Tactile 3D Jigsaw Puzzle
FOR VISUALLY-IMPAIRED CHILDREN \ FOR VISUALLY-IMPAIRED CHILDREN \
Hogeschool van Amsterdam
TIMELINE
1 Week
🎲 BOARD GAME
♿️ ACCESSIBILITY
🎓 STUDENT PROJECT
We were asked to create an interactive and accessible interface for 4-6 year old children with visual impairments. The purpose of this interface is to enable these children to grasp real-world concepts, without relying on braille.
PROJECT ROLES
IDEATION
PROTOTYPING
STORYTELLING
IDEATION
With a timeline as tight as one week, our ideation phase focused on rapid idea generation focussing on assisting the audience with two key aspects - spatial awareness and shape recognition. We distilled our thoughts into three distinct concepts.
The first concept was eliminated due to the scale of the installation required to do it justice and the time and resources we had at hand. We decided to merge the two most promising ideas rather than choosing between them.
The result was a final concept - a 3D jigsaw puzzle combined with shape-matching.
A mini-golf style simulation of public spaces like sidewalks and traffic signals to help the TG get used to road safety.
A tactile game which helps the toddlers get familiar with basic shapes and sizes.
A 3D jigsaw puzzle which helps the children get used to recognising patterns, textures and arrangements in general.
DESIGN THROUGH PROTOTYPING
Our design process involved parallel prototyping to test the concept's feasibility and adapt as needed. The design featured a 5x4 grid, with a treasure map on top and multi-shaped holes on the bottom plate, complemented by puzzle pieces with matching pegs to help children match the pieces to the correct locations.
I, then, designed the Treasure Island Map layout with distinct areas - beach, hills, and forest - and a surrounding water body with a ship, introducing varied textures and elevations to aid children in pattern recognition. Once the design was frozen, we laser-cut soft wood boards into these shapes, glued them together and built out the puzzle board.
EXHIBITION & TESTING
We showcased our prototype at an exhibition at HvA's MDD Studio. Participants were prompted to wear vision-inhibiting glasses and assemble the 3D Jigsaw Puzzle. While feedback was largely positive, many found the activity more difficult than anticipated, so it might prove too challenging for a 4-6 year old. But after a steep initial learning curve, participants completed the puzzle quicker, experiencing deep satisfaction and gaining empathy for the visually impaired.
Looking ahead, I consider various ways to make improvements:
- Crafting variants with different difficulty levels.
- Figuring out re-usability to allow for multiple configurations using the same
pieces and board.
- Exploring the possibility of transforming the project into a market-ready product.