Tokyo-based designer and inventor Kosuke Takahashi has created a typeface called Braille Neue that can be read and understood by both the visually impaired and sighted. His mission as a designer is to create connections between people who are previously unconnected through design.
While Takahashi was a student, he made a blind friend who made a comment that totally opened his mind to the potential of Braille as a communication and social tool.
“If you can read Braille,” said his friend, “you can read books in the dark.”
Braille is a textile character that can be read with the fingers. Takahashi was amazed by the beauty of the system and wondered how he could make it easier to read Braille characters himself. He started to create a typeface that connected the dots and created Latin alphabet characters around them.
Braille Neue combines the two languages and can be read by a diverse set of readers, working towards creating truly inclusive public spaces.
Takahashi believes that the typeface also helps build connection and empathy between sighted and visually impaired people. The typeface is to be utilised at the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics in Summer 2020.
Takahashi was selected to speak at antenna 2020 by international creative platform Design Indaba as part a group of 10 graduates from the best global design schools. The event takes place as part of a virtual Dutch Design Week in October 2020. The projects each tackles one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set out by the United Nations (UN) that hope to guide us towards a healthier, happier and more equitable future.
For more of the presentations from antenna 2020 and for inspiring design talks and interviews from the best thinkers in the world, subscribe to the Design Indaba channel.
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