Doyen
MFA Graduate Graphic Design Thesis,
ArtCenter College of Design 2021
Learning differences are widely marginalized by the traditional school
system in the United States, and they have become more apparent with
the sudden necessity for online learning platforms during the ongoing
pandemic. Graphic designers have the unique ability and social responsibility
to create media that engages all types of learning processes by facilitating
accessibility and personalization as it pertains to learning.
Doyen Process
A process that began in September of 2020 and lasted until April of 2021, the Doyen process consisted of a huge amount of research and scientific articles regarding learning differences to personal interviews with notable doctors and an Olympian to better understand how learning difference struggles could be helped on a daily basis. The
process book consists of over 300 pages of research, interviews, deliverables, and focus groups to organize a well developed thesis that graphic designers have the ability to bridge the gap in the educational domain and it is within their ability to do so effectively. The full process book can be found here.
Logo Development
The Doyen logo development consisted of first investigating hand drawn logo forms to mimic a playful side of the Doyen organization. As iterations progressed, a font called GEO that was created for project explorations during an ArtCenter font design course was chosen to guide the eye through the use of bold serifs. By implementing both
delicate lines and bolder serifs in the final logo, Doyen has a more academic approach for the parent logo, with the final Doyen children’s logo being more playful.
Full Doyen App (Click Here)
Doyen App model is informational for
parents, and instructional, playful, and rewarding for children ages 5-10. In
the child portal of the app for instance, the ability for a child Doyen user to
engage and choose fonts such as Helvetica, Verdana, and GEO created a visual
learning tool that specifically helped that child engage with the app and
increase positive memory and cognitive function. Moreover, color psychology in
particular plays a vital role in illustrating what may be beneficial for
children with learning differences to see within specific educational designs
such as the Doyen App.
Children with learning differences often get overwhelmed and cognitively overstimulated by an
abundance of information on a
page, in particular those with ADHD. This can create a negative response to the
content to be learned, thus, inhibiting a successful learning environment.
“Competing forms of media” bombard the ADHD viewer, and this is one of the
“many places where education is lacking” (Bozhen, 2015). Doyen will serve as the central domain for
bringing together helpful information onlearning differences, while also
enabling parents to connect and schedule appointments for their children with
Doyen experts on a daily basis.
Doyen App Parent Portal (Click Here)
The Doyen parent portal of the Doyen App is a multi-functional portal for parents. Research based and intended to be instructional and informational for parents that are not aware of all of the ramifications of specific learning differences–or parents that are aware of their child’s learning difference and simply want to keep up to date on the latest research by experts in the field–Doyen is for all parents. The parent portal has an about section for the learning differences of ADHD, dyslexia, and dyscalculia, and a scheduling section to connect daily with experts. For the purposes of this thesis, ADHD is the featured section that was researched,
but Doyen has the ability to expand into
other realms of learning differences. Parents should not have to wait weeks on end to receive expert information or advice as to how to help their child on a daily basis. From doctors and psychologists to organizational coaches and graphic designers, each Doyen plays a role in helping parents give their child the tools to succeed by learning more about their differences and how their child is developing learning habits on a daily basis.
Doyen App Child Portal (Click Here)
Children with learning differences often get overwhelmed and cognitively overstimulated by an abundance of information on a page, in particular those with ADHD. This can create a negative response to the content to be learned, thus, inhibiting a successful learning environment. The Doyen child portal for ages 8-10 has four icons to choose from–font, personalization, game, and home–in order to ensure children on the app are not overwhelmed, but investigating one aspect of the app at a time.
The child portal for ages 5-7 is further simplified with just a home, personalization, and game icon to reiterate the importance of using doyen to form good daily learning habits and symbol recognition skills. The games within Doyen were created by me and inspired by listening exercises that help children with ADHD develop better methods of focusing on a given subject.
Doyen in Action (Click Here)
The Doyen in Action clip features the primary focus group testing the efficiency and legitimacy of the Doyen app. The trial run of the final Doyen app features the child portal of Doyen in this overview, and it reveals some interesting insights into graphic design symbol recognition and the importance of parent collaboration in the app. Within this clip, Jayden and Ryan are featured using the child portal of Doyen, as Jayden investigates the sections for ages 8-10 and 5-7, and Ryan guides him along the way.
Interestingly enough, while the game portion of the app is specified by age, both sections were beneficial and interesting to Jayden–with the 8-10 directions/symbol identification challenge being more challenging. However, each age range within the app held his attention, and learning took place on both sections of the app.
