The phrase ‘Design for democracy’ is now thoroughly part of the design rhetoric, with eponymous courses at design schools and AIGA programmes. What does this mean? In the context of the Field Guides, design for democracy is design which supports the democratic process. Design which tries to ensure that people vote the way they want to. This also translates as design which understands the audience, understands the problem and designs for both. The unique thing about Field Guides is that they use design to facilitate better design. Here’s why:

In the 2000 presidential election in the USA the design of one ballot paper in Florida was so problematic that it resulted in not only hundreds of unintended votes, but ultimately lawsuits and harsh critique aimed at the election official that designed the ballot paper. In the context of design part of what’s troubling about this incident is that the official has gone on record to say that the confusing design was actually the result of her attempt to make ballots easier to read. Her good intentions however resulted in the punch hole for Al Gore becoming confused with that of the Reform party candidate on the opposite page.

Image from American History..

This incident, it’s been said, stimulated ernest discourse around improving ballot design but after two more elections a dramatic shift had not taken place. In mid-2007 design guidelines were put in place, with contributions from AIGA’s Design for Democracy project and published in a thorough U.S. Election Assistance Commission report.

It is from this context that the Field Guides emerged as a considered effort to further improve the situation.

The guides acknowledge the reality of who is often designing communication materials around election — non designers, not necessarily well versed in design theory. It also recognised that communication with voters is one part of a much larger, busier and complex schedule around election time and that anything which would move election officials to act would have to compete with a number of other concerns for their attention.

With this in mind the guides are based on in depth and informed research but have distilled this into a manageable format that would feel relevant and feasible to the people who would ultimately put the guidelines into practice.

The guides practice what they preach, with a functional, not overly designed aesthetic. The structure is clear — examples on the left, guideline on the right, things to avoid in grey, things to do in black and illustrations where needed used to illustrate a point.

The small, compact format with detailing like the round corners helps the guides feel unintimidating and manageable. While the confident, authoritative voice and straightforward language belies the research that is the foundation of these humble looking booklets.

Ultimately the greatest value of these guides is the advice they give and the better design they inspire. The best way to get a sense of this is to read them. All eight guides can be found on their website and through the links below:

Vol. 01. Designing usable ballots (PDF) (original research)
Vol. 02. Writing instructions voters understand (PDF) (original NIST report)
Vol. 03. Testing ballots for usability (PDF) (link to LEO kit at UPA)
Vol. 04. Effective poll worker materials (PDF) (original NIST report)
Vol. 05. Choosing how to communicate with voters (PDF)
Vol. 06. Designing voter education booklets and flyers (PDF)
Vol. 07. Designing election department websites (PDF)
Vol. 08. Guiding voters through the polling place (PDF)

All images, except original ballot card, courtesy Oxide Design Co..

Facilitated by a community of academics, health carers, authors and artists, the site is a rich resource that provides multiple forms of engagement for different audiences—from people engaged in popularising the role comics can play in medicine to medical practitioners, patients and carers.

Dr Ian Williams, who coined the term ‘Graphic Medicine’ and founded the website, writes on the site, “Thanks in part to the medical humanities movement many medical schools will now have tutors suggesting students read classic literature or modern novels to gain insight into the human condition. I think it is high time that graphic fiction was taken as seriously: comics and graphic novels could be used as a resource for health professionals, playing a valuable role in:
• Reflecting or changing cultural perceptions of medicine
• Relating the subjective patient/carer/provider experience
• Enabling discussion of difficult subjects
• Helping other sufferers or carers”

From Iggy and The Inhalers, by Alex Thomas, MD, to teach kids with asthma about asthma symptoms, treatment and medication.

This isn’t to say that Graphic Medicine only resonates with those somehow connected to the medical field or comic books. Amongst the diverse comics featured or reviewed, there is a loose unification under medical and healthcare themes, making them mostly accessible for anyone to read. They deal with a range of issues, such as coping with a family member’s diagnosis of an illness, postpartum depression and the experience of donating an organ.

Left: Epileptic by David Beauchard. Right: Wrinkles by Paco Roca, a graphic novel about Alzheimer’s disease.

Reading about the project is interesting, but you’re instilled with a much stronger conviction for the case of comics in medicine by actually reading some of them. The narratives expectedly deal with difficult and harrowing themes. They draw you in and give you a greater understanding of and insight into a situation. And while there still exists a fallacy of comic books needing to be ‘comical’ (or dealing with lighter topics), in actual fact their power lies in leveraging image and text deftly to communicate to a wide audience. Graphic Medicine as a platform provides the space needed to explore the role of comics within healthcare.

Some of the comics can be read online. Look Straight Ahead by Elaine Will is about a teenager dealing with depression and bipolar disorder.

From Chapter 4 of Look Straight Ahead by Elaine Will.

Mom’s Cancer , published online twice a week, is written by Brian Fies, and is an account of his mother’s battle with metastatic lung cancer.

Mom’s Cancer by Brian Fies.

The resources available on the site are varied and allow you explore different facets of Graphic Medicine.

Comic Reviews and Editor’s Picks point you to different comics. A Graphic Medicine podcast is available through iTunes. You can submit a comic or become a guest author on the site, which helps adding new voices to the discussion. The Facebook page is active and frequently updated with news. Annually, Graphic Medicine also hosts a ‘Comics and Medicine’ conference—this year, the theme for the conference is Spaces of Care, and will be hosted from 16 – 18 July 2015 at the University of California, Riverside.

Poster for the upcoming conference on Comics and Medicine, themed Spaces of Care

External links and resources on the site encourage you to explore medical humanities, artists and authors, and other comic sites further

An eponymously titled book series, published by Penn State Press is available for purchase online. Currently, there are 2 books in the series, The Bad Doctor and The Graphic Medicine Manifesto.

The two books within the series on Graphic Medicine: The Bad Doctor (left) and the Graphic Medicine Manifesto (right).

From the website:
“Curated by an editorial collective with scholarly, creative, and clinical expertise, the series is inspired by a growing awareness of the value of comics as an important resource for communicating about a range of issues broadly termed “medical.” For medical practitioners, patients, and families and caregivers dealing with illness and disability, graphic narrative enlightens complicated or difficult experiences. For scholars in literary, cultural, and comics studies, the genre articulates a complex and powerful analysis of illness, medicine, and disability and a rethinking of the boundaries of “health.” The series will be diverse in its approach. It will include monographic studies and edited collections from scholars, practitioners, and medical educators, as well as original comics from artists and non-artists alike, such as self-reflective “graphic pathographies” or comics used in medical training and education, providing a creative way to learn and teach.”

By using visuals, comics have the ability to directly immerse a reader in a specific context. Effectively harnessing visuals enable readers to develop a rich and layered comprehension of narratives, rapidly increasing the ability to connect with the scenario. The effectiveness of comics also lies in the ability of visuals to have a high recall value.

All images from Graphic Medicine / respective authors and artists, as indicated.

Thoughtshop Foundation is a Social Communication Organisation. It is dedicated to creating new and effective ways of dealing with social issues, with the aim to educate, motivate and initiate change. Thoughtshop Foundation is headed by Himalini Varma and Satayan Sengupta.

Children discuss cards from a Thoughtshop Toolkit.

How does one ‘teach’ a nine year old who has already survived some of life’s harshest lessons?
How does one take sessions on sex education in a village community with young girls who have never been to school?
How does one train non-literate women in business management skills, or talk about ending domestic violence with groups of men and women who believe it’s a normal way of life?

These are just some of the questions we have had to ask ourselves, and our journey to find answers have spanned two decades of work with grass-root communities, across different corners of India and several other developing countries. The discoveries along the way have helped us build a philosophy and understand the nature of communications in a context where the written word is not recognised, and the issues to be raised are often considered taboo.

At its simplest, Communication Design for the social sector can be intended to provide information, or raise awareness. Sometimes, it aims to create behavioural change. But the real magic happens when communication design sparks off a dialogue that leads to a process of self reflection, empowerment and transformation, for an individual and a society.

Communicating rice cultivation, from seed to crop, in Jharkhand.

Lessons from Street Kids
One of our first experiences with working children on the streets of Delhi taught us that the communication process had to be learner centred – a ‘partnership’ – we had as much to learn from the children as we had to offer them. For these children (shoe shine boys, coolies and rag pickers), the street was their classroom, and life on the street was their living school; teaching them harsh, new lessons everyday. At the age of nine and ten years, they led independent adult lives and had already seen a great deal. They would not attend a mainstream school and they were not interested in alphabet books talking of apples and balls. Sessions would take place on the pavements, and children would rush off the moment they saw a potential customer who needed his shoes polished.

Life on the street had made them hide away their vulnerabilities and we needed ways to build trust and get beneath the hardened exterior, find the little child inside. We needed to find a way to excite and connect with the children; help them share their personal stories, learn from them and move ahead. The idea was to appear like a magician before the kids with a bag full of tricks to capture their hearts and minds. After spending many weeks with the children, we developed a kit of games for them. One of the tools, for example, was a set of 36 brightly coloured picture cards; a series of images that captured different moments, emotions, choices and milestones in the children’s’ life.

When asked direct questions about their life, children would withdraw. Yet when playing with the picture cards they would open up. They would pick out cards with situations that they had experienced, and the stories they wove around them were real experiences. This would form an important foundation for further interactions with them. The cards would also serve as a tool to help the children express their feelings, and aspirations. Many cards were open – ended and could be interpreted in different ways.

One card for example had a picture of a boy sitting, looking thoughtful, and a little sad. ‘This boy is sad because he has just lost his shoeshine box and he is wondering what to do now. Since someone stole his box, should he steal someone else’s?’ Asked one. Another kid pulled out a card of a policeman hauling up a child: ‘If he steals a shoe box, then this is what will happen, and he will still be unhappy’. Another child pitched in: ‘I think the boy is sad because he is new and has no friends’, to which the other children agreed and shared how vulnerable a child feels when he is new and alone in the big city. And so, cards helped us learn about what was going on in the children’s minds. Actions and their consequences, social problems relevant to the children’s lives could now be addressed.

During the weeks we spent with the children we discovered that many of them were crazy about Bollywood films. They collected and traded pictures of famous stars. Inspired by this we developed a set of playing cards teaching the alphabet using film stars and famous personalities. So instead of learning A for Apple the children would learn A is for Amitabh (Bachhan)…

Family Spacing Board Game. Part of the Shankar Kit which addresses adolescent boys and young men.

Taboo!
It was 1996. We were travelling to a village group in South 24 Paragnas, West Bengal accompanied by Banidi, an elderly health worker with 21 years experience of working with communities. She complained to us about her latest predicament. She had been instructed to take sessions on reproductive health with girls – adolescents – young enough to be her granddaughters. She fished out a crumpled sheet of paper from a tin trunk, on which was typed a list of topics that she was expected to educate the girls on: Puberty, Menstruation, Conception, Sex Determination, Family Planning. She admitted to us that she had somehow never got around to discussing these issues with girls; it never felt like the right time she said. When we nodded in empathy, she confided how she felt this new requirement was quite unnecessary. She had always gone beyond the call of duty, but said she also had her self respect to consider. ‘What would the village elders think? Talking about sex to teenaged girls in a village’!!

Soon the young girls poured into the room, some looked as young as 12 years old, others may have been as old as 16. Most of these girls cannot read. They have never been to school or have dropped out so long ago that they remembered nothing. ‘How will they ever understand all this technical reproductive health stuff’! Banidi muttered to us under her breath. Later, when we asked the girls if they knew about how their body worked – about body systems – they looked completely blank. One of the girls mentioned that periodically a doctor visited their village and would give a lecture on such things. But they never really understood what she said and were too scared to ask. Marriage, children and motherhood, however, were round the corner; a reality that most of these girls would face most likely before their 18th birthday.

The Champa kit, a teaching aid for health workers disseminating information on reproductive health to rural adolescent girls.

The year long interactive development process resulted in the creation of a graded 5 module educational package of stories, games and models to discuss reproductive health with adolescent girls. Through the story of 12 year old Champa and her friends, different issues around reproductive health were raised. These stories were illustrated using lucid water colour paintings that were widely understood, and allowed the girls to let their imaginations flow. To break the ice and bridge the facilitator-learner divide, a card game showing social situations was introduced where the girls played as teams and challenged, argued and convinced each other on how different social situations influenced their lives. Games and models were developed to reduce the inhibitions around biological concepts of menstruation, conception, sex determination and the use of contraceptives. Games and activities were also devised to build life skills like assertiveness and negotiation.

Illustration from Champa’s discovery, Why does menstruation happen?, a flipchart from the Champa Kit.

Over the last 19 years the kit has been adapted in various languages and used by peer educators across the country to discuss reproductive health in a way that was non-threatening and fun! The interactive process enabled barefoot facilitators or peer educators (marginalised girls from the community) to replace resource persons as they started conducting free and open sessions to discuss sensitive issues. Young girls could freely share their questions with these didis who were most often just like them.

Now multiply that by a Million!
In 2006 we were lucky to be involved in a South Asia wide campaign to end violence against women. It was an ambitious campaign reaching out to 5 million individuals over 6 years and across 6 countries inspiring them to become change makers. Our role involved creating campaign communication, and youth change-makers in West Bengal.

The audience was diverse in every way. In India alone there were 13 states using over 8 languages. The campaign communication was driven by a set of guiding principles: Communication would be positive and inspiring, encourage personal change, be non- judgmental and challenge stereotypes, enable dialogue and be rights- based. And of course they would have to be pictorial and interactive. Through an intense process that covered several years, many participatory workshops and lots of help from partner organisations, we worked to develop a common pictorial language around the issue of gender and violence against women. This new language would have to cut across region, class, age and language barriers, not only within India, but across the campaign countries.

Character illustrations from the Understanding Gender and Violence against Women Toolkit.

One of the thumb rules of creating an image was this – the viewer must be able to imagine himself or herself as being the character in the image. This simple but very effective technique helped us maintain the dignity of characters, and therefore connect with men and women. It was interesting to hear people point out to images and say ‘I feel I am that man. I used to abuse my wife. I never thought it hurt her. I feel it now, I need to make a change’. The focus was on change – encouraging every individual to commit to even a small change; to believe that small efforts lead to big changes. There was also a continuous effort to find techniques that would challenge people’s beliefs, make them rethink attitudes that had been accepted without question for generations.

Here’s an example of an activity that elicited an interesting and familiar pattern of responses:
We would first show an image, of a woman doing the cooking and managing kids and her husband relaxing in the background, smoking a cigarette. People would respond casually saying that this is normal, this is how it is, how it has always been. Then we would show the same picture with the man doing the cooking and managing kids, while the wife is shown relaxing in the background smoking. At this, people would get startled. They would laugh nervously. “There must be some mistake. This is absurd…What a selfish woman!” And thus a raging discussion would begin.

New images and new scenarios were created to help people envision new realities where men shared housework, where women participated in decision- making. Many years later when an intensive impact assessment process was conducted and people were asked what they recalled, they would share powerful personal changes they have made in their life. They would often refer to the workshops as a series of images, which brought home to us the power of images to infuse into people’s consciousness.

One woman recalled the images of a woman eating less, being married early – ‘Those felt like pictures from my life…I wondered how the facilitators knew…Till then it never occurred to me this could change’!
At another interview, a father regretted that he had made a terrible mistake by forcing his under-age daughter to marry against her will. He would not repeat the same mistake with his younger girl. She would have the same freedom as Meenu, one of the characters in the communications.

The We Can Campaign to End Violence Against Women, with its focus on personal change and positive approach has now spread to 15 countries across the world, though the guiding principles remain the same. We have been privileged to work with teams from these other regions, to help them adapt the campaign strategy to their contexts.

Take-home picture and activity booklet for the participants of the My Childhood My Rights workshops.

Communication is Community Building
In our journey over these last two decades, our work has expanded to cover a wide range of issues: from self-exploration, exploring multiple identities, to child rights, water and sanitation, to poor women’s economic leadership and strategies for emergency relief. The solutions range from games and models to films, audio tools and multimedia. Training of trainers, especially grass-root facilitators or peer educators are integral processes. More recently our work could be better described as programme design: Creating sustainable, replicable models for development. Over the last few years, on our own initiative we have been creating community based youth leaders who do a journey from self to society, build youth groups and initiate positive social change within their communities.

It has been an amazing ride, as we have discovered the synergy between development communications and community building. Effective communication improves the quality of life and relationships between people. It increases empathy, reduces judgment and the barriers of misunderstanding that separate us from each other.

More information and materials for use are available at Thoughtshop Foundation’s website, facebook page and on twitter.

All images courtesy Thoughtshop Foundation

New Londoners is a photography project which put cameras in the hands of 15 young people who had moved to the UK as refugees. More commonly the subject of the media rather than its active creators, the young people were provided with the tools to represent themselves. The project was conceived by London based non-profit PhotoVoice and Dost, a centre for young refugees and migrants.

From the series Maybe… by Chalak Abdulrahman
Maybe I’ll be happy here. I have not chosen to be here, and have no choice if they want to send me back. I should be happy, but I’m not. I am not able to start my life yet…

Photography has proven its capacity for both positive, meaningful impact but also, conversely, as a creator of stereotypes and a tool for exploitation. Simply switching who holds the camera does not necessarily change what or how images are made, nor whether they communicate with the audience at all. Understanding the complexities of this, each young person on the project was mentored by a professional photographer, their role being to “listen to, support, affirm, advise, enthuse and encourage the mentee and to enable them to reach their full photographic potential..”

A series of images from each young photographer, along with short accompanying texts, were collected for an exhibition and book. Many of the photographers created conscious photo-stories, connected by an underlying concept, while others documented their experiences more directly.

From the series Side by Side by Shamin Nakalembe
Series supporting text: When I first came to England it surprised me when I saw how many different cultures there were all living here side-by-side. Other countries don’t have so many different cultures. I love it. … I decided I wanted to somehow photograph these different traditions and cultures as I see them. I didn’t just want to photograph other people, so I decided I would do it myself. …
Accompanying image texts: Vaidehi Sita (left) does her weekly shop in Walthamstow market.
Janet Macintosh (right) has just moved down from Scotland. She enjoys a summer day out on a boat on the River Thames. She wants this photograph to send to her family in Scotland.

As a whole, the project presents a set of varied experiences and voices. Some are critical, some reflective, others positive and hopeful. Many of the images are powerful because they present such normal, almost unremarkable scenes of London that many residents could relate to. Their selection makes us view these through fresh eyes with the brief but powerful accompanying texts further clarifying the photographer’s intentions.

From the series MAYBE… by Chalak Abdulrahman
…I like London because there are many different types of people from all over the world living together. Everyone is equal but different. In my country everyone is the same, we are all Muslim, but we are all fighting. I love my city. But I want to live in London and be equal, when I get the visa… The photos I have taken were put together to show how my thoughts are. Always in twos, for every happy thought, an unhappy thought. For every time I think of being here, I think of there. Wanting to be here, but missing there. Not being a part of here, but also beginning to be.

Other images draw on positive aspects of the city, things that many local residents might feel proud of. London’s multiculturalism, for example, is a common thread between many of the series, while in others this is contrasted by a day-to-day reality, where the photographer’s ‘otherness’ is in sharp focus, and their images and comments speak directly to the viewer about the way in which they are treated as an ‘outsider’.

From the series They seem to be ours but they are not… by Mussie Haile
Image text: Right: This picture is interesting and makes me wonder. It was the first time I came into contact with the police in England. I was stopped and searched when I was waiting for Crispin [his mentor] outside Downing Street. Afterwards I took this selfportrait holding the piece of paper they gave me.

The choice of the book format as the vehicle for these messages was a carefully planned part of the project. A key audience for the project was UK policy makers, notoriously busy and sent numerous reports. Unlike a report the ‘art book’ was something they would be reluctant to throw away. The book also offered a guided, slow and intimate viewing of photography, unlike an exhibition or webpage.

As an art book it could also be used to reframe the debate, drawing it away from the heavy rhetoric of immigration politics. The status of the book, as a mark of value, lent weight to the images, raising the profile of the work from amatuer photgraphy to an object which could be reviewed and therefore publicised through cultural channels rather than political ones.

From the series Waiting for Amy by Bajram Spahia

Using the frame of London meant the book often ended up in the London section of a bookstore, and therefore was more likely to reach the general public than activists or academics already engaged in the debate.

From the series New Citizens by Tatiana Correia
Supporting text: I had my citizenship ceremony last summer and to my surprise it was quite emotional. The Town Hall provides a lovely service and makes sure citizens are made to feel welcome and appreciated. It feels like a very positive symbol of ‘real’ multiculturalism.

This project is powerful not simply because the camera was in the hands of young refugees, but because they were given the support to make images that would find an audience and resonate with them. New Londoners is an example of how a photographic project, by carefully considering process, audience, format and even distribution, can design for more focussed and meaningful impact.

With thanks to Tiffany Fairey for her reflections on the project.

Book image courtesy of Trolley Books, London.

One of the critical areas of reform in the legal system, is the awareness of rights and laws by the general populace. While there are laws and systems in place, the average citizen is often unaware of their presence, their relevance and when/how to access them. Recognising this as a key failing, lawyers Kanan and Kelly Dhru from Research Foundation for Governance in India (RFGI), embarked on their idea of creating a graphic story format to educate children about laws in India. Lawtoons is a comic book series on laws in India, and following a successful crowd-funding campaign the first book in the series is now out.

“The useful information about citizenship, democracy, laws and rights that children learn in their schools through the civics curriculum is often passed off as ‘dull and boring’. Even upon growing up, an individual is likely to be intimidated by the bulky law books full of legal jargons. This unfortunately, results in a society where most people find it difficult to relate to the idea of laws and legal systems, and feel disconnected.”
—From the Lawtoons website

The first Lawtoons prototype book was designed and tested with children in two public and three private schools in Ahmedabad. Apart from Kanan and Kelly Dhru, creative inputs on the project have been so far provided by designer & illustrator Anish Daolagupu and mentors like Margie Sastry (writer and former associate editor at Amar Chitra Katha) and Sekhar Mukherjee (head of animation film design at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad). With their recent funding, Lawtoons hopes to engage more designers and create subsequent books under the series.

You can buy the first Lawtoons book, called ‘A Song for Everyone’ on Right to Equality & Freedom of Speech, here.

Images courtesy, Lawtoons.

Oodles of Doodles

The first book created by Art for Heart was Oodles of Doodles in 2002, which was made for children above the age of 6, dealing with illness and life in hospitals. It develops in them the skill to give voice to their fears, provides them with a sense of control and a safe avenue for expression. Authored by Steffanie Lorig (Executive Director of Art with Heart), Oodles of Doodles incorporates the work of 97 illustrators and over 20,000 copies of the book were distributed in three years.

Draw It Out

Their latest interactive book, Draw It Out, supports children who are affected by overwhelming feelings of grief or loss due to the death of a loved one or of a classmate, broken family situations, or serious illness. It was developed with the inputs of 27 experts in the fields of counselling, social work and art therapy amongst other fields. The book is meant to serve as an outlet for complex emotions which can not easily be communicated, which can then be used as a foundation for positive conversations. According to Art with Heart, the book helps children articulate and navigate complex emotions and ask questions they may be afraid to ask, reveal perceptions or misconceptions about their situation, identify their support systems and process loss and increase coping skills.

Proceeds from book sales support outreach to high-risk children and teens. Overwhelming testimonials to the efficacy of the books can be seen as an indication of the commitment to and quality of the work. To view more of their work and causes, visit their website, or follow them on Facebook.

Images courtesy Art with Heart.

Colour Africa Proverbs is a colouring book for children, with illustrated proverbs from African culture, spanning 11 African countries and 10 languages. The proverbs are based on valuable and universal truths like respect, compassion and teamwork, represented through illustrations and illustrated type, and explained at the end of the book in simple actionable terms.  A game in the middle of the book uses the themes of the proverbs in an engaging format. The book is locally produced in South Africa, using recycled paper and minimal packaging.

The book was created by Colour Africa, a division of Design for Development in Cape Town, who describe themselves as, “We are a group of graphic designers who share a passion for people and realising human rights. We want to use our skills, creativity and connections to make a positive impact on people’s lives.” Through their work they support civil society organisations, corporate social responsibility initiatives, individuals and government projects and create impactful visual communication. The Colour Africa Proverbs book emerged as a side project of its members and has gone on to become a well-loved activity book for children. With locally relevant content and meaning, the book provides a comforting learning environment for children, especially in under-resourced schools, creches and trauma centres.

The illustrations and illustrated type is created by Cape Town based illustrator Roulé le Roux, known for her bold, expressive and hand-drawn quality of work. Talking about her work for the book on her website, Roulé says, “I specifically wanted the text to be hand drawn and pictorial, to show young children how closely drawing, writing and reading is linked. To encourage children to get ready to read and explore letter-forms while doing a fun activity. All illustrations in the book are deliberately detailed. In my opinion it is more important for the child to “read” the picture and the words ( if they are old enough) than to ‘colour in the lines’.”

Colour Africa Proverbs is wonderful both on account of the content it delivers and the manner in which the experience is structured. It connects the children with an aspect of their culture which is relevant for life, and the activity-oriented experience fosters a closer engagement across a longer span of time with the content.

You can order copies of the book as single items or in value packs from their website, and also purchase copies for donation to the Earthchild Project, a local education-based organisation.

All images via Colour Africa Proverbs and Design for Development.

Hope is a Girl Selling Fruit is an illustrated account of a young woman’s thoughts and feelings as she comes into contact with the larger world. A semi-auto-biographical tale with art by Mithila artist Amrita Das, and text by Gita Wolf & Susheela Varadarajan (from the Hindi original by Amrita Das), the book was published by Tara Books in April 2014. While a deeply personal account from Amrita’s own life, the book encourages reflections on what it means to make choices, in the face of societal norms.

As a publishing effort, Tara Books has been recognised for its sensitive dealing of social and cultural themes through many of its titles, and also successful collaborations between designers and folk artists creating a uniquely Indian style of illustration and visualisation. Their recent publication “Hope is a Girl Selling Fruit” is a particular poignant narration, where the choice of the Mithila folk art style adds significant meaning to the story.

Mithila painting (also known as Madhubani painting) originates from the Mithila region of Bihar, India and adjoining areas in Nepal. Traditionally practiced by the women within a small community, and initially restricted to religious, mythological themes, the paintings became a canvas for the women to express their feelings and reactions, over time. It is this fact, that makes the choice of art-style an apt vehicle for a story that is about a young girl’s fears, dreams and questions as she ventures out.

In her art for the book, Amrita uses her training at the Mithila Art Institute, to employ different devices of the style to amplify her narrative. The characteristic detail of Mithila art is used to incorporate elements which establish the contemporary physical situation of the story. Repetitive borders, patterns are used to illustrate situations of limitation and societal norms. Graphic compositions in each page bring multiple events and spaces into a unified moment in time, reflecting the contradictions, questions in the author’s mind.

That a traditional or folk art style can be used to establish the ethnic or cultural origin of a story, is but obvious. But the ability to find a resonance with the content of the narrative, and the skill-fullness to reshape established, traditional visual devices, makes work like ‘Hope is a Girl Selling Fruit’ exceptionally rich and relevant for a wider audience.

These are some of the places you can buy the book: Tara Books, Amazon. You can also read a detailed report on the book’s art at Look/Book.

Images, courtesy Tara Books.

Menstrupedia has been in the news for taking the taboo head-on and creating a friendly online resource for information on menstruation.

A crowd-funded comic book is in the making, with its progress updated on the website. From what is offered as a preview of the first chapter, the comic book promises to offer a contextualised and culturally sensitive narrative for the adolescent and parental audiences in India. It also brings together multiple facets of adolescent life, from physical changes to mood swings, providing a relevant context in which information on menstruation is shared.

While the book will be available for purchase by those who can afford it, there are also plans to enable free access to those who cannot. Equally impressive and inspirational is co-founder Aditi Gupta’s journey from a student project, to an online resource and now to a successful crowd-funded campaign that will help realise the project and make it accessible to more people.

Menstrupedia cleverly uses medium and context to bring vital, medical information to girls across India, where surprisingly, there is a lack of easy-to-understand, friendly and open information. While the project is still at a nascent stage, there are plans to develop Menstrupedia for an audience wider than India.

Read about the journey at Forbes India.

Images from Menstrupedia.

Within the book, two distinct streams of story and style merge, in response to the crux of the Andolan’s questions on two developmental models—one indigenous and self-sustaining, the other modern and large-scale.

Published via a grant from Kalpavriksh, an environmental-issues NGO, all the copies of the book were sold over the next few years. Today, the book can be viewed/downloaded here, via Scribd. Here’s an interview with Orijit Sen on the book, on Kindle Magazine.

Images from the book.