Every design decision has the potential to include or exclude people and their needs. The inclusive design emphasizes the contribution of understanding user diversity, to make informative decisions, and thus to include as many people as possible. User diversity covers variation in capabilities, needs, and aspirations. The core premise of inclusive product design focuses on shifting the paradigm of the design process so that diversity and inclusivity are from the start. The point of inclusive design is to support the full range of human diversity. While accessibility focuses on accommodating differing abilities between people, the inclusive design incorporates differing perspectives including those of people with disabilities into the process.

POORTI NAVEEN BAPAT • NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN, ANDHRA PRADESH • 2020

The aim is to accommodate those diverse experiences, both in the final product and in the design process itself. It involves a broad group of people in the actual design process, both in the design team and user testing. The result of the inclusive design process is a universal design that the maximum number of people can use. Considering the disability as well, inclusive design is remembering that we are not the user and showing empathy for the constraints and limitations of the degree of disabilities that exist. This means thinking about the diversity of our users from the start of any project and including users with a range of access needs in user research and testing. It involves making sure that one is not excluded from using the tools, products, and services we create. A design used by a wide variety of people often leads to higher volumes of sales that might not be the case for a specifically targeted group product. However, the difficulty lies in designing a product that appeals to a range of users working effectively. Inclusive design goes beyond providing physical access and creates solutions that work better for everyone; ensuring that everyone can equally, confidently and independently use the product. An inclusive environment is one which can be used safely, easily and with dignity by all. It is convenient and welcoming with no disabling barriers, and provides independent access without additional undue effort, separation or special treatment for any group of people.

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POORTI NAVEEN BAPAT • NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN, ANDHRA PRADESH • 2020

Why inclusive tactile books? All children need and deserve books in which they can find themselves. Books they can relate to, that show them they are not alone and validate their experiences. Book collections that demonstrate and celebrate equality, diversity, and inclusion support personal and emotional development. The very few illustrated books which do exist are often inadequate, as they are mainly based on a visual approach. During childhood, illustrated books are a great driver for social inclusion as they foster joint reading between the child and the adult or between the child and his/her peers.

An inclusive tactile book might help to lay the foundation of equality in education, indifferent of any disability. It’s necessary to create an environment for a child to increase personal growth and have fun with literature. Tactile children’s books can help visually/partially impaired children to enjoy the story through tactile surfaces and develop visualization skills for the best future, at the same time not feeling like an outcast. It helps them to have a normal childhood and build confidence in the language and graphics in the early stages of their education. They thus constitute a major tool for sharing experiences. It all comes back to empathy when we talk about designing a product, system, or technology for disabled people. The concept of disability may have limited us to a point to create an accessible separate product for them rather than considering that the concept of “disability”may have limited the understanding of the need for accessible technology. All the industries must consider the wide range of people who could benefit with inclusivity as a factor in their products.

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Tactile grapics Tactile graphics are images, consisting of raised lines and textured surfaces for people with visual impairment. Graphics and diagrams that are used by sighted people for understanding concepts or conveying information are useless. Therefore it helps to understand some graphical information using their sense of touch. Although things could be taught to visually impaired readers through braille or verbal descriptions, tactile graphics are superior for the subject matter.

POORTI NAVEEN BAPAT • NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN, ANDHRA PRADESH • 2020

Production techniques Development in new technologies over time has been a significant factor in the availability of tactile graphics. There is a range of methods and technologies used to produce finished tactile graphics with different materials. The type of production method used depends on the complexity of diagrams and the volume required. Affordable tactile diagrams are made using 3-D printing for mold making and thermoforming. We went to see the production process closely to Sonipath campus of IIT, it was important to know what sort of technologies can be used and manipulated to create a better tactile experience.

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POORTI NAVEEN BAPAT • NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN, ANDHRA PRADESH • 2020

Braille papers are available in between 140-160 gsm. There are two types of embosser, one that prints braille and the other in which you can manipulate the embossing into a form as well. The graphic is created on coral-draw or adobe illustrator as the embosser system takes SVG files.

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Swell paper has a special coating with high reactive chemicals. Microcapsules of alcohol implanted in the paper fracture when exposed to heat and make the surface of the paper inflate. This way of creating tactile graphics is easy and fast. Users can draw print or photocopy pictures onto the swell paper. Then it is passed through the PIAF machine, heat causes the line to swell as it reacts to the carbon ink to create a raised surface. This technique could be used with a color sheet as it only reacts with darken portion of the graphic.

POORTI NAVEEN BAPAT • NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN, ANDHRA PRADESH • 2020

Thermoform is the most accurate way to reproduce tactile graphics. The process is also known as vacuum forming. First, an SVG file is prepared on CAD and transferred to 3d printer. The master copy is 3d printed with the exact thickness required for different textures on the graphic. Then a PVC sheet is placed onto a molding machine, the clamp is closed. Once the clamp is engaged, the heating element raises. When we remove it we get the tactile graphic on the PVC sheet.

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Studying BANA Guidlines

The Braille Authority of North America (BANA) has made guidelines that provide a direction for creating and formatting the literacy material. It promotes and facilitates the uses, teaching, and production of braille.It promulgates rules, makes interpretations, and renders opinions related to braille codes and technical materials. The very first thing suggested at the beginning of the project was to learn about BANA guidelines. It has a detailed description of what we should consider while creating tactile graphics and how effectively you can translate any content and convey the concepts. It focuses on how the graphics should look but also its placement, numbering of page, etc. It talks majorly about academic tactile diagrams. But the guidelines are used for creating tactile graphics for stories as well.

BANA guideline had perfectly made a list of things and formulated design principles for creating tactile graphics. It gives you a strong foundation and confidence to design literacy material for people with visual disabilities. Reading the paper gave me a different perspective of the design principle we studied throughout our college journey. The guide takes you to processes as it has process of elimination, choosing the texture, and even the production and replication of the product. It is very insightful and helpful for someone who is at the initial stage of creating tactile illustrations.

POORTI NAVEEN BAPAT • NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN, ANDHRA PRADESH • 2020

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Decision Tree

Is the information appropriate for a tactile graphic?

POORTI NAVEEN BAPAT • NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN, ANDHRA PRADESH • 2020

These are the set of textures grouped based on tactile similarity. And one should be used at a time from each group. The textures formulated can be used to represent various surfaces. A combination of textures selected should not exceed the count of five, though you can create your textures if you are not satisfied with the given combinations. It’s like a swatch book we used during textile classes.

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Market Research

Many organizations are creating products for children with visual impairment. The user base for these products is limited that means it doesn’t have regular demand. The market also has innovative tactile books for sighted kids that are readily available in every bookstore. The product study was helpful to learn about the design standards’ expectations. There are a lot of organizations creating simple educational books with less focus on storytelling through tactile graphics.

POORTI NAVEEN BAPAT • NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN, ANDHRA PRADESH • 2020

Chetana Charitable Trust got created in 2004 in Chennai, India. They aim to create opportunities and promote language development for children with disabilities. One of the ventures they have includes developing literacy in children with visual impairment and other disabilities. They make handmade tactile books with original stories that make scaling the production not easy. But their ARM (Accessible reading material) Library provides infants, emerging readers, and beginning readers with adapted storybooks that are either delivered home or into the hands of children. They aim to create a more sustainable way of producing books, including people in need or volunteers.

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White print, an English lifestyle magazine printed in braille was founded in 2013 by Upasana Makati. In 2016, they launched Tactbet- braille tactile alphabet book both in Hindi and English. They have used Polybraille technology that facilitates the permanent nature of tactile graphics and braille itself. The price range is from 1000 to 1500 rupees. They have also created a colorful illustration to give the design an inclusive edge. They only make the book order of a minimum

In 2019, Nupur Agarwal launched Beyond Braille to make the education of visually impaired children more enjoyable and learning stimulating. They have created a series of tactile picture books after a rigorous back and forth with the schools for the visually impaired. They used advanced technology like 3d printing and embossing methods with different materials to make it cost-effective. The books range from 1500-2500 rupees.

of 100 copies.

POORTI NAVEEN BAPAT • NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN, ANDHRA PRADESH • 2020

Vividha is a Bangalore-based trust that provides accessible solutions and resources to people with visual impairment and other disabilities. The aim to create an inclusive life for an individual indifferent of their disabilities. They provide inclusive tactile books to encourage children with visual impairment to learn along with sighted children. They also give support to schools working for the same. They equip the teachers with skills to support learning through training and workshops. Their tactile books have stories and educational content both. They are available on their website and ordered through the mail.

Chandni Rajendra and Saloni Mehta Tactopus laid the foundation in 2018 to create educational products for blind kids in Bangalore. They have developed products that are inclusive and multi-sensory. These are extensively tested and improvised based on the needs of the learners. There are tactile, embossed, textured impressions of these key learning concepts in the form of books, flashcards, game boards, etc. The tactile graphics are augmented with smart technology that acts as an interactive audio companion, helping children learn independently. Although designed to cater to the needs of children with vision loss, they could also be beneficial to children with learning difficulties and other developmental delays. The products are in the range of 10003000 rupees and are available on different e-commerce websites. GRADUATION PROJECT • INCLUSIVE TACTILE STORY BOOK FOR VISUALLY IMPAIRED CHILDREN • 54

POORTI NAVEEN BAPAT • NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN, ANDHRA PRADESH • 2020

There is a variety of textured/tactile books available for sighted children. They are for the early age groups, with the increased complexity of the content too. They start from a range of simple education literature to children’s storybooks. Children love them and keep revisiting the book because of the textures going with the story. The feel and touch books help them increase their cognitive skills and induce education with a fun element. They are engaging and encourages interaction, and also builds their vocabulary and language. Multiple senses are used, which develops imagination and motor skills. There are several independent sellers on amazon and many foreign publishers selling feel&touch books. They are available in the form of board books, with few portions of texture surface achieved through either cloth or textured sheets. Others are made of felt or quilted fabric with different textures and bright colors. The cost of these books varies from 500-2000 rupees and are readily available on various e-commerce platforms.

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POORTI NAVEEN BAPAT • NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN, ANDHRA PRADESH • 2020

National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) created a set of inclusive textbooks of the Barkha series. The feature of accessibility for both abled and disabled children in 40 books for classes 1 and 2, an effort to make inclusive classroom learning. They were having problems back for producing as the production facilities weren’t available. But it did happen with a long try of 2 years, in which many teachers, educators, and disability rights organizations participated. The final set is accessible to children with different levels of vision impairment, autism, mental retardation, mobility, and hearing impairment. In the inclusive book, important characters are given individual textures with images printed in high resolution for children with low vision. The different characters which appear in multiple stories got signature textures. The advanced-level books in the series have Braille dots over the regular text. The use of transparent PolyBraille allows sighted children to read through the dots that are also durable and do not discolor easily. Biro-binding holds the book together has replaced staples to prevent injury to the tactile graphic. It became hard to replicate these books on a mass scale. The produces could print only 75-100 books in a day. The design was complex and a lot of stories were up for printing with a lot of restrictions.Producing these books was not feasible, the inclusive version cost between 8001000 rupees. The huge challenge was to get output that is not just in braille but is suitable for different disabilities.

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Existing Prototype

It was required to understand how RLF has taken the initiative to create a tactile storybook. The study about this product with other books gave more clarity about what were the expectations as an outcome. There were few aspects like visuals, navigation, inclusivity, and design that were considered while studying the product. The book has basic visuals that are mass-produced using the thermoforming method. The printed medium is designed so that the book is suitable for low vision kids as well. These books are an inclusive way of learning, reading, and enjoying some popular children’s stories. The study laid the base of the project, as we got a hold of what works and what should be incorporated. It definitely had a great response and demand towards it. They cost around 500 and can be shipped worldwide on-demand.

POORTI NAVEEN BAPAT • NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN, ANDHRA PRADESH • 2020

The cover page does not have any tactile graphics but printed illustrations. Some graphics could have been included here, to make it engaging as well as use it to impart some preliminary information.

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The proportion can be better and more textures can be incorporated. This page gives the first glimpse of the character. Illustration can be more attractive considering sighted kids.

POORTI NAVEEN BAPAT • NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN, ANDHRA PRADESH • 2020

The tactile graphic can be interesting and water texture could have been wavy, as the texture of water is considered as such, universally. The stone could have had a different texture, with some embossing on the grass too. Overall though, the composition is simplified and works well.

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The movement in the bird’s head, while keeping the composition same, creates confusion and also makes the flow monotonous.

POORTI NAVEEN BAPAT • NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN, ANDHRA PRADESH • 2020

The water and stone’s texture are similar, which can be puzzling for the reader. Though the similar dimension of the bird, can be helpful in identifying the character.

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The rim of the pot is drawn over the bird’s head which can confuse the reader about the visibility of the bird, if it was infact supposed to be inside the pot.

POORTI NAVEEN BAPAT • NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN, ANDHRA PRADESH • 2020

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POORTI NAVEEN BAPAT • NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN, ANDHRA PRADESH • 2020

Material Sourcing Initially, the idea was to get cloth of different textures because it might increase affordability when bought in a large quantity for production. After market research, we found out there is not a lot of variety of texture. Even if there is some textured cloth, they were expensive. Therefore, we chose paper instead of it. After few suggestions, we went to Chawari Bazar, Delhi, where there is a whole lane of handmade paper and wedding card vendors. We bought papers with different textures and colors to create a range to choose from while creating graphics. For the second prototype, I ordered the required textures from kaagzi. com, which were delivered at home in the best condition. Material sourcing was a fun process, as handmade papers were so beautiful and unique to collect.

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For our first prototype, we decided to put together a solely handmade book. The reason behind this was to understand the experience of handcrafting a tactile book like the educators. The prototype was made in the first lockdown with limited resources and took almost a week to assemble. I received the content printed in braille by the team off Rlf through the post. The visual design was as minimalistic as possible with simplistic composition.

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This is the front page which includes all the characters to come in the story. These characters are placed side by side in order for the reader to comprehend the characters and other related elements.

POORTI NAVEEN BAPAT • NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN, ANDHRA PRADESH • 2020

This page introduces our readers to frequenntly appearing textures in the story. This is done, so that they become familiar with the form of characters.

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The characters have a simplified form. The placement of the character is basic and adjacent to potray a conversation according to the text. All the uneccesary and aesthetics elements were avoided for better perecption.

POORTI NAVEEN BAPAT • NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN, ANDHRA PRADESH • 2020

The material used for both the insects have different textures. Their forms are differently heighted and shows movement. All the textured material as well as the background is brightly colored for readers with low vision, too.

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The composition involves their heads as occupying the significant space of the page. The sun is in the frame to depict the setting of summers in the story.

POORTI NAVEEN BAPAT • NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN, ANDHRA PRADESH • 2020

For the reader to identify the presence of both the characters, textures from which the characters are made, occupy most of the space. This is done to illustrate a conversation between the two main characters.

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While keeping the background and the setting constant, the size of the insects have been reduced and the space between them increased, to describe the movement of the ant away from that of the grasshopper’s form. This is clarified more by the change in the direction of the ant.

POORTI NAVEEN BAPAT • NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN, ANDHRA PRADESH • 2020

However, in the tactile version of this paper, such changes would take away the sensation of the texture and hence the understanding of the characters and their forms. Thus the distance between the two characters has not been reduced for the readers to perceive the textures accurately and generate information from it.

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In the text provided only grasshopper is mentioned in a forward moving stance, with winter setting. Therefore, the middle of the page is covered by grasshopper in a position depicting forward motion in the snow.

POORTI NAVEEN BAPAT • NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN, ANDHRA PRADESH • 2020

Now, to present the contrast in the settings of summer and winter, cotton has been used as the texture of the snow, because it is a widely used material to depict the same.

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Here a conversation is illustrated out between the grasshopper and the ant with the addition of a new element, anthill. This is done by elevation of the ant to communicate the presence of the anthill.

POORTI NAVEEN BAPAT • NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN, ANDHRA PRADESH • 2020

A little bit of earthy texture, similar to that of the ground (from previous graphics) is used for the making of the anthill. Wool is used to form the outline of the grain.

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The illustration is unrelated to the text in which both the grasshopper and the ant have a grain to visually conclude the story.

POORTI NAVEEN BAPAT • NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN, ANDHRA PRADESH • 2020

The tactile graphic includes the textured material configuring the grasshopper and the ant with wool forming the shape of a grain on the backs of these characters. This was done to create a stimulating page and to appeal to the readers towards the moral of the story.

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All the important characters are vertically placed so that each element can fit perfectly. This is to introduce the characters to the reader.

POORTI NAVEEN BAPAT • NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN, ANDHRA PRADESH • 2020

Element of fruit was replaced by the title embossed in braille and the paper used for the cover page is also textured. The front page also includes the textured surface used to form characters for easy navigation throughout the story.

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The composition is made to show a conversation between the monkey and the crocodile on land. The text is placed right below the illustration.

POORTI NAVEEN BAPAT • NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN, ANDHRA PRADESH • 2020

The entire tree was not incorporated in this depiction, rather a branch was made out of handmade paper to establish the idea that a monkey is present on a tree. The tactile graphics are large in size, so the text was moved to the parallel page.

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The focus is shifted to the crocodile as per the text. Therefore the character is zoomed into the entire page.

POORTI NAVEEN BAPAT • NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN, ANDHRA PRADESH • 2020

A crocodile skin textured paper is used to give the feel of a surface similar to that of the character. Special emphasis is given to the structure of the teeth in order to signify the threatening nature of the animal. The background is given the texture of ground.

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Two crocodiles, with one’s snout closed, while the other’s snout holds a fruit in its mouth are present to establish that a discourse is happening between them. . POORTI NAVEEN BAPAT • NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN, ANDHRA PRADESH • 2020

As the snouts are big and could not be fit at the same level on a page, one snout was positioned slightly higher than the other to give proper surface area for the texture to span out. The water is not made of a wavy texture, instead a glossy smooth paper is utilised to create a distinction in the perception of texture of water and crocodile.

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The attention is placed on the wife as mentioned in the text.

POORTI NAVEEN BAPAT • NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN, ANDHRA PRADESH • 2020

The color of the paper used for making the lady crocodile is lighter in shade, for people with lower vision to distinguish between the pair. The texture of the heart is similar to the fruit, to encapsulate the essence of the story.

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This page shows a similar depiction where they are having a conversation. POORTI NAVEEN BAPAT • NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN, ANDHRA PRADESH • 2020

The crocodile is bigger and is positioned over a textured paper representing the ground. GRADUATION PROJECT • INCLUSIVE TACTILE STORY BOOK FOR VISUALLY IMPAIRED CHILDREN • 98

The crocodile and the monkey are facing in the same direction to give a sense of forward movement as specified in the text.

POORTI NAVEEN BAPAT • NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN, ANDHRA PRADESH • 2020

The surfaces of elements give a completely different appearance and sensation and the reader would readily distinguish between each element.

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Since this is the point in the story where the monkey is having an epiphany, to depict the highlight, here the illustration of the monkey is spread across the page.

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The monkey is made up of two types of textured material enabling one to recognize the expression of the character.

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Monkey is shown in a bouncing movement across branches, while the crocodile can be seen gaping at monkey’s actions in the water.

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The layout helps you to navigate each of the textures in an orderly manner.

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The moral of the story is illustrated by a simple fruit form as a supporting graphic.

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The previously used textured material for the fruits is used here again, in an enlarged form with texture of the ground in it’s background.

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Questionnare There should be a unique relationship between the content and the form of graphics of a tactile book. We can build resources to create surfaces with striking and valuable information and modify them according to the feedback. Studying the concept of computational thinking and formative evaluation and going through research papers, there are different methodologies/steps/levels through which we can analyze the response for the tactile book. To test if the perception of tactile graphics/book is happening accurately, we can follow the steps to have a better understanding and a chance to produce a quality experience.

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-Ask an overview of what they understood while going through the book briefly for the first time without any assistance. -Page by page flow of the narrative according to them. -Question them about the texture used, whether one could easily be differentiated. -Is there any confusion in any two graphics because the form is repetitive in the narrative. -The tactile graphic is relatable to the text on the page. Once they go through it on their own, we can explain to them each page according to the narrative. It helps them to generate a path that encourages them to reflect on their previously perceived information. There can be a difference in the response by different people according to their tactile perception. There can be a series of questions and observations done, even after this stage.

-We can try to find a pattern of their reactions towards particular textured surfaces that are repetitive. It might help us find a sense of association with certain tangible elements they have already come across. Example: If a particular texture like that of grass is constructed to depict certain information, that they might have perceived in real-life. -Is there any difference between their understanding of the story and the tactile surface after you explained? -Ask them about any insight or any other advice they want to propose, for an informative conversation. -Ask them to explain what they think about a particular tactile illustration/surface or any graphic they like. -Have they come across any tactile surface around them that the book has? Lastly, the book should be easy to read through, can be enjoyed yet handy and easily accessible. It’s also significant to take a detailed review of the educator who might or might not be present. It will help to adapt to the needs of children with visual disabilities.

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Proofreading In the first proofreading, we relied on the questionnaire to gather information about the perception of our prototype. For the ant and grasshopper, the title page had a lot of elements that distract the reader from distinguishing between the main characters. We also found that the legs of the ant and the grasshopper helped te reader to navigate through the storybook. The corn texture was not standing out to make sense. A slight difference in the position of the characters representing body movement was not clear and easily perceivable by the reader. The composition of the ant and anthill together did not work, as the reader thought it was levitating because they took the structure of their legs as a reference point.

Few pages had them zoomed all over to establish a conversation happening in the text that happened to be a complete fail. The elements were oversized than the previous reference form and, the tactile information was scattered all over the place. The texture of water made using glossy paper was not depicting the required information and needed a universal approach. We also realized to omit tactile graphics that are out of context and do not add meaning to the content.

In the monkey and the crocodile, the title page was working pretty fine as the two characters were easily distinguished because of the form and texture and gave a sense of reference point. In some frames, they found the graphic of crocodiles confusing because of its cartoonish nature and gave a sense of perspective.

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The second prototype came after the thorough proofreading of the previous one. Results gave us insights to create a better experience and focus on the production aspect of the books. The braille material package sent by the team also had printed backgrounds with embossing done on certain elements whose texture can be re-constructed through a braille embosser like that of ground. All the cutouts of the characters were almost of similar sizes along with the eyes. All of this helped cut down on the assembling time of the book and reduced it to a day. The aim was to make minimal human efforts without hampering the quality of tactile graphics.

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The cover page consists of the two main characters of the story, in sizes that are kept constant throughout illustrations in the entire book, so as to simplify the identification of characters by the reader.

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Similar textures have been adapted from the last prototype and the graphics are already printed for easy pasting of cutouts to create their own graphics without any difficulty.

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The colors used are to give the appearance of brightness to the overall page and the characters are of sizable amount and are in action.

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The ground has an embossing to give it a rough sensation with the characters having more surface area than the previous stereotype, as the text has now been shifted from the bottom of the right side to the next page completely.

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The graphics are much alike to the previous page with some elements modified. To exemplify, the direction of the ant and guitar are changed, as well as the antenna of the grasshopper twigged in design.

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The cutout used to create the form of the characters are kept similar in size including the eyes and other features of the character. The sun is made by wounding a thread of wool in a spiral.

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This illustration is akin to the previous version in the last prototype as it was successfully perceived.

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Contrary to the last prototype, the full face rather than the side profile of the grasshopper is included in its form here, in order for the reader to perceive it easily.

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The visual is close to the former prototype in form, but the size of the characters is again kept constant throughout, which was not the case with the former prototype.

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Here special focus is denoted to the anthill, so It can be described to the readers that the ant is coming out of anthill.

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Everything is identical to the previous prototype.

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The size of the tactile character is comparatively larger.

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The cover page has the two characters enlarged than their previous versions in the last prototype, with the title in between.

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The color printout has an embossing of the title on it, with the characters having their respective textures.

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The crocodile is on the ground and has smaller dimensions comparatively. In addition a branch with two fruits hanging was introduced for a better composition comprehension.

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The branch and the ground is embossed on printed paper with the usual texture of fruit made out of felt and crocodile skin paper.

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The composition is similar to the previous kind. There is an increment in the crocodile as well as the fruit’s size.

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The eyes and the size of fruit are constant throughout the book. The printed sheet is embossed to create the texture of a branch and ground on the printed paper itself.

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The form of the pair is spread out on the entire page which gives a lot of surface to be easily perceived and decode the visual.

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The wavy texture of the water is embossed on the printed page which gives a sense of contrast between the texture of the crocodile and water.

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Identical to the previous prototype.

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The texture of the water gives the sensation of the crocodile completely immersed in it.

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Similar to the previous prototype.

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The change in texture establishes that the conversation is happening on the ground under the tree.

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Similar to the previous prototype.

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The three different textures help the reader to identify the movement suggested in the text.

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Illustration here is along the lines of the former variety.

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The position of various textures is in a way that provides playfulness to the illustrations depicting the story.

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To add to the value of the page including the moral of the story, this time monkey was also inserted with the fruit.

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There are two kinds of elements with different textures which creates a contrast and add value to the concluding page.

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Proofreading

-The wavy embossing can be more prominent as it is difficult to establish a contrast between the water and the elements present in it. -The texture of the fruit was not appealing and can In the second proofreading of our revised prototype, we be replaced as it was strenuous for the reader to perceive followed a similar process, with the previous questionnaire the element of fruit if there are minute changes in the form. For example, the difference created when the fruit -The extra elements in the story with complex forms, like instruments (guitar), can be either simplified or comparatively was presented on the branch v/s in the mouth of the crocodile was not readily distinguishable. enlarged else omitted completely. -The frame where the monkey jumps towards the branch and -The third page from the grasshopper and the ant prototype the crocodile was still in water was strongly questioned by the can be completely omitted as it is serving no useful purpose reader because it was confusing to establish the conversation other than the depiction of the ant exiting the scene. between the monkey and the crocodile due to changes in the -The anthill still creates confusion and cannot be identified setting. Earlier the discourse between the two animals was by the reader in their first experience with the graphics. in the terrestrial environment which was later carried out This confusion was cleared only after careful explanation in the aquatic environment. It became challenging for the by the educator. reader as the settings provided cues for them to understand -The tactile graphic on the page with the moral of the the storyline. story is not conveying anything related to the storyline and requires a little effort on the part of the reader to Overall the reading went as expected and the readers were decipher its meaning. Thus, it can be kept or removed able to recognize different revised elements on a single page in the story based on the educator’s willingness. which they were able to relate to the content of the story. -Braille embossing on the branches in the monkey and There were some issues related to the embossing which can crocodile prototype, is difficult to comprehend for the be rectified. The feedback by the readers was promising and readers and thus it should be either made more compact can be taken a step forward by creating a new better prototype or an altogether different pattern of embossing should be and maybe someday into further production. introduced, one that is more easily perceptible.

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Costing We did a hypothetical costing for mass-producing the books to understand the pricing related to different factors of the production. The value of a product on a unit basis is typically obtained by compiling the costs associated with a batch produced and dividing that by the number of units manufactured. We began with finalizing the product as an assembled book along with a DIY set for the same. It would include the cut-out of the characters and printed background pages with embossing wherever necessary and some craft supplements. The cost comprehends material, labor, and overhead charges. The print of the page with embossing will be 15/- per sheet. The texture sheets used are of different costs, depending on their availability, demand, and quality. Some of the pages from the book have more than three textured sheets. Therefore the average prize becomes 60/- per sheet and can vary according to the area used. Labor pay is also a significant factor to be considered while formulating the value of the product. A person is paid 600/- for 8 hours in which they assemble the book by pasting the elements together. Labor work will also be needed to cut the forms out of the textured sheet in the absence of the appropriate machinery. While in the DIY set, only the cost of material is charged that eases out the production cost. Some organizations charge 50 to 100 percent profit over the production cost. But with this product, one can take 30-40 percent of the manufacturing cost, as their margin. So the book might cost around 700-1000 rupees depending upon the number of pages. If produced in bulk, the cost might reduce 10 percent for the retail market.

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Content is to be selected based on its property to be molded into a tactile graphic. Anything irrelevant to the concept/story should be omitted like, decorative lines and extra elements on the character or background.

Universally identified textures should be incorporated, like Water, grass, snow, etc. If a tactile graphic needs more space, then the content is shifted to the adjacent page. If not, then it is to be kept at a distance giving space to both tactile graphic and embossed text that is to be perceived.

There can be confusion when various components of a particular scene are placed too close to each other and become hard to distinguish tactfully. So for clarity, it’s better to create a break between the elements and have

The printed files of the inclusive storybook must have contrasting colorful visuals to create interest among sighted and low vision children.

One can also subtext besid tactile graph explain part instances in

a spacious composition.

There should not be any images with 3D perspective, converted into a 2D tactile graphics as they might be misleading for the reader.

If one is trying to use handmade textured sheets or textured cloth they should not compromise with the quality of the surface and find something close to the inspiration as they can develop a sense of association and collect a bank of tactile memories.

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The textures used in a single page should be contrasting, with of 4 to 5 of them in each page.

The characters shoul features, for example the grasshopper and them more identifiab intended readers.

Never underestimate your readers/users.

Visually impaired ki the story first and th graphics. Hence, it i together selected sce understanding of the

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o add a de the hic to ticular the story.

To avoid the subtext, one can also have the explanatory text itself for the reader to relate to the tactile content. They can design the content itself, tailored to explain the graphics along with the story.

ld have distinctive e, the legs of the ant, to make ble to the

One should use quality materials for assembling the book and use proper adhesive according to the material used.

ds will decode hen relate to the is significant to put enes for a better e content.

The characters should have distinctive features, for example, the legs of the grasshopper and the ant, to make them more identifiable to the intended readers.

All the characters must have distinctive textures and forms to identify their separate presence in a particular scene while reading the story.

The s ize of t he charact ers s hould be t he s ame t hroug hout t he book f or be t t e r pe rce pt ion an d n avig at ion t hroug hou ho u t t he s t or y.

One should thoroughly study the production techniques available that can be used as interventions later to increase production efficiency.

More materials apart from paper and cloth, for example, clay, thermocol, etc., can be utilized for different tactile experiences.

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Reflection The project was an eye-opening journey that helped me look at design as a tool for initiating changes and a chance to create equality in education. When designing an inclusive product, one should have empathy to understand and consider the requirements, indifferent of one’s disabilities. This project helped me to be a better person than my former self. It has taught me to be more compassionate towards people, think about their needs, and step out of the box to become a capable designer for society. It was a tough time for everyone, as all of us were affected by the pandemic, both mentally and physically. The project faltered beyond doubt, as much, that I ended up thinking I might have to discontinue. However, everything fell into place and the experience I had was quite insightful and exciting. It was an opportunity to attempt a design challenge, including both visual and tangible factors combining. My association with IIT-D was so valuable, it was almost a dream come true. It motivated me to give my best through processes like, reflecting on feedback and making appropriate design decisions. The brief we created was complex, but we managed to come closer to finding conclusions that could prove to be significant improvements in this field. It was a bold move, an unconventional graduation project, but I am glad I did. It was thrilling to know people are rigorously working to change the perspective of conventional products. Everyone involved in this project inspired me to put my design knowledge to use and relentlessly question things that affects one’s design process. I hope the day comes soon when we all experience a more inclusive world and a storybook in every child’s hand.

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Links & References http://www.inclusivedesigntoolkit.com/whatis/whatis.html https://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/english-association/primary/primary-plus/411online/inclusive-books https://www.designcouncil.org.uk/news-opinion/inclusive-design-beyond-accessibility https://www.colorado.edu/project/bbb/sites/default/files/attached-files/dalton_musetti_making_ and_multimodal_composition.pdf https://www.researchgate.net/publication/266656178_Technology_to_support_emergent_literacy_ skills_in_young_children_with_visual_impairments https://archive.ifla.org/IV/ifla73/papers/156-Skoeld-en.pdf https://www.thinkerbelllabs.com/blog/braille-literacy-important-step-social-inclusion/ Cognitive development https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042810014394 http://www.intellectualdisability.info/physical-health/articles/visual-impairment-its-effect-oncognitive-development-and-behaviour https://www.teachingvisuallyimpaired.com/impact-on-development--learning.html https://helpmegrowmn.org/HMG/HelpfulRes/Articles/WhatCognitiveDev/index.html https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/23275t7731.pdf

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Tactile perception https://www.doverehab.com/2019/05/tactile-perception/ https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/ abs/10.1177/0145482X7607000701?journalCode=jvba Handmade books https://www.ijsr.net/archive/v10i1/SR21118022448.pdf MARKET RESEARCH Sighhted children textile book https://www.panmacmillan.co.za/blogs/books-for-children/top3-reasons-babies-will-love-the-my-first-touchhttps://www.slq. qld.gov.au/blog/why-you-should-share-touch-and-feel-books Ncert project https://scroll.in/article/837457/india-has-designed-arevolutionary-new-set-of-accessibleschool-books-but-printers-come-up-short

Brand https://www.chetana.org.in/index https://www.edexlive.com/people/2017/dec/04/the-storyof-a-little-trust-doing-big-things-for-children-withdisabilities-1707.html https://www.thebetterindia.com/80930/meet-tactabetinnovative-book-help-children-learn-braille/ https://newzhook.com/story/visually-impaired-educationbeyond-braille-inclusive-tactile-picture-series-blind-kids/ https://beyondbraille.com/founder/ https://vividhatrust.org https://tactopus.com https://bookofachievers.com/articles/chandni-and-salonideveloped-tactopus-a-methodthat-makes-it-easier-for-the-blind-to-learn-better https://newzhook.com/story/21499/

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POORTI NAVEEN BAPAT

+91 7995657932 poorti.naveen@gmail.com poorti.bapat@nid.ac.in

Textile and apparel National Institute of Design Andhra Pradesh

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Colophon Document is set in Helvitica Neue and Adobe Garamond Pro Created using Adobe InDesign 2021 Illustration on Procreate Edited and Designed by- Poorti Naveen Bapat Year of completion- 2020 Sponsor: Indian Institute of Technology Delhi Guide: Arnab Senapati

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“Live without seeing, but be what you are” -Louis Braille

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