Note: this repository is Herbert's presentation for the Postgraduate Research Symposium 2025 - AUT. Check the deployment instructions for further tweaking and understanding how this works.
This presentation outlines the concerns of a practice-based doctoral investigation into the design of a generative pictographic system for cognitively accessible communication. The project is centred on adults with complex communication needs (CCN) and asks how such a system can support intuitive, culturally meaningful expression while promoting self-determination.
Rather than viewing artificial intelligence as a black-box backend, the research presents AI as a design material—something to be shaped through visual grammar, interaction logic, and participatory input. The project progresses along two interconnected tracks: a formal modelling strand aimed at creating a generative pipeline from semantic prompts to pictogram outputs, and a situated inquiry strand that relies on interviews with AAC professionals and designers to anchor the system in real-world communicative practices.
Drawing on recent work in design ethics and AI mediation (Gray & Chivukula, 2019), the project argues that cognitive accessibility should be prioritised as a primary design condition, shaping systems from the outset rather than retrofitting them for usability (Bühler, 2021). The project envisions a federated architecture as a future stage, enabling users to locally adapt the system while contributing to a shared knowledge base, addressing the universal-local paradox that underlies much of AAC design (Chan et al., 2020).
Methodologically, the work combines visual prototyping, co-design, and speculative interface modelling, supported by principles from cognitive psychology, linguistic philosophy, and AI ethics.
The proposed system —PictoNet— utilises a modular visual grammar based on semantic primitives and envisions a federated architecture that permits local adaptations to be integrated into a collective pictographic commons.
By considering cognitive accessibility as a fundamental aspect of design rather than an afterthought, the project aims to develop a visual language infrastructure that is expressive, adaptable, and rooted in user participation.
Keywords:
- AAC
- cognitive accessibility
- pictograms
- practice-based research
- semantic primitives
- Bühler, D. (2021). Universal, Intuitive, and Permanent Pictograms: A Human-Centered Design Process Grounded in Embodied Cognition, Semiotics, and Visual Perception. Springer Fachmedien. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-32310-3
- Chan, R. Y.-Y., Sato-Shimokawara, E., Bai, X., Yukiharu, M., Kuo, S.-W., & Chung, A. (2020). A Context-Aware Augmentative and Alternative Communication System for School Children With Intellectual Disabilities. IEEE Systems Journal, 14(1), 208–219. https://doi.org/10.1109/jsyst.2019.2911671
- Gray, C. M., & Chivukula, S. S. (2019). Ethical mediation in UX practice. Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1145/3290605.3300408