Providing learners a better visual learning experience.
Project Type Freelance
Industry Small Business
Client Estefani Arevalo
Scope of Work Illustratio, Educational Material Design, Print Design
Duration May - October 2025
Tools Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Procreate
Project Brief
Create an engaging and accessible astronomy learning experience for all Deaf learners by combining American Sign Language, English and Spanish written, illustration, and educational design. The project includes a poster, worksheets, and stickers designed to make learning about the solar system more visual and engaging.
Project Overview
Signing the Solar System is an illustrated educational project that introduces astronomy through American Sign Language with English and Spanish written and visual storytelling. The project includes a poster, worksheets, and stickers that bring the planets and other elements of the solar system to life through an accessible visual approach.
Problems
Despite the growing availability of free and paid educational resources online, many lack accessible visual learning materials that integrate American Sign Language (ASL) with written English and/or Spanish. The language gap is especially evident in solar system education and any acadmeic subjects and topic areas highlight the the learning skills for Deaf learners. They need both visual finger-spelled handshape and concept-based signs to fully understand key terms and ideas.
This challenge is not limited to astronomy but extends across many academic subjects and topic areas, highlighting the broader need for inclusive, visually accessible learning resources in native language.
Why is this problem important?
Not all Deaf learners understand or are able to access resources in their own language for their learning skills. They are not able to understand and recognize the disguise between planets and their solar system.
Solutions
The project focuses on creating a clear, playful, and accessible visual system for astronomy education. A strong typographic hierarchy and visual contrast were developed using clean sans-serif typefaces, a chalk-style font, and a letter-handshape font to reinforce readability while incorporating ASL into the overall design.
Crayon-inspired textures were used throughout the illustrations to evoke the look and feeling of artwork drawn by a child, creating a playful and approachable learning experience. Individual illustrations were created for 15 planets and celestial objects, with each name presented using a letter-handshape font to connect written English with American Sign Language. To extend the learning experience beyond the primary poster, the project includes individual and sticker-sheet designs as supporting educational materials, along with worksheets created for learners, homeschoolers, teachers, and other professionals. Together, these materials provide a more engaging and accessible way to explore astronomy through English, ASL, and Spanish.
Outcomes
Many have found them beneficial, especially those aiming to enhance their ASL fluency, fingerspelling recognition, and letter skills. Most teachers have noticed improvements in fingerspelling recognition, letter recognition, and writing skills. In addition to these learning gains, they have noticed that children are engaging with their peers and learning these materials along the way, and as a result, this has helped improve their social skills. Deaf teachers, speech-language pathologists, and other professionals who work with Deaf/HoH/KODA children are encouraged to utilize these materials to effectively engage with them.
How Does It Benefit?
Educational Materials
