Braille Meets Emoticons - bridge to visual language

Book - Emoticons for the visually impaired

People who use the Braille language are forced to use the 26-letter alphabet to describe their emotions. This insight became a starting point for this reading/education project, based on the use of emoticons. In this typographical experiment, 22 of the most commonly used emoticons are converted into a new 9-dot Braille grid. It tries to build a bridge to visual language for the visually impaired, by giving them the opportunity to touch in one 'image' a recognizable emoticon and to feel immediately the related emotion.

JURY STATEMENT

Emojis can be inaccessible to the visually impaired. The proposed solution elegantly addresses this challenge and fits very well into the existing braille context. The design is nicely presented and feasible.

WINNER STATEMENT

This IF Design Talent Award gives me the strength to continue using my creativity to make a contribution to a better world. It rewards my research work at our wonderful READSEARCH department and gives future possibilities to finalize the project, for which I am very grateful.

UNIVERSITY

PXL MAD School of Arts, MAD research / Hasselt University

Hasselt, BE

WINNER

Walda Verbaenen

PXL MAD School of Arts, MAD research / Hasselt University