Cover design for ‘Fee en Pip’ (Fee and Pip) has been designed to look and feel like a wooden barn door with a cutout through which the children can read the title in braille and feel the pony’s ears. The spine is covered with the same fabric which has been used for the illustrations of the pony and the book can be fastened with a special strip.
Design tactile books for braille education
Ann has developed of a new series of tactile reading books, in collaboration with teachers from the Royal Dutch Visio school in Rotterdam. The project, known as ‘Leesplezier’ (reading pleasure) is all about encouraging braille literacy by make reading more enjoyable for children with a visual disability. Marion Brillemans who wrote the stories chose topics such as horse riding and camping which would appeal to older children with additional learning difficulties. The inclusive design integrates braille and large type with rich tactile illustrations which relay the essence of the stories, even for children who aren’t yet able to read braille. Furthermore, each book comes with an audio CD giving the series an added multi-sensory dimension.
Cover design ‘We gaan op kamp” (We’re going camping) combines a cutout top layer of ‘grass paper’, Gmund Bio Cycle (textured paper made from plant fibers) which smells of the outdoors with an underneath layer of white board. The tactile illustrations and braille have been printed in elevation (2,5D) directly onto the board. The book can be opened and closed using a special flap made from parts of a tent.
The handmade tactile illustrations are both in terms of functionality and craftsmanship of a high standard, made from durable materials with unique characteristics, many close to reality such as real horsehair, tent fabric, sweet wrappers, party plates and cutlery, etc. The interior pages are made from quality printing papers in heavy weights: Sirio Color, Pop’Set and Lessebo Design.
