Touch

Call me crazy but I walk around my house with my eyes closed all the time.  It started when I was young, my great-grandmother was blind and I guess I wanted to see what it was like.  I watched her move slowly and carefully through the house using only her hands to guide her.  She knew what things were and where she was by only using her sense of touch.  Today as a designer I frequently think of how to design for the visually impaired.  After visiting Dialogue in the Dark, an experiential exhibition in Atlantic Station, I think about it even more.  I feel that incorporating tactile design elements would be a helpful solution.  An inherent part of many tactile design elements is added visual texture.  By using tactile elements along walls and on floors it could almost act as those strips on the highway that let you know you’re going too far over or that a stop sign is up ahead, tactile elements could be used to inform both visually impaired and sighted individuals that they are approaching something.  In many places tactile elements are used unknowingly.  For example in a large open area where the only thing that differentiates different zones is changes in flooring, it may shift from carpet to tile.   Tactile design elements can be a very helpful tool.