"Amelia"

Braille is something that I feel is very unnoticed in our society. The blind make up only about .3% of our population, but that’s .3% of our population that is blind. My idea for creating a font that includes Braille first started when I was volunteering at the Milwaukee Art Museum. I began to wonder how blind people experience art. Through class idea exercises and brainstorming, the idea of a Braille font emerged.

I will be naming my font, “Amelia”, after my blind friend who has helped make my font successfully “readable”. My main focus is to create a font that is both legible to those who can see (by using sight) and to those who cannot (by using touch); viewer vs feeler, so to speak. Amelia will be a bold lowercase font to accommodate for the overlap of the Braille. The placement of the Braille on the letters was a concern. After talking with Amelia, she informed me that because of its 6- grid system, Braille needs to maintain a consistent baseline or it could be interpreted as a different character. So far, that has proven to be the biggest challenge. Obviously, no letter is the same; so maintaining that consistent baseline is not easy.

My final piece will be in poster form. The letters will be laser cut. I will then put a backing on the poster, which will make the outline of the letters identifiable. I will use a french sewing knot to create the Braille marks. By using thread, I can experiment with different colors to add more visual appeal. I also want this font to teach. I will show the empty circles within the 6-grid system on each letter. This way, the “viewer” can then see which Braille character goes with what letter. Vice versa, the “feeler” will also be able to learn the outline of the physical letterform that goes with the corresponding Braille character. I am the excited to see the final result!