MESO – Dialogmuseum: interactive experiences for braille lettering exhibition

The new temporary exhibition “A Touch of Type” at the Frankfurt’s Dialogmuseum is entirely dedicated to the tactile writing system Braille. We were commissioned to complement the physical level of exhibits, images and text with digital solutions. The result is an interactive experience that can be explored with all the senses.

sensory exploration
interactive elements
Related Projects

sensory exploration

an exhibtion for everyone

Braille, developed by Louis Braille in 1825, is an integral part of our everyday lives and public spaces. Haptic dot patterns enable blind and visually impaired people to communicate by touch. Frankfurt’s Dialogmuseum and Prof. Isabel Nägele from Mainz University of Applied Sciences are exploring its history, systematics, application and reception in the temporary exhibition “A Touch of Type”.

Our team not only took care of the entire media integration, we also used digital media technology to turn the curators’ vision into an interactive experience.

Thanks to MESO’s digital concept, it was possible to create an interactive and participatory experience space that communicates Braille to a diverse audience.

Maureen Ekizoglu, CEO, Dialogmuseum

Texts in German, English and simple language (in black letter and Braille) provide an introduction to the topic. In addition, physical exhibits – many of which can be touched – show how Braille is written and read or how the printing process for media in Braille works.

With the targeted use of technology, the analog presentation is complemented by further sensory impressions. Our team produced a video loop showing a person reading in Braille. The sound produced as the fingers glide over the pages creates a subtle sound backdrop at the station.

interactive elements

type brought to life

How is language turned into writing? This question is visualized in an interactive station that we developed together with curator Klara Kletzka.

Visitors speak into a megaphone. With the help of AI speech recognition, their words are transformed into a cloud of dots that scurry across the wall and then magically arrange themselves into readable Braille lines. This playfully visualizes the systematics and typography of the characters and blurs the boundary between sensory perceptions.

In order to breathe realistic physics into the dots, we work with a 3D model of the exhibition space in which the particles move across the digitally recreated walls.

We developed a clever interaction principle for a video station to simulate the feeling of a real conversation. Using hidden technology, we achieve an element of surprise and make conventional controls for starting and stopping redundant.

Filmaufnahmen, Screenshot © MESO / Constantin Urban

Here we not only took on the technical concept and implementation, but also produced the video material for the testimonials in-house, from shooting to final editing.

The exhibition was on show at Dialogmuseum from April to July 2023. Further venues are planned for the future.