Tag Archives: inclusive design

SME smartphone concept aims to aid the visually impaired

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Smartphones are mostly created for those of us that are seeing or at least not visually impaired. But for those that want to be more inclusive, there are not that many similar products in the market that would cater to those that have some sort of visual impairment. Good thing that there are product designers out there who are thinking of such things and if their concepts are viable, I really hope that they get the funding to produce devices like this or at least major telecom brands adopt these ideas and create product lines for those that may need smart devices to communicate but are unable to use the usual ones.

Designer: Eslam Shafik

The SME is one such concept for a smart phone for the visually impaired. Unlike regular smartphones that are usually in a rectangular or square-ish shape, this one looks more like a smart speaker or a smart home hub. This a specific design direction that will make it easy for them to carry it around on the palm of their hand without a concern for its orientation. It also has a fabric mesh so you get a tactile grip on the smartphone and the materials used do not conduct heat so it’s comfortable for the user.

It even has a walking mode so the built-in high-quality camera will be able to guide the visually impaired as they’re walking. The voice assistant, Loutaz, can issue warnings when there are obstacles at a distance of not less than 50 centimeters. This assistant, powered by ethical AI, can also read out messages, social media posts, and other digital assistance you may need. It has a base for charging and to dock it when you’re not moving so it can still act like a smart home hub when you’re at home.

If further developed, this can be a pretty interesting, not to mention, useful device for those who need something like this. The 3D modeling seems to have dealt with the ergonomics and design aspect of the SME so what needs to be enhanced are the actual features and functions that will be truly helpful for the visually impaired.

The post SME smartphone concept aims to aid the visually impaired first appeared on Yanko Design.

SME smartphone concept aims to aid the visually impaired

Posted on by

Smartphones are mostly created for those of us that are seeing or at least not visually impaired. But for those that want to be more inclusive, there are not that many similar products in the market that would cater to those that have some sort of visual impairment. Good thing that there are product designers out there who are thinking of such things and if their concepts are viable, I really hope that they get the funding to produce devices like this or at least major telecom brands adopt these ideas and create product lines for those that may need smart devices to communicate but are unable to use the usual ones.

Designer: Eslam Shafik

The SME is one such concept for a smart phone for the visually impaired. Unlike regular smartphones that are usually in a rectangular or square-ish shape, this one looks more like a smart speaker or a smart home hub. This a specific design direction that will make it easy for them to carry it around on the palm of their hand without a concern for its orientation. It also has a fabric mesh so you get a tactile grip on the smartphone and the materials used do not conduct heat so it’s comfortable for the user.

It even has a walking mode so the built-in high-quality camera will be able to guide the visually impaired as they’re walking. The voice assistant, Loutaz, can issue warnings when there are obstacles at a distance of not less than 50 centimeters. This assistant, powered by ethical AI, can also read out messages, social media posts, and other digital assistance you may need. It has a base for charging and to dock it when you’re not moving so it can still act like a smart home hub when you’re at home.

If further developed, this can be a pretty interesting, not to mention, useful device for those who need something like this. The 3D modeling seems to have dealt with the ergonomics and design aspect of the SME so what needs to be enhanced are the actual features and functions that will be truly helpful for the visually impaired.

The post SME smartphone concept aims to aid the visually impaired first appeared on Yanko Design.

This foldable wheelchair with yellow accents was designed to blend in with the city

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Japanese studio Quantum is based in Tokyo and was founded in 2016. Since its inception, it has been creating innovative products and services, and one of them happens to be the Wheeliy 2.0 wheelchair. As its name might suggest, the Wheeliy 2.0 is an updated and improved version of Quantum’s award-winning original Wheeliy wheelchair, which was developed in collaboration with medical equipment manufacturer Molten. The 2.0 version promises to be lighter, and easier to use, and has a few updated features up its sleeve to show off!

Designer: Quantum

“Wheeliy 2.0 is a wheelchair that further evolves the concept of the previous model of achieving unrestricted mobility in society,” Quantum said. The 2.0 version was designed to make it extremely easy to use for wheelchair users, as well as the people who push or support them. The weight of the wheelchair has been reduced and amped with simple mechanisms that make operating and moving the wheelchair pretty easy. The wheelchair comes in the eight-kilogram range, making it quite lightweight, and boosting its mobility. Magnesium was used to construct the mainframe of the wheelchair, and carbon fiber for the wheels. This takes off two kilograms from the Wheeliy 2.0, as compared to the original version.

The wheelchair has also been equipped with armrests that function as brakes when they are pushed down, and footrests that can be lifted up effortlessly in a single movement. The yellow accents from the original Wheeliy have been maintained, which makes the wheelchair easier to use for those who are accustomed to using them. The accents guide the users on how to hold, lift, and fold the chair easily.

“Wheeliy 2.0 retains the core design of the previous model, but with an even greater focus on improving comfort when out and about. The design blends in with the city, making you want to go further and creating more comfort for the user and those who support the user,” said Quantum.

The Wheeliy was originally available in 2 colors, but the 2.0 version comes in 4 colors, providing users with a diverse range of options to pick from, allowing them to choose a wheelchair that perfectly matches their personal taste and preference. However, Wheeliy 2.0 has retained its original S-shaped frame and three spokes, in addition to the yellow accents, which are a part of the brand’s identity now.

The post This foldable wheelchair with yellow accents was designed to blend in with the city first appeared on Yanko Design.

This inclusive computer mouse redefines the gadget’s design by working using the wrist, no fingers needed!

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Allin is an inclusive, barrier-free mouse that was designed to be ergonomic specifically catering to the needs of amputees and those who struggle to use computer mouses.

Most of us are working on our laptops or desktops for the entire workday, but not without consequence. From our eyes to our wrists, from our posture to our bums, we go through physical strain every day just by sitting at our desks and staring at our computer screens while endlessly typing.

Providing their own solution to one part of this daily struggle, Designer Dot conceptualized Allin, an ergonomic mouse designed specifically for amputees and others who have trouble operating desktop and laptop mouses.

Constructed with a curved design, Allin features a soft impression where users can place their wrists to access the mouse’s control functions. Replacing the right and left click buttons with right and left tilt buttons, users simply lean their wrists to one side or the other to click links on their computer screens.

The mouse tilt buttons are positioned at different angles to ensure that the intended button is clicked. The left tilt button clicks at approximately 45 degrees while the right tilt button can be clicked at 20 degrees. Wireless by design, Allin comes with an accompanying magnetic charger that provides the mouse with enough charge to last through the workday.

Primarily designed for amputees and for those who struggle to use computer desktop and laptop mouses, Allin is ergonomically designed to fit every human’s natural wrist movement. Allin is a supplemental computer accessory that can be partnered with any laptop or desktop computer to ease the physical strain that comes with working at a keyboard all day.

Designer: Designer Dot

The magnetic charger provides Allin with the battery necessary for its wireless function.

Embedded technology reconceptualizes the inner workings of traditional computer mouses.

With a minimal outer surface, Allin can adapt to any brand of computer or laptop.

Allin is envisioned in matte black, off-white, blush pink, and lemon yellow.

The post This inclusive computer mouse redefines the gadget’s design by working using the wrist, no fingers needed! first appeared on Yanko Design.

The Chess board get a portable and inclusive redesign with this paper-based game redesign!

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Go Chess or ‘Weiqi’ is a strategic board game that is immensely popular in many East Asian countries, especially China. It’s an intriguing two-player game, wherein both the players attempt to capture and surround more territory than their opponent. However, the traditional game set is often ergonomically difficult to handle. The playing pieces or ‘stones’ are heavy and quite tough to carry and also tend to shift around during the game. Not to mention, it isn’t the easiest game for a blind person to play! Taking all these strenuous factors into consideration, designers Cheng Ka Wing Kavieng, Wei Ruo, Mak Ming Huen, and Wong Cheuk Laam created ‘Poppu’.

Poppu is a portable and tactile Go game that’s set on paper! Inspired by the Kirigami carvings, which is a variation of Origami that includes paper-cutting, Poppu replaces the traditional board and stones duo with a foldable piece of paper! This makes it extremely light, and easy to carry around. The paper is embedded with patterns created by die-cutting and letterpress printing. If you press the pattern downwards and pop it – it is considered as a black stone. If you press and pop it upwards – it becomes a white stone! A flat surface indicates empty or captured stones. The clever pattern system completely eliminates the need for heavy stones. The tactile nature of Poppu makes it super friendly for blind players as well!

Poppu is a light, portable and economical alternative to the traditional Go sets. Not to mention, it’s also inclusive and vision-loss friendly. Plus the fact that it’s crafted from paper also makes it sustainable and recyclable. Products like Poppu could be the future of board games. We can finally cut down on the conventional and expensive game sets that have been around for ages galore, and instead, opt for simpler and pocket-friendly options like Poppu!

Designer: Cheng Ka Wing Kavieng, Wei Ruo, Mak Ming Huen, and Wong Cheuk Laam

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Meet the hug cup, an evolution of the traditional tableware that allows you to easily hold your warm mug on those chilly days!

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Hug Cup is an innovative reinterpretation of the traditional ceramic mug, replacing the conventional side handle with a central grip tunnel that serves as an internal handle for those living with joint pain or osteoarthritis.

Kitchen cups and mugs have been endlessly reimagined through design over the years. The cup’s simple form makes room for innovative design across industries, from ceramic to inclusive reinterpretations. Designer and ceramic artist, Eszter Imre offered their own take on the conventional ceramic mug, casting a center finger tunnel that makes holding the cup feel like you’re hugging warm tea and makes holding the mug easier for those who struggle with holding a mug’s traditional side handle.

Imre’s Hug Cup was created to drill home the designer’s belief that, “we give special attention to things we use in our everyday life. We like to have a personal relation to the objects we touch closely, such as a cup.”

The internal handle is a unique take on the mug’s traditional side handle, allowing users to securely grip Hug Cup while feeling the warmth of the liquid contents inside. Describing the mug in their own words, Imre states, “The whole cup creates an intimate tunnel through the cup itself for your finger, you may enjoy the heat of your beverage without burning your palm.”

While Hug Cup’s innovative handle is playful, it is also a solution-based design. For those living with joint pain, more specifically osteoarthritis, gripping mugs is a feat on its own. The central tunnel on Hug Cup allows users to hold onto the mug without altering the way their hands naturally fall. By simply sliding your thumb through the internal handle, half the battle is won. In creating Hug Cup, Imre notes, “It’s a fun, engaging object that wouldn’t make you feel like an outcast from society due to your special needs.”

Designer: Eszter Imre

This Dyson-inspired inclusive ticket machine adjusts its height, increasing convenience for its users!

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Coinvenience is an inclusive ticket machine design that incorporates adaptive light fixtures and a hydraulic rail system that adjusts the machine’s height to meet users where they are.

We don’t know how inconvenient ticket machines can be until we have to use one. In parking garages, when we don’t pull up close enough, ticket machines are impossibly out of reach and the glare of sunlight makes reading the screen on outdoor ticket machines hopeless. With a few random clicks, all we can do is hope we pressed the right buttons to avoid a ticket. Making it more convenient for everyone’s use, Coinvenience is a new ticket machine designed to adapt to changing daylight and heights to meet people where they are.

Inspired by the Dyson Tower Fan’s ingenious bladeless build, Coinvenience encases its ticket machine inside of a multifunctional metal shroud. Addressing the conventional ticket machine’s lack of adaptive lighting fixtures, Coinvenience is wrapped in a metal shroud that blocks sun glare from obstructing the machine’s main control display.

Additionally, the metal shroud features a toplight that turns on at night to ensure the ticket machine and display panel are always visible no matter the lack of daylight. Another key feature of Coinvenience is its adjustable height. The same metal shroud that protects the machine from sunlight glare keeps a hydraulic rail system that moves the ticket machine on a vertical plane to reach different heights.

Primarily designed as a project for Loughborough University, Coinvenience was designed by Harry Rigler, Katy Finch, Reuben Williams, Omar Alqasem, and Bianca Tartaglia who each shared the same vision of creating a ticket machine with its users at the heart of it. Following the university’s guidelines that required the design to operate on a strictly coin-based payment system and feature a non-touchscreen display panel, the team of student designers looked to inclusivity to give Coinvenience the edge it needed.

Designers: Harry Rigler, Katy Finch, Reuben Williams, Omar Alqasem, and Bianca Tartaglia

This redesign of the kitchen sink was built on a scheme of chamfers and angled edges for one-handed users to use as leverage!

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Moray is a statement kitchen sink built on a scheme of chamfers, angled surfaces, and curved edges designed for one-handed users like amputees, parents, and those with an injured upper limb to use as leverage when washing dishes.

Even those who claim to enjoy washing dishes put it off sometimes. And don’t hold your breath for the rest of us. While it can feel like a mindless chore for some of us–amputees, parents of young children, and people with injured upper limbs must consider their best approach when washing dishes because conventional sinks don’t cater to one-handed dishwashing techniques. Changing this, Natalia Baltazar, a Bay Area industrial design student developed a statement kitchen sink that’s designed to be universal.

Providing leverage for one-handed users, Moray is built with an assortment of chamfers, angled surfaces, and curved edges that hold dishes in one place while they’re getting washed. In refining her universal kitchen sink, Baltazar identified the obstacles faced in the kitchen for one-handed dishwashers and sought to solve them with Moray. Following a series of indirect observation and ideation periods, Baltazar learned that it’s less so about introducing new tools and more about redesigning the sink from the basin up.

Inspired by the traditional dual-basin sink, Moray features a deep soaking basin where dishes can soak before getting scrubbed down with a sponge and soap. Inspired by terrace farming, undulating chamfers, ridges, and angled edges are located beside the water basin where dishwashers can position the plates to remain in place while scrubbing them down. Baltazar even thought of a cavity in the design scheme where dishwashers can wedge sponges to wash utensils.

The curvilinear design of the dish racks are points of leverage for dishwashers and completely drain of water thanks to their rounded edges. The only difference between Moray and the traditional sink is the appearance. Users can even install Moray the same way they’d install a conventional kitchen sink, with the option of an overmount or under-mount installation.

Designer: Natalia Baltazar x Smll Design

Baltazar incorporated narrow cavities where users can wedge sponges to clean utensils.

Users would have the choice of an overmount or under-mount installation for Moray. 

Inspired by the traditional kitchen sink, Moray has a sink basin and an area with chamfers for leverage.

After finalizing the functionality of Moray, Baltazar conceptualized it in different acrylic colors.

Users place dishes on the right side of Moray to hold them in place while they get washed.

Following an involved ideation and research period, Baltazar settled on a final form for Moray.

Deciding against the incorporation of new tools, Baltazar went ahead and redesigned the kitchen sink from the basin up.

The post This redesign of the kitchen sink was built on a scheme of chamfers and angled edges for one-handed users to use as leverage! first appeared on Yanko Design.

This transparent display for captions designed for the DHH community makes sure facial expressions aren’t missed!

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See-Through Captions is a simple, understated solution for the DHH community that uses a transparent subtitle display screen to project conversations with ASR technology and incorporate facial expressions to bridge communication gaps between DHH and hearing individuals.

While there are some adaptive designs that aim to help those who are deaf or hard-of-hearing (DHH), most of them rely too heavily on subtitles and audio, losing out on physical gestures and facial expressions. Some products are designed to convert sign language to text, some AI robots are meant to replace hearing dogs, and then there’s even a wearable device that translates sign language into speech. Awarded by James Dyson with Japan’s highest award, a team of designers from Digital Nature Group developed a new solution for bridging communication gaps between hearing and hard-of-hearing folks called See-Through Captions.

Developed for those who are deaf or experience varying levels of hearing loss, See-Through Captions was designed by a team of hearing and deaf individuals and tested in real-life situations to ensure its effectiveness. See-Through Captions is essentially a transparent projector that converts audio to subtitles and displays those conversations on its two-way screen. Since most pre-existing related products only focus on translating audio to subtitles, Digital Nature Group gave See-Through Captions a transparent screen to guarantee that users’ facial expressions and physical gestures aren’t missed. In addition to the incorporation of physical expression, Digital Nature Group improved its automatic speech recognition (ASR) technology to optimize real-time captioning and ensure an accurate relay of communication.

The See-Through Captions product comes in two different physical forms, stationary and portable, so the ASR technology can be applied across different interactions. In developing See-Through Captions, Digital Nature Group demonstrated different prototypes in a museum setting. In the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, See-Through Captions was used in its stationary form at the museum’s front desk as well as its portable form on guided tours. Following its demonstration, Digital Nature Group decided some improvements could be made to the size and amount of text displayed on the portable product. Overall, See-Through Captions is a simple, understated solution for the DHH community that incorporates facial expression as well as accurate ASR technology to bridge communication gaps between DHH and hearing individuals.

Designer: Digital Nature Group

On a transparent screen, ASR technology converts audio to subtitles in real time. 

The transparent screen allows DHH individuals to maintain eye contact while engaging with hearing people. 

The portable form of See-Through Captions is handheld and can be applied in social settings such as guided tours and offsite meetings. 

After using prototypes in real-life situations, Digital Nature Group is improving the amount and visibility of text on the screen. 

This induction stovetop uses voice commands + haptic feedback to make cooking safer for the blind!

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Cookware developed specifically for the blind and visually impaired communities requires a good blend of ergonomic and tactile design elements. While today’s product designs across industries shoot for minimalism, ditching bulky gear for a more elemental and bare look, the lack of sensory components overlooks those who might benefit from an ergonomic design, like the visually impaired community. French industrial designer Dorian Famin created Ugo, a two-part induction stovetop, to help streamline work in the kitchen for the blind community.

Ugo is a portable, two-part induction stovetop that helps blind people navigate cooking through haptic dials and an overall ergonomic build. At the center of Ugo’s design, Famin incorporated a chunky stove dial that clicks into place when turned to the right. The size of the stove dial enhances the stove’s ergonomic design by guiding the user’s sense of touch to the stovetop’s main power function. Famin’s stovetop also implements wide, easy-to-grip handles, ensuring safe carrying and boosting the stove’s tactile attributes. Ugo also recites step-by-step recipes to users, weaving in the sense of hearing to aid blind people’s experience in the kitchen. This addition allows room for users to engage with the cookware and accessories already in their kitchen and get cooking while Ugo narrates each step along the way.

While cookware for the visually impaired still has a long way to go, designers notice the lack of inclusive home products and create appliances that streamline everyday tasks. Striking a balance between tactile, bulky stove dials and clever incorporation of sensory elements, Famin’s Ugo boasts accessibility without compromising its refined personality.

Designer: Dorian Famin





The stovetop’s chunky main dial guides the user’s sense of touch to its center.

Wide, easy-to-grip handles enhance Ugo’s ergonomic design.

The two-part construction of Ugo allows users to use their own kitchen accessories when cooking.

The stovetop’s built-in heating coil adds to Ugo’s overall safety factor, allowing for flameless operation.

Braille guides fill out the front panel of Ugo to ensure that users can distinguish between the different dials and buttons.