HAYLEY KANBARA
GRAPHIC DESIGNER & ILLUSTRATOR
Sounds of Autism -
A Roadmap to Wellbeing
A Parent's Guide to Understanding the Spectrum
December 2019 - January 2020
This project was created during my undergraduate studies at Huntington University in Peoria, AZ. The client for this project was an organization called Sounds of Autism. Sounds of Autism is a non-profit organization that provides resources and support for parents raising an autistic child. They assist families and children with autism, including those at-risk, to help guide them through child development, adulthood, and arranging legal matters for later stages of life.
Logo for Sounds of Autism, Source: https://www.soundsofautism.org/
Sounds of Autism approached Huntington University to have graphic design students create a pamphlet that would provide information and sources for parents with autistic children. The client who presented the project was the founder, Cricket Barrientos, who visited the university with Bernadette Smith, the Director of Education and Outreach.
Like an Amusement Park Map
In December 2019, Cricket and Bernadette visited my classroom to approach the class with the project, where they proposed the design of what they were looking for in this project. They wanted the pamphlet to not only provide information, but would also work as a “board game” to help display the content. The information would show the different stages of life from birth to old age, early signs of autism in a child during the early stages, how autism can affect different life stages, and resources for caretaking for older adults with severe autism.
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The client, Cricket, had a small challenge on how the pamphlet could be designed to integrate the road map and board game design. She was so focused on the board game element that she did not have an idea on how the “road map” section for providing information could be translated onto the pamphlet. Thankfully, my professor was able to provide her with a different design of the pamphlet. He drew out both sides of the pamphlet and explained how the layout would be designed similar to that of an amusement park map, with the board map on one side, and the roadmap of information on the other side but in separate sections. That way the pamphlet would be folded would be similar to that like a Disneyland park map. I vividly remember Cricket’s reaction and how enthusiastic she and Benadette were at this design proposal.
Disneyland Park Map, Source: Magic Guides, https://magicguides.com/disneyland-map/
Candyland for Autism
For the class, the project’s instructions were to create the pamphlet using a different theme from one another. The pamphlet had to be designed using the dimensions and layout provided by the client. The class had a deadline of a little over a week to create their pamphlet design to present it to Cricket. Once Cricket is shown all the final designs of the pamphlet, she would have the designs reviewed and present the selected design for the final product.
Cricket had mentioned Candyland as an example for the board game design of the pamphlet. Not having any original ideas for how I could design the product, I decided to take the chance and make a literal Candyland inspired board game for the Sounds of Autism pamphlet. I also chose a Candyland-like theme because I had this concept in mind that I wanted this pamphlet to be appealing to children, especially if autistic children might end up interacting with this pamphlet. I wanted this pamphlet to not be intimidating to children, but engaging and memorable. I also wanted to design this for parents as a way to make autism less of a burden, but an adventure that will have twists and turns.
However, while coming up with ideas for the Candyland theme, I encountered a problem. How was I going to incorporate autism with Candyland? How could I translate two very different elements to work for this project? I chose this theme to bring reassurance for parents and kids with autism, so how can I make this relatable and still informative?
Life of a Gingerbread Man
To solve the issue on the themes, I looked up the board game design of Candyland to understand how they incorporated different candies into the details of the game. Candyland uses different sweet treats to create unique environments. The game has a snowy landscape with an ice cream theme and has lollipops and gumdrops as trees and foliage. The game is creative on how it uses its theme with its small, but effective worldbuilding.
Candyland Board Game 2002 version,
Source: Candyland Wiki, https://candyland.fandom.com/wiki/Candy_Land_(2002)
To start the project, I began creating the pieces that would go on the pamphlet’s map. The first piece that needed to be created was the character that was going to represent an autistic child. The character had to match not only the Candyland theme, but they also should be charming and appealing to children. They had to have a design that was simplistic but still connected with the audience.
While studying Candyland’s designs, I remembered as a kid, I had a Candyland computer game from 1998 that had a gingerbread kid as the main character. Remembering this, I decided to make the character for the pamphlet a gingerbread man. The gingerbread man would be depicted as the child/adult with autism and would be seen navigating the board game as he interacted with each stage of life and the obstacles he might encounter.
Rough map sketch of the board game's layout and color placement.
The Stages of Life
Prior to the beginning of the project, Cricket Barrientos provided each student a PDF containing the information needed for each stage of life of a child with autism. The stages of life were as followed:
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Infant - Birth to 3 Years Old
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Toddler - 3-5 Years Old
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Younger Years - 6-9 Years Old
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Puberty - 9-15 Years Old
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Young Adult - 16-18 Years Old
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Transitioning - 19-22 Years Old
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Independence - 22 Plus
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Each stage of life would have steps for parents to follow. An example being when the child is an infant, it is best to schedule genetic testing and screenings for symptoms with the child’s pediatrician. Reviewing the stages of life brought me to another issue to handle. How can these stages be translated into a cute, Candyland inspired pamphlet? Stages 1 through 3 were easy enough. These are the childhood stages and generally are the easiest stages for early diagnosis. The character designs for these stages are based on the most common symptoms of autism in a young child:
hyper-fixation on objects or topics and the limited ability to communicate and connect with others.
Illustrations representing the early stages of diagnosing autism in young children.
The stage that was the biggest challenge to design was Stage 4, the Puberty Stage. How do you illustrate puberty in a gingerbread character in a way that will not be confusing or intimidating for an autistic child? Since this was a candy themed board game, I researched the different types of hot or sour candies that could be used to represent the ups and downs of going through puberty. I ended up selecting Sweet Tarts Extreme Sour candies because they use a mixture of sweet and sour flavors to give customers a unique experience with each flavor. What resulted was the gingerbread character running away from a monster resembling a volcano erupting sweet and sour Sweet Tarts. This was to represent the changes associated with puberty and how a child with autism may cope with entering adolescence.
Illustrations depicting Stage 4 the Puberty Stage on the board game.
The final stages of life were not as difficult to interpret into an illustration. The final three stages focused on adulthood and aiding autistic adults into adapting into society. The last three stages interacted with the board game more than the earlier stages. One example is Stage 6, which helps guide adults on the spectrum with attending college, developing life skills, and entering the career field. The map depicts this stage with our gingerbread man about to go on an adventure through rocky mountains. It will not be an easy task for him, but as long as he does not give up, he will make it. The final stage, Independence, helps reassure adults on the spectrum that they can live a normal life and obtain success with their family supporting them.
Board game map for the Sounds of Autism pamphlet.
The Final Product
Almost two weeks after the class had received the pamphlet project, Cricket Barrientos and Bernadette Smith returned to Huntington University for a stakeholder meeting with the students and the class professor. Each student presented their pamphlet design to the stakeholders and gave explanations of their creative decisions and design processes. After the meeting, Cricket and Bernadette explained to the class and professor that they will notify the university when they make a decision of what pamphlet design that Sounds of Autism will be using for the final product. In January 2020, I received an email from Huntington University stating that my pamphlet design was chosen by not just Cricket, but her autistic son personally chose my design. Since my design was chosen, I was invited to the charity’s shareholders’ meeting, where Cricket and Bernadette would reveal the pamphlet design to the other members, directors, and family members.
This project was my very first client-based project that I have worked on, and I would say that I am very proud of the results. It was a surprise that the client had chosen my design to represent the road map that the organization would provide support for parents with children on the spectrum. This project was originally intimidating to me because at the time, my skills in Adobe Illustrator were limited. However, this project helped challenge me in my skills and ended up helping me develop my Illustrator skills into what they are today.