This project was to create illustrations for the Dyslexia Research Project of the Center for No Boundary Thinking at Arkansas State University. As a group, we were given a specific list of words to illustrate.

Our inspiration came from Sandie Sonke and had to fit the design parameters we decided on as a group. The illustrations needed to be cohesive for a young generation. There could be no extreme detailing and no concepts that a child would not be able to understand. Our goal was to create a simple design of the given words within a color palette we agreed on. We eventually, after critique and discussion, added in greens, grays, and a white. We had 5 words per person and did sketches of each word. Once we agreed on a sketch, we proceeded to Abobe Illustrator to render the work. We downloaded a specific set of brushes to use in Illustrator.

My words were “clean”, “carry”, “party”, “summer”, and “room”. The biggest struggle I had was capturing the word “room”. After critique and a meeting with a person that is working on the main project, we decided to change from a birds-eye view of a room to a dollhouse view. I redid one of the characters to better fit the style of the group. I added some texture and minor details to my pieces and they finally were complete. I really enjoyed the challenge of working within the certain design parameters. I learned how to communicate and add feedback to enhance the group work as a whole.