In May 2024, our team at Tusitala embarked on a year-long research journey supported by the DesignSingapore Council’s Good Design Research (GDR) grant. Our mission? To explore how technology—specifically 3D printing—might make Singaporean picture books more accessible to visually impaired children.
In this blog post, we go behind the scenes with Foler Goh, our UI/UX designer and user research lead, as she shares key takeaways from her research, user testing, and iterative design process in designing a tactile picture book.
Bridging the Gap in Inclusive Storytelling
In Singapore, accessible picture books for children with visual impairments are scarce—especially those featuring local stories or characters. To address this, we teamed up with NAMIC Hub@SIT and iC2 Prephouse to develop a 3D-printed tactile picture book prototype.
As a UI/UX designer, Foler grounded her approach in human-centered design methodology—emphasising empathy, co-creation, and iterative testing. She framed her research around key “How might we…” questions:
- How might we improve access to Braille books for children with visual impairments?
- How might we enhance the reading experience for children at different learning levels?
- How might we create a platform for parents and educators to share and access tactile storybook resources?
Her research began with field visits to Singapore Association Of The Visually Handicapped (SAVH) and then iC2 Prephouse, where she conducted contextual inquiries and semi-structured interviews with teachers, parents, and children with low vision or blindness.
“We discovered that reading wasn’t enjoyable for many of the children,” Foler recalls. “They lacked books with Braille or embossed images that could truly support their imagination.”
Most available Braille books were limited in content and design. Some parents had turned to audiobooks, podcasts, and smart speakers to expose their children to more stories—but these lacked tactile interaction.
From conversations with parents, we learned that many struggled to find suitable tactile books aligned with their child’s developmental stage. For some children, visual impairment was diagnosed later in life. Others hadn’t yet learned braille and couldn’t read traditional tactile books.
“What really stood out to me,” says Foler, “was that a child’s reading level doesn’t always align with their age. It often depended on when their visual impairment was diagnosed or when their parents were able to seek help. That shifted our approach—we had to design based on reading ability, not age.”
Observing existing resources
At iC2, most children read handmade books crafted by teachers using Braille and various art materials. Though made with care, these books took a lot of time to produce and typically existed as single copies, shared among students.
“Each book was custom-built for one child. It was beautiful, but not scalable or easy to adapt across different literacy levels,” Foler notes.
To better understand the current landscape, we conducted a field visit to Punggol Regional Library, launched in April 2023 as Singapore’s first inclusive library. Our aim was to analyse the availability and tactile quality of the books offered. While the initiative marks a significant step toward accessible reading, many of the tactile books featured minimal touchable elements, such as a penguin character with only a slightly raised tummy, offering limited sensory feedback for visually impaired readers.
“In most cases, even if the kids could read the Braille, there was very little else they could actually feel,” says Foler.
Designing for tactile clarity
As we moved into the prototyping phase, the focus shifted to tactile usability testing. It wasn’t enough for illustrations to look accurate—they had to make sense by touch.
“We had to rethink the illustration system for 3D printing,” Foler explains. “That meant adjusting embossing heights, simplifying shapes, and focusing on distinct, tactile features.”
One pivotal moment came when a child asked, “How come this turtle only has three legs?” The answer: one leg was hidden from view in a visual perspective, but that didn’t translate through touch. We had to revise the design so every part of the turtle was clearly tactile.
Informed by user testing, we made several key adjustments to the tactile images:
- Increased the spacing between tactile elements
- Thickened line textures for better distinction
- Retained only the most iconic tactile features
- Reduced clutter by focusing on one character per page
Getting the braille just right
Braille readability was just as important. We tested multiple Braille fonts, discovering that even slight variations in dot spacing affected clarity.
“We didn’t expect spacing to make such a difference,” Foler admits. “But in Braille, millimeters matter.”
Some letters—like P, I, and T—were particularly hard to distinguish in early versions. After testing, we adjusted the font and spacing to improve legibility.
Eventually, we adapted Braille Neue by Kosuke Takahashi, modifying it to comply with Unified English Braille (UEB) standards. Braille Neue seamlessly integrates braille with standard text, enabling a shared reading experience between sighted and visually impaired individuals.
This approach allows caregivers and users to read the same material together, fostering a more inclusive and enriching reading experience.
Looking ahead
By May 2025, we’ll be submitting our final prototype to the DesignSingapore Council, officially wrapping up this phase of the project. But this is just the beginning. The insights we’ve uncovered have energised us, and we see so much potential ahead.
We’re eager to collaborate with new partners, create more 3D-printed tactile books, explore other local titles, and raise greater awareness around accessible reading for the visually impaired.
“We hope this prototype sparks more conversations and opens doors to more collaborations between designers, publishers, authors and educators, and I hope more tactile books can be made for the children who need them,” says Foler.
Interested in learning more or partnering with us?
We’re keen to connect with others at the intersection of design, education, and accessibility. Contact us if you are interested in working together to co-create a future where every child can explore the world through books—by reading, listening, and feeling.
