Inclusive design agency promoting access to arts and culture

By combining digital and multisensory elements, Tactile Studio, a design agency from France, designs accessible experiences for museums and other cultural institutions aimed at people with visual impairments, combining digital and multisensory elements.

Tactile Studio – an inclusive design agency and workshop headquartered in Paris, France – creates accessible, multisensory experiences for museums and other cultural institutions by combining tactile, acoustic, visual, and olfactory elements at all persons with disabilities, including people with visual impairments.Tactile Studio – an inclusive design agency and workshop headquartered in Paris, France – creates accessible, multisensory experiences for museums and other cultural institutions by combining tactile, acoustic, visual, and olfactory elements targeted at persons with visual impairments. Tactile Studio has offices in Germany and Canada; and several of its clients have received awards, such as the Gruuthusemuseum in Bruges, Belgium. Tactile Studio has offices in Germany and Canada; and several of its clients have received awards, such as the Gruuthusemuseum in Bruges, Belgium.

Problems Targeted

Experiences offered by cultural institutions, such as exhibitions and tours, are often not accessible to visitors with disabilities.

Solution, Innovation and Impact

Tactile Studio uses a universal design approach to make cultural content accessible for all visitors, often combining digital and multisensory elements. Their projects link tools such as sensory stations that use touch, smell, sound, and sight; interactive devices; relief depictions of images, architecture, and objects; and tactile museum labels. These incorporate Braille, large print, contrasted writing, and other inclusive design features. Tactile Studio works with its customers to design the various tools using sketches and 3D rendering. The company then enlists people with different disabilities and of different ages and cultural backgrounds to test the prototypes to ensure they are inclusive. Once tested and approved, the tools are manufactured by their WAM (We Are Makers) production team. The company also trains the staff of cultural institution. Between 2015 and 2021, Tactile Studios had worked with clients in ten countries in Europe and North America.

Funding, Outlook and Transferability

Tactile Studio uses a personalized sales model. Each project is unique, and costs vary depending on the type of tools and devices that are developed, and on which materials and techniques are used. Clients typically pay for a project through their annual accessibility budgets in combination with private and public funding. Tactile Studio will continue its multisensory pathway approach, which leads from basic accessibility needs to full inclusion and the creation of shared spaces of all audiences. It will do so by working with more cultural institutions to explore hybrid exhibition models using digital and multisensory tools and devices to make cultural content not only more accessible but an experience for the various senses.

Pictures

Hybrid orientation plan for the Parc de La Villette in Paris.

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