Planning my Project Brief was a little more difficult than I thought. I have such a huge area to work with. I decided to break it down into different sections. This way I had all my points and ideas I wanted to include in my Brief. Here are my plans and extracts from my brief to help you get a better idea of my project and what I intend to do!
Rationale and Ambition:
The main aim of this project is to
design and produce a practical design outcome that will help raise awareness
about a condition called Autism Spectrum Disorder through illustration and
storytelling. Autism is a lifelong developmental condition that affects one in
one hundred people in the United Kingdom. (The National Autistic Society,
2012)
It can be described as a hidden condition. This simply means that the condition
does not affect a person’s physical appearance. (The National
Autistic Society, 2012) However, autism affects how a person
communicates and relates to the world surrounding them and with other people. Jon
Kolko, Vice President of Design at MyEdu, talks about the idea of “wicked
problems” in his book “Wicked Problems: Problems worth Solving”. This reminded
the author of autism as being a “wicked problem.” Kolko describes “wicked
problems” as being both a social and cultural problems.
“A wicked problem is a social or cultural
problem that is difficult or impossible to solve…” (Kolko,
2012)
There are times in society where
some people are not treated the same as others. People with autism are often
treated differently because of they was they behave in certain situations. The “wicked
problem” is that because autism is so hard to recognise, these people are often
not treated as equals. Others may not understand the condition clearly enough
and as a result may not recognise a if a person has autism or not. The goal of
this project is to educate people about autism. Help them to understand the
condition and understand a person with the condition better. It is important
that everyone is treated equally.
According to the Equality Act
2010, autism is considered to be one of the Protected Characteristics. The
Equality Act prohibits discrimination against people who fall under the
category of protected characteristics. Autism is considered a disability. This
is because autism is a mental impairment that causes lifelong adverse effects
on an individual’s ability to carry out everyday tasks. (Equality Act 2010,
Part Two, Chapter One) Everyone is different. Everyone deserves a chance to be known for who
they are and deserves to be treated equally. Just because someone acts a little
differently does not mean they are strange. A crucial part of this project is
to make people more aware of the condition. In order to do this a great deal of
research about the condition must take place. It is necessary to learn as much
as possible about autism and the different affects it can have not only on the
person with the condition but affects it has on their families and friends too.
It is essential that this project helps make everyday life a little bit easier
for someone with autism and help those who do not know much about the condition
learn something new.
Illustration and storytelling will
play a great part in the creation of this project. In order to raise awareness
there needs to be an honest account of what autism is and the characteristics
associated with the condition. Through illustration and narrative there is the
opportunity to create a series of images and stories to show what autism is and
the affects it can have on an individual and their family. There is also an
opportunity to portray the good times and the bad times that can be associated
with autism, capturing the user’s experience. Through experimenting with
different styles and strengths it is possible to create an appealing,
educational and unique piece of work that will raise awareness about autism and
help the world understand and be aware of the condition.
The main goal of the project is to
raise awareness about Autism Spectrum Disorder through illustration and
storytelling. The ambition is to help others understand and to not judge a book
by its cover.
Problem to Solve:
Autism does not affect a person’s
physical appearance. It is very hard to tell straight off if someone has autism
or not. Young children with autism can come across as being naughty. Adults can
come across as being strange. Many people with autism are misunderstood. It is
important to make people aware of the condition. By doing so, it will help the
person with autism and their families and friends get by a little easier.
Through illustration and storytelling there is an opportunity to do so. Naturalistic
observation and studying the condition further there is a wide range of
different scenario’s to work with. The autistic spectrum is so broad that there
are much different area’s to research. The main focus of this project is to
educate people about autism and make them aware of the condition and the
affects it has on an individual. It is significant to help them understand the
condition and to not be quick to judge a person on first impressions. It is
important that throughout the design process the content remains relatable for
the person with autism and their families. It is also important that it is
informative and easy to understand. It is also vital the project is honest in
all respects. It must show both the good and the bad times faced by those who
have the condition and by those who live with a person who is autistic. Through
illustration there is a great scope to work it. There is a great opportunity to
design and produce an emotively captivating and educational product.
Customers and Users for my Final Design Outcome:
There is a wide audience that this
product could appeal to. In the UK alone there are over 500,000 people who have
autism. Over two million people’s lives are touched by autism every day in the
UK. This works out as every one person in thirty. This number could include family
members, friends, far out relations and acquaintances. These are the categories
in several customer or user groups.
1.
The parents of an autistic child. This project
could help them learn more about the condition. It could help prepare them and
their child for the future. This project could teach them different methods to
help them handle certain situations that could cause their child to become
anxious and frustrated such as a change of plan in their daily routine.
2.
The siblings of an autistic child. They might not
understand the condition or be aware that there is anything different about
their sibling. This product could help explain what the condition is. This in
turn could help them understand the condition a bit better and help their
brother and sister out with certain tasks that may prove to be difficult for
them.
3.
The child or
adult with autism. In the case of an adult who has autism this product may help
them understand their condition. It may also help them throughout their own day
to day lives when taking part in social activities and events. As for an
autistic child this product could help teach them about sharing, road safety
and everyday social rules that people abide by.
4.
People who work in public sectors such as shop assistants, bus drivers and teachers. It may help them to recognize if someone
has autism. They will be able to pin point certain characteristics of the
condition and then they will be able to assists the individual who has autism
accordingly.
At
the moment there is no definite design solution. There is no final product as
of yet. This means that the customer or user could be all of the above
categories. It is essential that this project provides enough information about
autism and its characteristics to help people to understand the condition
whether or not they are relatives, friends or strangers from the outside
Design Production Technology
Depending on what the final
outcome of this project will be will decide what technology will be used. The
project is essentially illustration based. Therefore there will be a lot of
manual work. Character design and storyboarding will be a core part of the
planning process. Once the drawings of the characters and the storyboards are
completed they will be scanned. From there they will be edited and refined
using the Adobe Creative Suite software that best suits the design. A graphics
tablet may also be used to add little details to the images as well as adding
finishing touches. A graphics tablet will allow drawings to be created directly
onto the screen. Depending on the style and feel of the illustrations will
depend on whether or not they are hand drawn and keep their natural, sketchy
feel or whether they are going to be computer generated images.
The final
design outcome of this project is unclear there are many other types of
software that can be used. In the case of a moving image or animation is
created to raise autism awareness there are a wide range of computer programmes
that can be used such as Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere Pro, and Adobe Flash. If
it was a stop motion animation a digital camera would be needed as well as the
software Adobe Photoshop to edit and correct the photographs taken to make the
animation. The software Stop Motion Pro could be used to put the animation
together to allow it to run as a final moving image.
As stated,
the final outcome has yet to be decided. There is a wide area to work with. It
is important to try and find the right design to spread the message about
autism. At the moment it is an open project with one main goal, to raise autism
awareness.
In
this research several resources were used during the literature review and
marketing analysis. Internet search engines were used to as a tool for general
investigation and to scope for commercial information. The University of Ulster
library catalogues were used as well as some specifically purchased literature
to educate the author, whose sibling has autism.
Lorca
Damon is a mother of a child who is severely autistic. Damon’s book “Autism By
Hand” is a step by step guide of how Damon raised her daughter Carrie. Damon
describes her book as a
“…well
thought out laundry list of everything [she] did to help [her] daughter be the best person she could be…” (Damon, 2011)
Damon
wrote this book to help other parents who are going through a similar
situation. Damon’s book is not filled with scientific facts or medical
information. She simply wanted to tell her story and give her readers a glimpse
of how she raised her daughter. This book shows the reader what it is like from
the parent’s personal experience.
“Songs
of the Gorilla Nation” shares the life experiences of Dawn Prince-Hughes.
Prince-Hughes was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome when she was thirty six
years old. Her story shows how she struggled with her condition. She found it
difficult to communicate with others including her family members.
Prince-Hughes takes the reader through her highs and lows living with Asperger’s
syndrome and how she overcame life’s obstacles.
Mark
Haddon wrote a book called “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time”.
This is a fictional novel about a boy who has Asperger’s syndrome. Haddon tells
the story of Christopher Boone who is fifteen years old. Christopher is a
charterer like no other. He is set in
his ways. He loves maths. He hates the colour yellow and brown. He hates being
touched. Without realising it, the reader is learning about the characteristics
of the condition. The reader can relate to the character. They learn about his
condition and grow to love him.
Narrative
can play an important part in the final design outcome. It is possible to
create empathy with the user through a narrative piece. Illustration can
develop a narrative further. Visual aids can assist the narrative, allowing the
user to get a deeper understanding of the overall message the final outcome
wishes to portray. By illustrating the characters in a narrative piece can make
them become real. Illustrations can show how the character in the story is feeling,
which in turn will allow the reader to see the characters expressions.
Illustration and storytelling can be used as a functional tool to convey a
better understanding of the scenario taking place within a narrative.
A great deal of information for this
project comes from personal experience and naturalistic observation. This
first-hand experience will play a huge part in this project. There is an
understanding and knowledge about the condition which will in turn lend a great
hand in the design process. The observation extends through life time two
decades living with a sibling who is now twenty years of age. Side by side, the
author and the sibling have grown up together. There is a knowledge and a great
understanding from this which gives the author the ability to draw from
personal experience and help others learn about the condition.
There are other ways to raise
awareness about ASD. An excellent example is through animation. Aardman
Animation paired up with Leonard Cheshire Disability to create a series of
short animation to raise awareness about people with disabilities. Leonard
Cheshire Disability is an organisation who helps people who have physical
impairments and learning disabilities. They aspire to help everyone understand
disability and combat discrimination against it. The organisation supports
thousands of people in the UK and works with disabled people in over fifty
countries. (Leonard Cheshire Disability 2011) Aardman Animations are well known
for their stop-motion animation. They have created a number of different
animated productions over the years, such as “Chicken Run” (2000), “Wallace and
Gromit: The Curse of The Were-Rabbit” (2005). (Aardman, 2012) They also
released a book called “Cracking Animation” in the year 2010, to help give young
animators starting off a glimpse of what it is like to make a stop motion
animation from scratch. “Creature Discomforts” is a series of short and sweet
animations to help raise awareness about disability. It is a fun and unique
approach to spread the word about disability and help people understand that
these are people too.
“Abled bodied people need to learn…to think
differently about what they say to [disabled people]” (Creature
Discomforts 2012)
These are real stories being told
by real people. Aardman simply took these stories and created characters based
on the sound of the voices they heard. The animations are humorous and
relatable. What made this animation so effective was that these were real
people telling their story.
English broadcaster Louis Theroux
is known for his documentaries on BBC. In April 2012, BBC aired his latest one
called “Extreme Love- Autism”. In this documentary, Theroux goes to America and
visits a school in New Jersey called DLC Warren. DLC Warren is one of the most innovative schools of
its kind for young people who have autism. Theroux goes to DLC Warren to learn
about young people who have autism and the affects it has on them and their
families. Theroux gets an insight into
“The pleasures and the strains of one of the most extraordinary kinds of
relationships” (Extreme
Love-Autism, 2012)
This documentary shows the viewer how broad the autism
spectrum is. The viewer gets to see different children of different ages from
different backgrounds. Each child has autism but it does not affect them all in
the same way. This is a real eye opener of how huge this condition really is.
There is a wide range of media to
choose from. There is enough information about autism on the internet, in
books, articles and documentaries to gather a good body of material to help
make this project a success.
Manufacture: The Final Design Outcome
The final design has yet to be
decided. The final design outcome it could be anything from a phone application
to an illustrative series of illustrative books or interactive books, an
interactive game, a moving image piece or a series of informative leaflets and
posters, however developed from an illustrative base. The final design outcome
needs to help educate the customer/user about autism and the affects it has on
an individual. These issues are complex, a priority list or diagram will be
made regarding users and the issues they experience. It must clearly explain the characteristics of
autism and remind them that we must have patience and understanding towards
people who may seem a little bit different. If the final design is aimed mainly
at an individual who has the autism, it is crucial that the product helps this
individual understand their condition and helps make their lives a little bit
easier every day. It must also help families and friends of the individual have
a better understanding of the condition. This too will help them through their
lives and in turn help their friend or relative with autism in throughout their
everyday lives. The final design outcome must raise awareness about autism and
help people learn and understand the condition a little bit better.
Time and Place
What is the best time for this
project? The answer is anytime. Autism is a lifelong developmental disorder. It
is not something that goes away overnight. There is always a time to make
people aware of the condition and to teach them more about autism and the way
it affects the people who have it. Damon states in her book “Autism by Hand”
that no matter what happens, someone with autism will have autism for life.
There is no point sitting around and doing nothing. This condition will not go
away. This is a fact that must be accepted and because of this we must try our
best to equip those who have autism the best we can and help them live in a
world that won’t always meet their needs.
“…It’s not going change a thing, so get past
it already and get to work equipping your child to live in a world that doesn’t
meet his needs.” (Damon 2011)
By raising awareness and helping
people to realise what this condition is, it can get easier for those who have
autism.
In regards to the time and the
place where it would be suitable to use this product could depend on the
situation. It could be used as part of a routine. This design could be used as
a tool to show different situations a person with autism may be facing and how
they can handle these circumstances. It could also be used as a guide for an
autistic child’s family, to help them help their child deal with an everyday
scenario like going to the shops, visiting a relative or having a meal with
their family in a restaurant. Each scenario will have several different outcomes
and will cover a range of different obstacles and events that could take place
from that one scenario. For example, if it was a family dinner from the point
of view of the autistic child the design would cover a number of events such as
getting ready to go to the restaurant, waiting to be seated, giving their
orders and eating their meal. It would then cover one scenario where things
might not have went to plan and then another where it does go to plan. By using
this design before the event takes place could prepare the child for what will
happen next. It will give them more confidence and they will know what is going
to happen. This will make it easier for them to process the event beforehand
and in turn this will make the event a pleasurable experience rather than an
anxious one.
Time and place would be determined
by the event that is taking place. The final design could be used as part of a
daily routine preparing an autistic child with autism for the day’s events.
Also a series could be designed for adults with autism to help them deal with
certain situations they face in their day to day lives that could cause them
anxiety. It could be used at home before the event takes place. Home is a
familiar place for everyone and anyone. By using it at home there will be a
sense of familiarity and calm surrounding it and therefore it will be easier to
use and to understand.
Once again, depending on the final
result of this project will determine the time and place it will be used.
Conclusion: What Next?
It has
being said that,
“Autism is not a death sentence, but it is a life sentence.” (Damon, 2011)
Autism is a lifelong developmental
disorder that affects how a person communicates with the world and the people
surrounding them. It can be a long and difficult road for those with autism. As
adults they can feel misunderstood and alone. As children they can be seen as
being naughty and tend to have no sense of what is dangerous. Their families do
what they can to help them while they are growing up and teach them to become
the best person they can be. But they will always have autism. This is why it
is important to raise awareness and help educate people about this condition.
This report documents the
beginning of a challenging design project. There is a huge area that this
project can cover. There will be a great deal of research to begin with to
learn about autism and how it can affect different people in different ways. There
is a lot to work with but a great opportunity to create something unique and
beneficial. There is also a great scope to experiment with illustration styles
and storytelling techniques. It is critical that this project creates a
likeable and engaging piece of work that is informative and memorable. It must
be appealing to its audience and easy to understand. However, it is crucial
that the main goal of this project is to raise awareness about autism.
References for my work so far...
Aardman Animations (2010) Aardman Animations. Bristol. United Kingdom.
Available from: http://www.aardman.com/. [Accessed 14 January 2013]
BBC Media
Centre Programme Information (2012) Louis Theroux - Extreme Love: Autism. United Kingdom.
BBC. Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2012/16/Louis-Theroux-Autism.html.
[Accessed 18 December 2012]
Creature Discomforts ( 2012) Creature
Discomforts. Available from: http://www.creaturediscomforts.org/. [Accessed
18 December 2012].
Damon, L, (2011) Autism by Hand. U.S.A:
Create Space Independent Publishing Platform
Damon, L. (2011) Lorca Damon.
Available from: http://lorcadamon.com/. [Accessed 17 November 12].
Haddon M. (2004) The Curious
Incident of the Dog in the Night Time. London: Vintage
John Kolko
(2013) Interaction Design & Design
Synthesis. Available from: http://www.jonkolko.com/index.php [Accessed 14 January 2013]
Kolko, J. (2012) Wicked Problems:
Problems Worth Solving. United Kingdom:
Oxford University Press. Available from: https://www.wickedproblems.com/
Leonard
Cheshire Disability (2011) Creature
Discomforts. England. Leonard Cheshire Disability. Available from: http://www.creaturediscomforts.org/. [Accessed 18 December 2012]
Leonard
Cheshire Disability (2011) Leonard
Cheshire Disability. England. The Webbler. Available from: http://www.lcdisability.org/. [Accessed 18 December 2012]
Lord, P. Silbey, B, (2010) Cracking
Animation. London, England: Thames & Hudson.
Louis Theroux -Extreme Love, Episode
1, Autism, (2012)
TV, BBC2. April 19. 2100hrs
Norman, D.A. (2011) Living with
Complexity. U.S.A: The MIT Press
Prince- Hughes, D. (2004) Songs of
the Gorilla Nation My Journey through Autism. New York: Three Rivers Press
The National
Archives (2010) Equality Act 2010.
England. The National Archives. Available from: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/contents [Accessed 18 December 2012]
The National Autistic Society, (2012) The National Autistic Societ.y Available from:
http://www.autism.org.uk/. [Accessed 17 November 2012].
Kolko, J. (2012) Wicked Problems:
Problems Worth Solving. United Kingdom:
Oxford University Press. Available from: https://www.wickedproblems.com/
