Bubble Letters: Smart Tape Lets Anyone Create Braille Labels

braille tape

While technology can make life much easier for the blind, sometimes the simplest solutions are the most sensible. A team composed of designers Kukil Han, Yongju Kwak, Young-Seok Kim and Dongbin Shin came up with the ingenious Braille Tape, a bare-bones approach to labeling the world for those who can’t see.

braille tape concept

The concept behind the tape is pretty simple. There are repeated blocks of dots all along the length of the tape. These six dots can be pressed in different combinations to form every character in the braille alphabet.

braille tape instructions

To use the tape, you simply cut off the length you need (corresponding to the number of characters you need to spell out your message) and stick it to something that needs to be labeled. Then press in the appropriate dots in each block to form the braille letters.

braille tape applications

The clever concept would make it simple to label anything, anywhere for non-sighted people. This could be especially handy for labeling foods or other shared household objects. So far the project is only a concept, but it would be wonderful to see it brought to life as a real product.

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See more in Various Gizmos or under Gadgets. January, 2013.