Microsoft Research Design Expo
Inclusive Design & Technologies
In 2014, the World Health Organization radically revised their definition of disability. The crux of this change was to define disability as context dependent rather than as an attribute of a person. Interactions with technology are a clear example of this shift. Design solutions can create new access and new barriers for people participating in society.
Microsoft Research invited the Interface Design program to work in the theme of »Inclusive Design & Technologies« and to participate in the Design Expo 2015. Under the direction of Prof. Boris Müller, Fabian Morón Zirfas, Don Coyner, Richard Banks and Andreas Koller, the students developed six diferent approaches to the challenge. This page gives an overview to the originated projects. Please note that each project has polished website - but also a great work-in-progress documentation.
-
Biko is an approach on how complex information can be explored easily without a visual layer to create a better non-visual learning experience. Therefore it uses sonifications in your spatial surrounding.
Anna Heib, Heike Otten, Johann-Jost Dierks
Website | Documentation
-
A project communicating the idea that there are no maps that fit the needs of every user. It is the task of empathetic creators to fill this gap and create maps that are way more meaningful.
Ute Benz, Sylvia Kautz, Sebastian Rauer
Website | Documentation
-
Polo is a discovery tool for blind and sighted people alike. Find any item in a grocery store – and discover products you don’t know yet.
Laurids Düllmann, Henrik Hagedorn, Dominic Rödel, Philipp Steinacher
Website | Documentation
-
Signål is an audio processing device that was inspired by the enhanced visual sense of the deaf community. It processes sounds in the vicinity through microphones and translates them into visualizations and vibrations.
Marie Claire Leidinger, Julian Thiel, Nushin Yazdani
Website | Documentation
-
Tracktile is developed for the visually impaired and blind. It is based on electronically augmented, custom-made tactile maps which allow their users to familiarise themselves with unknown surroundings in advance and to navigate them more easily and autonomously.
Johannes Herseni, Patrick Oswald, Cécile Zahorka
Website | Documentation
-
Vibrosense lets deaf people feel music through a matrix of vibration motors along the forearm. It transforms music to a haptic sensation and aims to improve cultural participation.
Nikita Jerschov, Jeffrey Tätz, Tatjana Tšernõhh, Lennart Ziburski
Website | Documentation