We’ve seen information and the tact of survival gain meaningful curvature over a period. And all sorts of designs have been developed to aid the visually impaired. We present here, in no particular order, 10 designs that will make the ignorant go fanatical, while the impaired will find renaissance.
1. Sentio Digital Tactile Watch
Matthew Wagerfield, in a revolutionary attempt, has created Sentio - a timekeeping device for the blind and partially sighted users that exhibits the perfect marriage between avant garde design and cutting-edge tactile technology. The Sentio uses a tactile display, whereby each segment rises 1mm above the watch face. This enables blind users to read the time by touching the face as in the case of Braille watches.
2. Porn for the blind
Porn for the Blind is a distributed, community-generated accessibility project, and it is an interactive experience. Users can request a site to be described or publish their own descriptions.
3. Lazarus Wine Label
The story of the Lazarus Wine’s braille label is simple - the wine is produced by blind people, and the label was designed to highlight this aspect of production, as well as make the label intelligible for the blind population.
4. Touch Sight
Samsung Design China has launched a concept digital camera called the Touch Sight for the visually impaired and uses Braille instead of an LCD display. The user can record a 3 second sound description for every picture, which can be later used for managing the pictures.
5. Voice Stick
The Voice Stick can scan, translate and read books, newspapers, mails etc.
6. Siafu PC for Visually Impaired
Siafu allows full interaction to the user by means of mere touch. The remarkability of Siafu lies in the fact that its ’screen’ actually morphs itself by rising upwards to the shape of any image(even 3D) or web page according to their contents! Surface morphs itself to braille when text is being displayed. The technology behind Siafu - Magneclay, is an oil based synthetic agent that possesses countless morphing capabilities. It has a loose molecular structure but can be arranged in infinite shapes when acted upon by external electrical and magnetic charges. As long as the charges acting upon it remain constant, the magneclay will hold its structural rigidity, allowing it to be touched and groped without deformation.
7. Braille Polaroid Camera
Designed by Son Seunghee, Lee Sukyung and Kim Hyunsoo, this camera concept has a shape and functions like a conventional camera. Only, it has a built-in Braille printer for printing the shot. People may use it to record their life, or to get a better “view” of their surroundings. Either way, it is a very useful and innovative device.
8. The Visual Assistance Card
The card lays on top of the debit/credit card reader and through the use of Braille imprinted on the card, the user is able to keep their personal information private thus increasing their independence while shopping in any store. The Visual Assistance Card is light weight and can be easily stored out of the way until future use.
9. B&D messenger
B&D messenger is a revolutionary device designed for users with visual and hearing impairment, enabling them to communicate easily with the regular cell phone user. The basic working of the device is that when connected to the computer and the internet it translates Braille to text and vice versa thus sensing and receiving SMS for the normal user. While for a visually impaired person, the device comes with two options such as the messages can be delivered in Braille format or the same can be read out aloud depending upon the mode one chooses while for the hearing impaired it can be used as a normal cellphone for reading and sending text messages.
10. Mygo Cane
Sebastian Ritzler, has developed an interactive guiding system for the blind known as Mygo, which aims at replacing the seeing eye dogs, one day.The Mygo cane is supposedly made of a sturdy waterproof material and has a height adjustable mechanism, in order to be handy for both men and women.
