This project started as a way to provoke empathy about Stargardt disease by creating a way people could experience it. Technical difficulties and a desire for greater accessibility resulted in a new direction. I am happy with the way my picture book turned out, as well as the expire it gave me. A great amount of research went into this project, and I am excited to see what future directions I can take it in.

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The current state of our hyper mediated world is one of exhaustion, and parents with Stargardt-afflicted children are going to be especially oversaturated by media and information. My writing condenses the information, as well as providing an opportunity to stop, take a breath, and read with a child.

 

In the future, I plan to create more books about childhood diseases to further promote the idea of being able to distill the information into something less confusing for parents (see publisher list below). The goal is to offer an alternative to exhaustion in favor of concise information that even children can understand and empathy that will stick with readers as it makes the problem more personal and relatable for even those without experience with visual difficulties.

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I learned a bit about using Unity and InDesign in this project, for the app and book, respectively. I also learned a lot about Stargardt disease and how American society deals with childhood diseases in general. I think this will help me be a better medical animator in the future.