The encyclopedia · Product & Design · Product decision · 2023–2024
Cemento Sol built a tactile code into its sidewalks so blind people can navigate alone.
A cement brand invented a cane-readable tactile code — count the raised lines to know what shop you face — and got blind Limeños walking unaided.
UNACEM / Cemento Sol · Circus Grey Perú
the move
In Peru the most common disability is visual impairment, and it is largely unsupported, leaving many people dependent on others to find even a simple destination.
Cemento Sol, a cement brand with over a century in Peru, wanted to help but had a limited budget. The insight was to use the material it had an endless supply of: cement.
It designed a tactile signage vocabulary. A bar on a tile tells a user to tap and count raised lines, and each count maps to a category of business — one line for one kind of venue, more lines for another. The system was built and tested with visually impaired people over nearly two years.
Layers of the tiles were laid across Miraflores, Lima's busiest district, and organisations for the blind taught the code, so users could navigate on their own rather than ask a stranger.
why it works
- The brands bottleneck was money, so it solved the problem with cement, which it makes and has in abundance.
- A cane-readable code needs no power, screen or cost, so it works for everybody, every day.
- Designing with blind users over two years made the code genuinely usable, not decorative.
- It turned a commodity (pavement) into the brand's own inclusive product, building loyalty with every step.
what transfers
When you cannot outspend a problem, build the solution from the material you already own. The change is then cheap, and the brand becomes the substance people actually step on.
what came after
More than 75,000 square metres of the tactile tiles were laid in Lima, giving over 500,000 visually impaired people a way to move with autonomy, and the design and its patent were released free to use. It earned many honours including a Cannes Lions Grand Prix, multiple D&AD and One Show awards, an Effie, and a place in Fast Company's World Changing Ideas.
references
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