The Invention of Braille

The last class focused heavily on typography, we learned about the invention of the printing press, display typefaces, and typography in art. But we didn’t learn that much about how type and even just literacy have developed in visually impaired people so I chose to do my blog post on Braille and the invention of Braille its cultural impact was incredibly significant and I would argue that it still counts as a type of typography. 

Culture

Braille was invented by Louis Braille in 1824 when he was only 15 years old. It was a modified version of something the military was already using to allow people to read communications with no light. This invention allowed visually impaired people to read which was something nearly unimaginable to the community up to this point. Louis Braille invented himself was blind. Even though this was a world-changing invention it would not be adopted universally until 1932. Braille has since been adapted for many languages besides English around the world. 

Typography

Braille as a type is fascinating. It is written from right to left using a slate and read from left to right. The slate uses 2 metal plates with cell-sized holes that you punch with a poking tool to create each letter and then the paper is flipped so the raised parts are on the top. A cell is one letter, which is made using a maximum of six raised dots. 

Each letter of the alphabet plus punctuation is represented with these dots. When red, all one does is run your fingers along these cells distinguishing each letter. Even though it is usually representing English it is truly a unique language in and of itself. 

Before doing this research I didn’t really have any idea how braille worked or how it was read. It was fascinating to be able to grasp a better understanding of Braille since it was such an important invention.