A solution began to appear…

By Sophie Smith
After looking closely at the brain injury handbook that Julian Verbaaik had brought in, I felt there were lots of changes to be made; it needed a gentle push in some areas in order for all the useful information presented, to be fully absorbed by its users. The whole concept and basic format was concise, but I knew it had more potential. Layout, colour, type, and general format needed to be better suited to reflect the needs of the potential user.

Acquired Brain Injury Handbook

By Josh Hannagan
This project is based around the proposed handbook for Acquired Brain Injuries, introduced to us by project manager Julian Verkaaik, of the Burwood Academy of Independent living.

Fitting in with New Zealand Brain Injury Awareness week (3-10 June 2008), here is an insight into the rehabilitation process engulfing people with an acquired brain injury.

Illustrations for a brain injury book

By Emily Mecchia
The illustrations for our brain injury pages were important. They needed to be simplistic and original and most importantly clear. The illustrations were designed to have a quirky element to give the pictures character. Incorporating some humor into the illustrations is done to provide originality and to reduce the element of fear or panic for a user, for example somebody who has recently acquired a brain injury. Humor is also used to alleviate some of the seriousness associated with disabilities.

Brain Injury Handbook

By Stephanie Ross
The images were designed to be simple and straight-forward. They were created in illustrator from sketches and photographs collected during research and idea generation. Again, the colours are simple and are kept to approximately 4 per picture. I also kept to the purple and blue colour scheme, and used a pale tan for the backgrounds.

Easy to use brain injury book!

Emily Mecchia
I began by researching what the main problems for brain injury sufferers were and ways to help with some of the troubles they face. One particular website I found helps to understand the current attitudes towards persons with disabilities and to better understand some of the challenges they face. This site provides a good insight into social attitudes towards persons with disabilities. It discusses how negative attitudes of non-disabled persons are among the most serious invisible barriers to the full participation and integration of disabled citizens in society.

The task was to design pages for a brain injury book, that are user friendly and simpler for users (brain injury sufferers) and others to read.

Learning to make a difference

By Sophie Smith
As a team we all sat down at the very beginning of the course and got into a discussion about disability, going around the circle giving our own personal insights. It was just so unbelievable how many people had either overcome a minor disability or lived and seen someone around them do so. I was instantly taken by the second project option- creating a handbook for someone living with a brain injury. It meant something on a more personal level to me, having seen my grandma half dead due to a severe brain hemorrhage. I knew the project was something I could be passionate about.

Acquired Brain Injury & Universal Design

By Josh Hannagan
The project so far shows a speculative insight into the functionality and the aesthetics of the proposed Acquired Brain Injury Handbook. Shown in the related pictures are layouts that demonstrate, through both text and illustration, how the layout and content will be beneficial to the user. It involves information for both a sufferer and a caregiver, which is laid out in a way that allows the user to understand and follow it with ease.

This Handbook should allow sufferers an access and integration into mainstream society. The project so far shows a speculative insight into the functionality and the aesthetics of the proposed Acquired Brain Injury Handbook. Shown in the related pictures are layouts that demonstrate, through both text and illustration, how the layout and content will be beneficial to the user. It involves information for both a sufferer and a caregiver, which is laid out in a way that allows the user to understand and follow it with ease. Through the universal designutilised throughout his book, users will have an immediate reference point when they do not fully understand situations that they may encounter.

Brain Injury Handbook Introduction

By Stephanie Ross
As part of our 300 level full year design paper, Interdependence – Design and Disability, we were approached to create a relevant and effective way to present the Brain Injury Handbook created by Julian Verbaaik from the Burwood Academy for Independent Living.