Tactile graphics as a think tank for museum education

Why are tactile graphics – originally developed for people with visual impairments – playing an increasingly significant role in the museum experience for all visitors?

This development cannot perhaps be explained by the existence of a hypothetical, universally comprehensible form of graphic design. Rather, it points to a fundamental challenge in museum education. Creating a tactile graphic entails a dual responsibility: on the one hand, the work must be perceptible to visitors without them being able to see it; on the other hand, the same graphic design must simultaneously lay the foundations for understanding the work. Given these requirements, the decisions that underpin every form of museum education must be made explicit: What is to be communicated? In what order? Through which elements? And in what way, without simplifying the work?

Drawing on specific museum projects, this lecture develops a thesis: what if the design requirements arising from the concept for people with visual impairments were, today, one of the most fruitful idea laboratories for museum education?