The main visual rhetorical operations used for this project in developing the alternative tactile language ORION are tautology and simile.Ā
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ORION is derived through the use of the visual rhetorical operation of simile. The basic idea for the language was to reduce the lines of the Roman letters in to three dots. The three dots are similar to the three aligned stars of the ORION constellation. This inspired the name for the language.Ā
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The forms for each of the letters, numbers and punctuations are created with the visual rhetorical operation of tautology in mind. Tautology means saying the same thing twice in a different manner. As the aim of the language was to help a visually impaired person learn writing and give them the opportunity to communicate visually by writing, the form of the character had to resemble the actual character. Hence, the form of each letter would be reduced to either dots, curves or dashes. It is creating the same character or symbol but in a different way.
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After the creation of the letter forms, they were integrated into two forms, a set instruction manuals and practice books and a set of learning cards.
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The set of instruction manuals and practice books come as parts I and II. The use of the rhetoric, simile is seen in the binding of the two books as a set for both parts. The manual and practice book are bounded together as a set with a metal fastener. It represents the relationship of the instructor and learner that the two have to work hand in hand in order to learn the language. Ā
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The typeface used throughout the whole project is Courier New. As a monospaced typeface, it reflected the tactile languageās requirement for consistent spacing between each dot and each character or symbol.Ā
