© Nadeem Haidary 2009

Camera for the Blind

Designing a camera for the visually-impaired seems like an absurd idea. However, many blind people will share photographs of vacations, loved ones and other memorable things to sighted people without being able to see image themselves. This camera’s simple, physical interaction allows the visually-impaired to take digital images with accompanying audio messages for sharing with others. Additionally, the photographs could be vectorized and laser cut, creating a new service of developing physical pictures that can be “seen” through touch.

Trying different methods for how the visually-impaired might be able to "see" images through touch. I found that blind people could read outlined edges better than a raised image relief.

Interviews and user-testing with prototypes was conducted at the Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The design went through several iterations, with a focus on size, material tactility and methods of interaction.

Although form was primarily developed through modeling, a few rough sketches here explore the intersections between simple forms. The geometries had to be distinct enough for components to be identified non-visually.

The models, including the final one, had moving parts to demonstrate the interactions. It had to be quite durable to deal with all the touching it was subjected to.

To make the camera easy to use for the visually-impaired, big affordances and tangible interactions are used. Turning the main ring turns the camera on and changes modes while pulling the lens out zooms in. Press the button once to take a photograph, and than hold to record an audio message.

Even without vision, blind people are quite adept at understanding their physical surroundings.

The camera is held vertically in the share picture mode, and the same large ring is used to navigate forward and back. The pre-recorded audio messages helps the visually-impaired person know what picture they are looking at, allowing them to lead in telling the stories behind the pictures.