FMP evaluation

During the course of this final major project, I have encountered a plethora of challenges,

acknowledgements and personal developments.

Having gone through a journey of exploring different potential topics to base my project on, I

settled with the neural developmental disorder, autism. My initial reasons for doing so were that

of a personal nature - my nephew possibly having the disorder (currently in the diagnosis process,

and shows a lot of the symptoms), which triggered a practical and visible view into the intriguing

world of this difficulty. It was this that allowed me to stick comfortably to this topic

consistently (as I would reflect in correlation to his actions, viewpoint, as well as learn new

things from this), which I knew was vital as it is a subject matter I would be living with for a good

while.

Upon beginning with research into autism (as this is a pivotal starting point towards deciphering a

succinct purpose, target audience and set of deliverables- a.k.a the design process), I quickly began

to acknowledge a common set of symptoms, commonalities and struggles within this specific

schema. However, I also began to quickly come to the realisation of a specific niche, a gap that was

desperately waiting to be filled- that of assistive technology, and its interaction with autism. Here

we are, living in a time that could be described as the pinnacle of technological modernity and

efficiency, and yet there was not any (apart from very little, pioneering material- e.g. topcliffe

primary school in Birmingham beginning to test virtual environments in their special school)

information pertaining to the direct implementation of e learning for autistic children. Having

already decided that it is children I wish to focus on due to this being a springboard to prevention

in later years, I quickly began to confirm I would aim to create something that would be used to

help children integrate (ideally) into mainstream schools by the high school age, with the help of

this unimplemented world of help waiting to be discovered. Contextually, there is a lot more

research in the field then actual implementation, largely executed by the leading body related to

autism- the national autistic society, whom I quickly began to familiarise with due to their

inevitable and positive hegemony in the field. This research helped confirm the positive correlation

between e learning and autism symptoms- typically in the form of virtual learning environments

(v.l.es), iPads, and text-to-speech devices.

With these main aspects to e learning, the economic realities of each became quite clear-

comprehensive virtual learning systems were too expensive to be introduced on an introductory

(new phase-in) scale, and text-to-speech devices were too effortful in terms of the correlation of

resources (equipment, training, etc.) to results. So, the remaining option- the use of iPads, was the

most feasible due to their common nature, the existent involvement of them into mainstream

education, etc. It is with this economic backdrop in mind that I chose to create an app with a series

of interactive scenarios/devices for parents and autistic children.

Looking into the social backdrop of my chosen direction, I came to realise the prevalence of autism

support groups run by parents (netmums, several Facebook groups, e.g. children with autism,

autism thinkers, etc.), all tight-knitted and championing a better future/treatment for autistic

children. This then veered me towards two additions- adding parents to the e-learning scheme, and

creating a visual campaign with the view to positively enhancing perceptions of autism, also

breeding an air of common understanding within this field. There I had it- my brief- creating an app

bringing the cohesion of e learning and autism to life, and a visual campaign to view autism

positively. From this I deciphered my target audience (parents and teachers of autistic children in

primary school, aged 5-8 specifically, due to data showing significant skill loss around this age.

Within this research phase, I discovered a company (within this small area of implementation I

mentioned above), named rubycube- based in America; this company designed a series of apps to aid

autistic (as well as ADHD, and other closely related disorders) symptoms via e-learning! Not only

was I astounded at the fact that these guys were doing exactly what I set out to, but the fact that

it was from the (graphic designer) founder, Pete, and his wife jennys daughter being autistic, that

they decided to open up this niche, made these guys all the more pertinent. I instantly got in touch

with them, began liaising and explaining my project, its reasoning, intentions and method, and Pete

was eager to collaborate due to his passion and involvement with autism. This led to the beginning

of a professional relationship that involved discussing research, getting advice on direction, to

then eventually having a form of sponsorship from the company, and setting out agreements of the

involvement rubycube would have in the project. This aspect to my project was very useful for me

personally, as it strengthened my skillset in a professional and industry-related context. This was

from factors such as professional liaison, setting out mutually beneficial terms (e.g. I would use

their apps as part of my project, and they would gain exposure in the U.K from this if I decided to

bring this to reality and propose it to local councils/authorities/special schools- (which I very

much intend to do), learning how much to incorporate the branding and material of rubycube, how

to collaborate this with my material, whilst still giving my brand (autisnt) sufficient grounding,

etc. I thoroughly enjoyed this process. I also decided to create a pair of handbooks for my project-

to guide parents and teachers (each relevant to their encounters with their child/student, i.e. the

teacher handbook detailing how to outline it in schools, economics, training needed, etc. and the

parent handbook with how to follow this up, each detailing how to interact and stimulate the best

they can out of the specifically symptom-tailored material).

In terms of the design industry in relation to my project, there was not a wide array of

modern/contemporary design in my chosen field. There were campaigns (of a modern/aesthetically

pleasing nature), but these were more generic, as well as a few pieces of work I came across from

students. These pieces employed modern design, i.e. incorporating a strong design process, via

involving the symptoms/perspectives of autism and integrating this into their designs (which was

relevant for me to take inspiration from). However specifically into my field, there was hardly any

design/visual material, due to the new-founded nature of the topic, however the app design element

is commonplace, and the gradual refinement of a sleek, modern aesthetic within this field has

definitely taken place, as well as the incorporation of user needs and this blend of function and

form, and so this definitely helped me with my app designs.

From an evaluator perspective I feel the biggest strength to my project was the breadth, validity

and pertinent nature of my research. I laid a strong foundation by creating a clear understanding

of the common symptoms of autistic children within my target audience, in order to tailor the apps

around this, as well as relating factors e.g. the prevalence of bullying, etc. for my visual

campaign. I also felt I cohesively integrated rubycube with autisnt by creating my apps in the same

style, but extending into symptoms/factors that rubycube hadnt yet delved into- e.g. sensory

overload, bullying, and more. However, I must be self-critical and honest, I feel I lacked quite a lot

on the completion of my brief due to not completing my handbooks. They would have been a good

step-by-step guide to the usage of the autisnt apps and the interaction that they should involve

between parents/teachers with child. From an improvement perspective, I feel the main factors for

me to consider was time-management (strictly adhering to planned timings and consistently

working towards completion) as this has been a major downfall for me, and I must have practical

steps implemented for my own personal development to help for future working life, another

factor for improvement was visual refinement (honing in on specific visual genres i.e. infographic,

photography, typographical, etc.) and sticking with these, marrying them to my information

accordingly.

However, the positive factor is that 100% of (content, and a good amount of visual research/own

visual development) research was done towards this, and a sufficient call to action was

incorporated into my visual campaign. Also, the app and visual campaigns were of a higher

importance to my project in relation to their motives and I focused on these heavily. Critically

speaking, another downfall was that I could have bought my campaign to life more- again,

although the research shows I had planned this, and had thought of in-situ ideas of where, how and

why artwork should be placed in certain locations/formats, this should have been visualised, e.g.

through ambient media visualisations, book sleeve mock-ups, website suggestion ads, etc.

Overall, I created a brand- autisnt, and all that goes with this (i.e. an aesthetic identity, tagline),

part of a handbook relating to the implementation of autistic e-learning, an extension of apps

from a commercially existent company, based specifically on symptom-related research, and a

visual campaign aiming to give knowledge about common symptoms, and give a better

understanding of autism to the masses.

I thoroughly enjoyed the project and feel it helped me develop massively, in that running a large-

scale project, and what this entails, was a developmental experience (e.g. scheduling, branching

off yet cohesively bringing it to the central brand, externally liaising (rubycube, national autistic

society, n.a.s.g.a and more). This also included developing my design skills, e.g. delving into

illustration for my app design, strengthening my copy writing skills, etc. which I specifically

incorporated into the project with the intention to improve, and incorporate into my portfolio to

set me up for working life.