Hormones Under Your Hood Case Study

Objective

What if learning about your body could be exciting, empowering, and accessible to every child? Hormones Under Your Hood is a first-of-its-kind educational book that children can read, see, hear, and feel. It helps young learners understand their bodies and the important role hormones play in everyday life. Knowledge is power, and every child deserves access to it.

Author and creator Alison Kanani prioritizes accessibility and designed a book where children of all abilities can learn together.

Hormones Under Your Hood is available in dual formats.

• The print edition combines braille, tactile illustrations, and text.
• The digital edition brings together sign language, audio narration, captions, illustrations, and text.

• Challenge #1: Orientation: Because the book is an interactive online storybook, it was important that the interpreter's gestures matched the images correctly, gesturing to their right (the viewer's left).
• Solution #1: Mapping: The team carefully mapped all gestures to correspond with the on-screen images, ensuring visual clarity and accurate storytelling.
• Challenge #2: Multiple Speakers: Role-shifting was essential to differentiate the characters in the book. Using a common sign language practice, the visual space was utilized to position the three characters in the right, center, and left fields.
• Solution #2: Positioning: Strategic positioning and visual cues, along with color-coded teleprompter text, were used to clearly distinguish each speaker and ensure the story remained easy to follow.
• Challenge #3: Accessible for All: Deliverables needed to be accessible for stakeholder review and external teams not fluent in ASL or BSL.
• Solution #3: Guide Voice Added: All deliverable videos were provided with a standardized naming. A guide voice was added to help stakeholders not fluent in ASL or BSL to review and approve the media. This also allowed later external teams to prepare the videos for audio and captioning.

The first book in the series, Dopamine, has been released, with additional titles on the way as the Hormones Under Your Hood community and social following continue to grow. The ASL version of the book is available for free on the author's website and has received over 200 views within the first six months of release.

This series represents an important step toward making educational resources accessible for children of all abilities. By providing inclusive formats, it allows children not only to learn about their bodies but also to better understand how different children experience learning and access information.

“Thank you ICS team for the incredible partnership and support you've given us throughout this project. Your expertise in ASL and BSL interpretation has been essential in our recording process. We are especially grateful for the time you spent educating us about the Deaf community. Your guidance has broadened our understanding and directly shaped the quality and authenticity of our work. We look forward to continuing this meaningful collaboration.” — Alison Kanani

“Because of your dedication, we've been able to create an all-in-one book that we're genuinely proud of. Content that is more accessible, more thoughtful, and more aligned with the needs of the communities we serve.”