Accessible Labels App for “The Senses” Exhibition

PAC collaborated with Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum to create an accessible mobile and web label system for The Senses: Design Beyond Vision, connecting concise braille gallery labels to expanded text, zoomable images, visual descriptions, and human-read audio.

Project Description

PAC collaborated with Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum to enhance access to The Senses: Design Beyond Vision, an exhibition focused on multisensory design objects and experiences.

While working with Cooper Hewitt on related accessibility efforts, PAC founder Sina Bahram was asked what text should appear in braille labels for the exhibition. After reviewing the amount of interpretive content available for each object, it became clear that the physical constraints of gallery labels would not allow the museum to provide the full object information in braille alone. That realization led to the development of an enhanced accessible label system that connected concise braille labels in the gallery with a richer digital experience.

PAC developed an accessible mobile application and companion web application that allowed visitors to access expanded exhibition content from their own devices. In the gallery, braille-reading visitors could read the object name, a prompt inviting them to use a particular sense, such as “Smell” or “Listen,” and a corresponding number. By entering that number into the application, visitors could access label text, extended wall text, images of the object with zoom support, and visual descriptions.

The experience also included human-read audio recordings of the content, giving visitors an alternative to listening through a screen reader alone. Because the object name was included in braille, visitors could confirm that they were accessing the correct content for the object in front of them, while the digital layer allowed the museum to provide far more information than would have been possible through physical labels alone.

PAC was honored that this work received Gold at the 2018 MUSE Awards from the American Alliance of Museums.

The project demonstrated how thoughtful integration of braille, mobile technology, visual description, audio, and web access could extend an exhibition’s interpretive experience without separating disabled visitors from the core design of the exhibition.