Case Study: Touchable Ink

There are 285 million blind people worldwide, many of whom rely on braille to enjoy a tactile reading experience. However braille printers are not only expensive, in Thailand they have to be imported – meaning there's only a limited number of braille books available. So J. Walter Thompson Bangkok, which has worked with eye care brands for over a decade, decided to tackle the problem. The agency drew on its existing connections with the blind community in Thailand, and then expanded its research to people with sight impairment around the world.

“Ideas were raised in our JWT team, and we discussed from various points of view until we asked ourselves, “Why do we have to change anything about the printer? Why don't we make normal home printers print for the blind on normal paper?”,” says JWT's Hansa Wonsiripitack. “These questions were the eureka moment. Everyone shifted their attention to the printing ink, embossing pen and other materials that already existed in the marketplace.”