This week we’ve decided to profile some of the wonderful concept designs from the Yanko Design blog, specifically the designer’s ingenious methods of helping the blind.
If there’s one aspect of the future that appears to never change, it’s that every day the most simple concepts and experiences are becoming even more accessible and understandable. In short, the future belongs to everyone and no-one understands this more than Yanko Design, a web magazine founded by Takashi Yamada, which focuses on the best modern international design concepts.
The above device is the Blind CC, a credit card for the blind which was designed by Kwon Ki Nam. The Blind CC uses the cardholder’s fingerprint (using fingerprint recognition software) as their signature and the Braille on the display for transaction details. An inbuilt speaker next signals the products being paid for (although since there’s no headphones, perhaps Ann Summers on a busy day is out of the question), thus giving the cardholder a completely anonymous and safe transaction.
It’s an ingenious concept, and one which we’d love to see come to market to help blind shoppers as soon as possible, yet for now, much like the majority of Yanko Design’s showcased products, it remains a concept for now. In addition to the Blind CC, there are a number of clever concepts on Yanko Designs’ website, three of which we’ve singled out for the sight impaired below:
Rubik Cube for Blind by Zhiliang Chen – This is a simple but effective concept to ensure that now everyone can attempt and utterly fail when it comes to completing the Rubik Cube. This specialized Cube from Zhiliang Chen replaces the usual six colours with six different basic materials – metal, wood, rubber, plastic, stone and textile. Although why the blind man in this picture is wearing a blindfold is beyond us.
Voice Stick by Sungwoo Park – The Voice Stick is an ‘advance optical character recognition scanner’. In layman terms, that means the stick is meant to scan and convert text in books, newspapers, mail etc into voice information for its user. The Voice Stick would actually be a wonderful tool for not just the sight-impaired but also the extremely lazy (me).
Braille E-Book by Seon-Keun Park, Byung-Min Woo, Sun-Hye Woo, & Jin-Sun Park – Okay, we’ll admit, this one sounds more than a little far-fetched – a Braille e-book reader? However, the idea behind the Braille E-Book is that EAP technology could potentially change the surface pattern of the device by way of an electromagnetic signal to simulate Braille. Not only would this device cut down on the need for thick Braille books, it would also look extremely cool in motion, let’s be honest.
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