Design guides for enhancing finger tactile recognition of plastic icon shapes

플라스틱 아이콘 형상의 손가락 촉지각률 향상을 위한 설계 가이드

In various industries, tactile recognition has been one of the important ways in displaying information because peoples like to touch and feel. Especially, how much the tactile information is efficiently recognizable is crucial for visually impaired persons in their daily lifes. However, existing design guidelines are insufficient to lead good tactile recognition. In this study, an experiment was performed to investigate proper tactile shapes (relievo / intaglio vs. filled / unfilled), sizes and depths for efficient tactile recognition. Moreover, this study scrutinized whether the recognition speed or error was varied depending on the type of displayed symbols (open vs. closed types) in tactile. The experimental results revealed that the 'relieve-filled' shape type was more rapidly recognizable than the other shapes, and the 'closed' type symbols (e.g., ${\square }$. ${\bigcirc}$) were more robustly recognizable than the 'open' type symbols (e.g, +, ^). Several design guidelines were presented based on the results. These guidelines can be applied to the design of tactile buttons in the devices that users should control them without visual attention, such as car steering wheels or MP3 players.