• Responsibilities: Instructional Design, eLearning Development, App Development, Logo Design, Illustration, Animation
• Audience: ASL learners of all ages
• Tools Used: Adobe XD, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Indesign
• Year: 2017

Overview

I designed and developed the Yuki and the Sign Language Tree App to provide a fun and effective ASL education tool for learners of all ages through gamification.

Originally developed as a character from one of my webcomics, users learn with Yuki as their partner, teacher, and friend. Yuki is a shy, creative, 10-year-old girl who misses life on her family’s ranch that her parents recently sold. Yuki is also deaf.

Each night when Yuki falls asleep, she enters her fantastical dream world, Sea Horse Ranch. On the ranch, Yuki is accompanied by her dream guide Sophia (who guards and protects Yuki in the form of sea horse pajamas). Yuki and Sophia raise and ride giant sea horses, and care for creative crafted animals that are falling apart. From taking care of knitted lions made of yarn, to tending to living origami paper cranes, Yuki always has her hands full.

Yuki’s favorite spot in her dreamworld, however, is the swing under her giant Sign Language Tree. The tree blooms purple living hands instead of flowers. Under the Sign Language Tree Yuki uses the flower hands to teach sign language to all of the app users.

Moble App - Prototype

After first planting their own Sign Language Tree, users understanding and educational growth of ASL will be tracked by following the growth of their tree.

The lessons will gamify learning, allowing users to customize their sign language tree with the points that they earn from completing lessons.

Logo - Plant Your Seed of ASL Knowledge

The logo for the app is a seed of the fictional Sign Language Tree - and also represents the planting, growth, and sharing of knowledge.

Your Barnyard Home, Shop, and Inventory Screens

Your Courses Are Represented By Bags Of Seeds

Your Sign Language Tree Grows As You Learn

Web App - Mock Up

Cartoon - Demo

An ASL cartoon in the vein of Dora the explorer. In this demo animation, Yuki stands in front of her Sign Language Tree signing "Hello my name is Yuki. What's yours?" I illustrated the background using watercolor paints and designed and animated the vector Yuki puppet. The slowdown when Yuki signs is purposeful: to ensure viewers are able to follow along.

Story Book - Concept

I drew each page using pencils and painted each page using water color paints. Text was added digitally using Adobe InDesign.