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2023 / Graduation research

Visualizing the rhythm of text

Graduation project / 2023

Exploring how typography can support oral reading, imagery, and expression for Deaf and hard-of-hearing children.

Project
Graduation research
Role
Research, visual design & workshop facilitation
Context
Kyoto Institute of Technology · Nakano Laboratory
Year
2023
01 / VISUAL LANGUAGEA student’s colorful visual interpretation of a text.A student’s typography using spatial rhythm and expressive marks.READING → MAKING MEANING
01 / THE DESIGN QUESTION

What if the page
could carry the voice?

I explored how typography could make oral rhythm, emphasis, and imagery visible for Deaf and hard-of-hearing children.

The learning challenge

Oral reading can remain flat in intonation. Uniform typesetting offers few cues to dialogue, onomatopoeia, emphasis, movement, or prosodic change.

My role

I researched, designed prototypes and booklets, and facilitated a class and workshop with Kyoto Prefectural School for the Deaf.

02 / TYPOGRAPHIC LOGIC

Giving rhythm
a visual language.

TRY THE TYPOGRAPHIC PRINCIPLESIZE + WEIGHT → EMPHASIS
sound
Subtle → pronounced

A demonstration of the design principle. The word stays the same; its visual emphasis changes.

01 / SCALE & WEIGHT
A large heavy circle beside a small thin circle, representing scale and stroke weight.

Emphasis has weight.

Size and stroke weight express differences in emphasis and intensity.

02 / POSITION
Upward and downward arrows with circles at different positions.

Placement carries movement.

The position of a word reflects spatial imagery and changes in movement.

03 / DIFFERENTIATION
An outlined A beside a calligraphic A, representing different voices.

A different voice, a different form.

Handwritten lettering distinguishes dialogue and individual voices.

04 / EXPRESSION
A megaphone with sound marks, representing expressive sound.

Sound becomes expressive type.

Custom lettering gives onomatopoeia and sound effects a visible character.

03 / RESEARCH & PROTOTYPING

From an idea
to something children could use.

RESEARCH → DESIGN → CLASSROOMDOUBLE DIAMOND
  1. 01

    Discover

    Literature review

  2. 02

    Define

    Interviews · observation · survey

  3. 03

    Develop

    Prototypes · teacher feedback · booklet

  4. 04

    Deliver

    Class · workshop · student expression

Understand the learning contextExplore and test visual responses
Four typographic prototypes exploring placement, visual weight, and expressive reading.
Four early approaches developed during the project.

Four approaches, including poetry by Shuntaro Tanikawa, explored lightness and heaviness through placement and intonation through tonal density. After teacher feedback, I developed a booklet using the Grade 5 story Daizō Jiisan and Gan (Mitsumura Tosho).

04 / CLASS & WORKSHOP

Reading the page.
Then making it their own.

7student participants
5th–6thgrade levels
KyotoPrefectural School for the Deaf
  1. 01Read the designed booklet
  2. 02Express a scene with typography, pens, and crayons
  3. 03Present the work
A student’s colorful arrangement of Japanese lettering, with changing scale and expressive marks.
Student work: color, scale, and movement.
A student’s black lettering and dispersed marks expressing the rhythm of a Japanese passage.
Student work: rhythm and spatial expression.
“It was easier to understand emotions and imagine the scene than with the textbook.”
STUDENT FEEDBACK / CLASSROOM WORKSHOP
“Students read with more varied intonation than usual.”
TEACHER FEEDBACK / CLASSROOM WORKSHOP

These comments are qualitative observations from a small classroom activity. Further testing would be needed to establish learning effects across learners, texts, and settings.

Students taking part in the classroom activity at Kyoto Prefectural School for the Deaf.
The class and workshop at Kyoto Prefectural School for the Deaf.
05 / OUTPUTS & OPEN QUESTIONS

Two ways
into the same text.

TWO ROUTES THROUGH A TEXTBOOKLET DESIGN
01

Listening booklet

  1. STARTING MATERIALText
  2. DESIGN OPERATIONVisual cues
  3. LEARNER ACTIVITYInterpretation

The “listening” booklet makes rhythm, intonation, and imagery visible through visual prosody cues.

02

Reading booklet

  1. STARTING MATERIALImagery
  2. DESIGN OPERATIONType design
  3. LEARNER ACTIVITYExpression

The “reading” booklet supports learners in expressing auditory imagery and their interpretation through typographic design.

Possible uses beyond this classroom

Experienced home-learning language-material planners and editors suggested uses beyond textbooks, including home settings.

  • Support textbook comprehension, especially dialogue and onomatopoeia.
  • Offer another way to assess understanding when oral output is difficult.
  • Connect Japanese language and art, and create a communication tool among students.
  • Explore home learning and use with hearing children, with further testing across texts and settings.
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