Excited to share this personal project! 😊
𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧:
I was inspired by Paul Castle, an artist and writer sharing his journey with retinitis pigmentosa, a condition that causes progressive vision loss.
He creates beautiful and colorful illustrations for his own books and worries about not being able to create art in the same way if he loses his sight completely.
His story inspired me to explore more inclusive ways for visually impaired individuals to express art, regardless of their level of vision.
𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬:
Traditional art tools are often inaccessible to visually impaired children. While there are existing solutions for blind kids, most lack color integration, making them less inclusive for children with partial vision or progressive blindness who want to reinforce their understanding of colors.
𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐢𝐬:
Tactile Canvas is a 3D-printed, inclusive art board that allows both visually impaired and sighted children to create tactile, colorful designs together.
𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬:
- The board features a grid of holes where flexible, snap-fit buttons in five distinct colors can be placed (red, blue, yellow, green, and black).
- Each color has a unique texture, enabling children to easily differentiate them by touch.
- Children can arrange the buttons freely to form shapes, patterns, and drawings.
- A key at the bottom of the board associates the color names (written in both English and Braille) with their respective textures.
𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞:
Unlike traditional drawing tools for the visually impaired, Tactile Canvas integrates both texture and color, fostering a universal language of artistic expression.
It empowers blind children to "feel" their artwork as they create, allows those with partial vision to reinforce color recognition, and enables sighted and visually impaired kids to collaborate seamlessly.
💡 𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭, 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮:
MakeGood INC by Noam Platt: Open source design and fabrication serving the disability community.
𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐀𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞 by PrintLab and Jason Yeung: 3D printing and assistive technology design challenge that supports and promotes inclusive design.
Designability by Matt Ford and the team: A user-centered design charity creating products for people with disabilities.
Tactile Canvas is simple and refined for kids, but there is immense potential for developing solutions that empower professional blind artists to create without barriers, especially with AI technology.
I hope this project inspires other industrial designers and engineers in my network to explore new solutions for this challenge! 🤝 🙌
#3dprinting
#inclusivedesign
#assistivetechnology
#industrialdesign
