How do you teach motion design to a deaf student? This was the question I faced last year when a student who can’t hear joined my motion design class. The theory was easy. I taught, his translator put it in sign language, he took notes. But when it was time for the students to create their final project, I began to realize the real challenges that faced this student. He couldn't hear the music. Despite his translator’s signs for quicker tempo or heightened intensity, he couldn't match his design to the sound. In the end I had to tell him to leave the music out and just deliver his design. It wasn't the solution I would have liked to give him, and I felt upset for having discriminated his project in that way. I became determined to find a solution, and Motion Vibes was born.
Motion Vibes is a weekly class that teaches motion design exclusively to deaf people with an artistic inclination. A sign-language translator helps communicate the theoretical parts of the class to the students, but each week we also work on the practical incorporation of design with sound and music. To achieve this, I have studied the methods used to teach sound, music, and rhythm to deaf people in other areas, especially dance, and have incorporated them into the teaching of motion design. For example, using sound vibrations coming off the speakers and other surfaces, I teach students the basic beats of a piece, as well as the differentiation of intensity over a time lapse that helps them build the framework of their project. By reading audio waves, people can understand the distinctions of intensity and pitch in the music and add subtleties to their designs that follow the music precisely and add to the emotional appeal of the piece.
It is my hope that Motion Vibes will inspire other motion design instructors to get involved in the teaching of motion graphics to people with hearing impairments, and that together we will develop more and better methods to help these artists create great work.
Demetra Englezou
Motion Vibes is a weekly class that teaches motion design exclusively to deaf people with an artistic inclination. A sign-language translator helps communicate the theoretical parts of the class to the students, but each week we also work on the practical incorporation of design with sound and music. To achieve this, I have studied the methods used to teach sound, music, and rhythm to deaf people in other areas, especially dance, and have incorporated them into the teaching of motion design. For example, using sound vibrations coming off the speakers and other surfaces, I teach students the basic beats of a piece, as well as the differentiation of intensity over a time lapse that helps them build the framework of their project. By reading audio waves, people can understand the distinctions of intensity and pitch in the music and add subtleties to their designs that follow the music precisely and add to the emotional appeal of the piece.
It is my hope that Motion Vibes will inspire other motion design instructors to get involved in the teaching of motion graphics to people with hearing impairments, and that together we will develop more and better methods to help these artists create great work.
Demetra Englezou