Kelly Rickard was just ten years old when she devised the idea for a raised-line colouring book.
She initially got the idea from watching her young niece struggle to colour within the lines.
She submitted her unique idea to her school invention convention—and won, of course!
The original book was constructed using a colouring book from the dollar store and fabric paint. The paint helped give the images a raised texture which would help kids stay within the lines when colouring!
From the school competition, her invention went on to the city competition, where she won as well! There, representatives from Aztech Inc., a company affiliated with the University of Buffalo, approached Kelly and her family about the idea of finding a manufacturer for her colouring book. Their focus was finding inventions to help better the lives of adults and children with visual and physical impairments.
Though Kelly’s original design was not necessarily intended for children with special needs, it became an ideal fit for such an audience. After years of searching, the company finally found the then owners of our tactile graphics production company, Ed and Cecelia Anczurowski, who had developed a wonderful process for producing tactile graphics using sophisticated printing materials … and the rest is history!
Kelly has produced nine colouring books for resale, all of which can be found on our product pages. The book Kelly and Sam was made in honor of her best friend!
Kelly has since gone on to become a Special Education Teacher in Baltimore, MD.
For information about where you can find her raised-line colouring books in your community, please visit our Tactile Vision Graphics in your Community page; or feel free to search our online shop for her colouring books.
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