Take a peek behind the scenes of our latest ASL design: 'You Are Magical!' We explain how we chose to portray our design as more abstract than realistic, foregoing the typical dotted lines or movements used to show ASL in 2D mediums. This brand-new design is now available in our online shop!

Available Now! ✨ 

You Are Magical Shirt in Sailor Navy

You Are Magical Shirt in Vintage White

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT AND VISUAL DESCRIPTION

The video opens with a white female-bodied Deaf person standing alone in front of a beach.

BACKGROUND: 

The Pacific Ocean on an overcast day. Jagged rocks dot the seascape and a stretch of sandy beach extends into the distance. A large mountainous-like rock rises up on the horizon, a notable landmark. In the lower left corner of the frame, a weather-beaten fence surrounds a yard of grass, non-native ice plants surrounding the perimeter. A few people walk along the beach from time to time.

FIRST FOREGROUND: 

The person has a pink headband, with golden geometric earrings and a navy blue shirt with the words "You Are Magical" and the ASL sign for "magical" in the near-final open-handed position printed on the short-sleeved crew-neck shirt, surrounded by yellow, coral and teal small, medium and larger dots. This person is ROBYN. ROBYN starts signing in American Sign Language.

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ROBYN: Hey there! Our new shirts say "You Are Magical!" So why did we pick this sign / message? We wanted to share positive vibes. These days, we're in the middle of a pandemic. There's a lot happening, and there's a lot to worry about. Our shirts are intended to share positivity.

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SECOND FOREGROUND: 

A second white female-bodied Deaf person is standing alone. The person has a blond ponytail with colorful yellow, teal and blue round earrings. The person has a vintage white shirt with the words "You Are Magical" and the ASL sign for "magical" in the near-final open-handed position printed on short-sleeved crew-neck shirt set in coral. The design is surrounded by yellow, coral and teal small, medium and larger dots. This person is CHARITY. CHARITY starts signing in American Sign Language.

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CHARITY: So, there are some other [ASL] versions of this sign that we know about- two in particular. Magical [SIGN DESCRIPTION: pop out your fingers on both hands] and Magic [SIGN DESCRIPTION: fold your middle fingers and thumbs together, shake them once in opposite left and right directions, and also move your hands away from each other vertically].

It's interesting- from my perspective, the sign for magic I showed just now is best suited to describing magic, like pulling a rabbit out of a hat. That's magic! But I don't use that sign in the context of "You're magical." That's when I use "magical", like Magical [SIGN DESCRIPTION: pop out your fingers on both hands]. 

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The video now cuts back to a shot of ROBYN, in the same position as the first opening shot. ROBYN starts signing in American Sign Language.

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ROBYN: We encountered several design challenges [with "You Are Magical"]. Most were related to the forward open-closed movement of "magical" and whether or not we needed to show the whole sign from A to Z, beginning to end. It can be hard to do that in a 2D medium. We decided to show the open portion of the sign "magical" so you get a sense of its vibe. We added colorful dots to further show the "magical" elements of our design. We decided not to use a dotted or dashed line to show the directional movement changes in the sign "magical." Without being too literal, we show the ending position of the sign and you still get a good understanding for how to sign "magical." 

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END TRANSCRIPT AND VISUAL DESCRIPTION