Braille (1821–1952)

Braille is a method of communication that allows blind people to read and write. It is a system that is made up of embossed dots on a page that allow people to feel the bumps in order to identify letters, words and numbers.

Braille was first thought of by Charles Barbier, who created an early and initial version containing 12 dots per each letter that were arranged in different combinations to convey each letter. Barbier presented this idea to the military, who deemed it as being too complex. He then presented the idea again to the Paris National Institute for the Blind in 1821. This was where one of the students, Louis Braille (12 years old at the time) liked this idea and thought it would be successful. Braille helped to improve the design. One of the changes he made was reducing the size of the dot and it was too big to begin with which made it harder and would take more people for people to read it. In 1829, a version was published, the same one we use today, which is only made up of 6 dots per letter and is a lot more simplistic and easier to read.

Braille was a turning point for blind people in the 1800’s as it finally gave them the ability to read and write, something they had been missing out for centuries. Braille was revolutionary as it is only made up of six small dots but has the ability to change peoples lives, something that I think makes this design so successful. Not only is the design something to be looked at and understood, but it is something that can actually help you communicate which is what makes it so popular as to a lot of people it is much more than just a design. The simplicity of the design is something that also stands out to me as it is only made up of circles. For the design to be so successful and groundbreaking it is unusual that it is so simple, but this reminds us that it is more the impact of the design rather than the design itself that makes it so revolutionary.

A design that is similar to Braille is morse code. Morse code is a lot older (1791–1872) that Braille but works in a similar way as it helps us to communicate with one another. It is named after it’s inventor Samuel Finley Breese Morse. It is made up electronically of dots and dashes that, similar to braille, have a combination for each letter.

I think what makes both designs so similar and successful, is the fact that both go back over 100 years+ and to this day, they have not been changed or only slightly modified. Designs nowadays are designed to fit in with the trends of todays society, so it is refreshing to see two designs that are so simple and unchanged, but still help vast amounts of people in their day to day lives.