From Vision to Touch: Bridging Visual and Tactile Principles for Accessible Data Representation

TL;DR

This paper develops a theoretical framework to understand how tactile graphics can effectively convey visual information to blind and low vision individuals, aiming to improve accessible data representation.

Contribution

It introduces a framework based on encoding, perception, and cognition to analyze tactile graphics and guides tactile-first design principles for accessible visual data.

Findings

Framework links tactile graphics to visual principles

Identifies benefits of tactile graphics over text descriptions

Establishes a foundation for tactile data visualization design

Abstract

Tactile graphics are widely used to present maps and statistical diagrams to blind and low vision (BLV) people, with accessibility guidelines recommending their use for graphics where spatial relationships are important. Their use is expected to grow with the advent of commodity refreshable tactile displays. However, in stark contrast to visual information graphics, we lack a clear understanding of the benefits that well-designed tactile information graphics offer over text descriptions for BLV people. To address this gap, we introduce a framework considering the three components of encoding, perception and cognition to examine the known benefits for visual information graphics and explore their applicability to tactile information graphics. This work establishes a preliminary theoretical foundation for the tactile-first design of information graphics and identifies future research avenues.