Tactile Icon Cap Structure for Accessible Product Identification
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing personal health care product packages do not effectively convey information to consumers who are visually impaired or have reading difficulties, relying solely on printed language that may be inaccessible.
Innovation Solution
A cap for personal health care packages featuring a circumferential edge and protrusions, including a first and second protrusion, where the second protrusion is shaped as an icon recognizable by tactile senses, allowing information transfer without language or print.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If information is transferred only through printed language on the package surface, then manufacturing is simple and cost-effective, but accessibility for visually impaired or reading-difficult consumers is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The information transfer function is segmented into two independent channels: printed language (for reading-capable consumers) and tactile iconography (for visually impaired or reading-difficult consumers). The cap surface is divided into zones with different tactile features, allowing each segment to serve its specific function without interfering with the other.
Solution Approach 2:
Tactile icons and raised graphical elements serve as an intermediary medium that translates product information into a form accessible through touch. This intermediary allows visually impaired consumers to access product information without requiring visual acuity or reading skills, bridging the gap between the product and its end users.
2Adaptability or versatility
If tactile iconography is added to the cap surface, then product identification becomes accessible to visually impaired consumers, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The cap surface parameters are modified by introducing variations in height, texture, and three-dimensional form. Raised icons and tactile elements create topographical differences that provide tactile information while maintaining compatibility with standard cap manufacturing processes through appropriate parameter specifications.
Solution Approach 2:
The tactile iconography is integrated within the existing cap structure, with raised elements nested into the cap surface rather than adding completely separate components. This nesting approach incorporates accessibility features into the cap's existing geometry, reducing overall structural complexity.
3Difficulty of detecting and measuring
If raised tactile elements are created on the cap surface, then tactile recognition is enabled, but the height of the cap surface increases
Solution Approach 1:
Rather than uniformly increasing the entire cap surface height, raised tactile elements are applied locally only where information needs to be conveyed. The majority of the cap surface maintains its original height profile, while specific localized areas feature raised icons and graphical elements of controlled height to provide tactile information without significantly increasing overall cap dimensions.
Data Source
AI summary
A cap of a package is suitable to store and present personal health care products. The cap of the package disclosed herein comprises an information for a receiver which corresponds to the personal health care product and which is recognizable with visual and tactile senses. The information is transferred by a product specific icon which protrudes from an external surface of the cap of the package.