Braille Fail

I'm all for awareness of Braille, but on a billboard? Does this go along the lines of Braille Tattoos?

Via Fail Blog.

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Labelmaker for the blind

Danni Luo's labelmaker for the blind: "

Interesting design concept for an Embossing Braille Printer for the blind and visually impaired. It uses voice recognition to input information in to the device.

"Most of the time, the blind can distinguish items by touch alone, but when they encounter items with similar shapes, they may have difficulties. The blind can also identify some items by smell or taste, but sometimes that can be risky.
Embossing braille printer is a handheld Braille printing device, which can help the blind to distinguish items with similar characteristics by using special embossed labels. With similar items such as pill bottles, CDs, or files, the blind can input concise external information through a voice-recognition recorder.

Interesting device, but I'm not sure of the overall utility of it. There are already Braille labelers out there, though not as easy to use as voice recognition. The other concern I would have is the accuracy of the recognition. At this point, this device is a concept design, however as voice recognition becomes better, and costs for technology come down, it may be a product whose time has yet to come. Either way, I'm glad to see the design community thinking about the needs of individuals with disabilities.

Get more information @ Core77"

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Braille Tattoos

I've seen a variety of Braille Tattoos around, both conceptual and have now see a design for a haptic tattoo. The idea is to implant beads of a material under the skin which would be tactile.


"the implant could be placed on the hand - between thumb and forefinger, so that it could be read when shaking (or holding) hands"
concept by Klara Jirkova
Via Universitat der Kunste Berlin

Below are other "Braille" tattoos, which are not haptic.
""LOVE" in braille to symbolize that Love is Blind."
From by shewhophotographs


From Smushed Cow


From Flora Fleempaard


"Get busy living" from Bluekarzo



From the_girl


From Karli Brooke



From reason_and_nature



From juan () fonzo

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Braille in Advertising

Interesting use of Braille in an advertisement for dish gloves via I Believe in Advertising. Careful, it's quite an addictive site.

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Braille Watch from David Chavez

A beautiful design for a braille watch from David Chavez. Comprised of two rows of 8 raised dots on individual disks comprise 4 Braille number cells as the face of the watch. Each individual disk turns in or out of a channel to "refresh" the time on the watch.

The designer has given thought to the problems for individuals who are blind or visually impaired and use an audible watches and the lack of privacy and how current Braille watches have "static bumps to orient the watch face in relation to the hands." His site gives excellent details of the watch, it's design, and how it works as well as the testing with a focus group. Oddly enough, the design portfolio that explains the watch does not have alternative text and does not appear to be accessible to those with visual impairments.

Its great to see assistive technology design that is not only functional, but beautifully designed and great to look at. Form can follow function. The adoption of AT use could be greatly improved if more rehabilitation technology designers thought about the aesthetics as well as solving issues such as privacy for AT users.

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