New Media Capstone
NMIX 4510
Acting as a thesis class for client work and large-scale projects, the New Media Capstone course was a fantastic opportunity to experience the full process of developing an app and media campaign from scratch. After experimenting with AR technology and exploring possible applications, our team noticed a lack of visually appealing educational content surrounding children’s guides to communication. With over 48 million people in the US with some form of hearing loss and with less than 1% fluent in sign language, we noticed that the ASL app market, while in high demand, has long been dominated by massive amounts of material and visually lacking design, creating an intimidating barrier between the learner and their educational goal. A big problem in the industry revolved around the complexity of ASL grammar, with little attention given to the fingerspelling process itself in favor of phrases or regional slang. With the closest foundational courses only being offered in the form of Baby ASL, a simplified educational resource for the ASL alphabet had yet to be devised, especially for children ages 6-12 where learning retention is primed for building their bilingual cognitive abilities.
When we started the creation process, we decided to focus on three key components in our approach to language education: accessibility, simplicity, and fun. The name ASLphabet was created to combine American Sign Language and the Alphabet together, paying homage to the structure of our app built around learning the foundations of ASL fingerspelling. Users will engage in learning by using fingerspelling guides and memory games to form the different letters of the alphabet through their own hand movements, allowing the user to judge how accurate their symbols are and continue to check their progress using symbol identification and position mimicry. Overall, we wanted the guides and the feel of the app to remain friendly, bright, easy to follow, and beautifully designed to better entice our viewers into having a wonderful AR experience.
Through the process, I was able to create Alfons the Fox, design the overall feel of the app, coordinate the social media platforms, and present a fully functional app to be used by hundreds of individuals interested in learning American Sign Language. Being able to see the final product come to fruition is an experience I can never forget, especially after seeing how many people were inspired by our presentation at SLAM. ASLphabet also marked the official start of my interest in UX and UI design, and as I finish my last year at UGA, I am beyond thankful for joining the New Media Institute and continuing my journey into digital design.