Children’s Work Book & Custom Typeface
Welcome to Amharic Town Tracing Book is created using an original tracing typeface: Tsafyee (Un)Dotted Ethiopic. This typeface isn’t one that would normally be used to write body text or even titles but it is just as important. Tsafyee (Un)Dotted Ethiopic fights colonialism by empowering anyone but especially Ethiopians to own their language. As a part of the diaspora population we are prone to be forced to assimilate and in the process lose our language and identity. This typeface accompanied by the workbook is created to fight that and take back control over our heritage.
Another layer of colonization this project fights is environmental issues. By making sure it is created in a durable way that allows for the use of whiteboard markers on it, makes the book long-lasting and gets an infinite amount of use out of it. The workbook is currently geared towards teens and adults who want to learn more about the Amharic language and how to write it. The very first step in learning almost any language is learning the alphabet.
This book utilizes vibrant colors as an aesthetic choice, homage to the Ethiopian flag, as well as a practical organization method. The letters are personified to be members of a community/ town because community is a core value for many Ethiopians. It also helps to make connections with the letters to better understand why a letter looks the way it does. The book focuses on the psychological methods of learning and strives to move away from traditional methods that heavily rely on memorization. Traditional methods of learning Amharic consist of reciting the sound of the letter repeatedly while looking at a list of the alphabets in order. This proves to be tedious and has a short retention time, making for an overall slow learning process. This book shifts the teaching method from memorization, which is associated with short-term memory, to visual cues, associations, colors, and more which is linked with long-term memory. Although some level of memorization is still needed in this book, it is a dramatically less amount. The goal is to have a solid connection with each letter in the alphabet rather than having to rely on memory-based recognition. This workbook will ensure a solid foundation for an empowering journey in an easy and playful manner.
