The Monarch, a tactile device developed by Louisville-based American Printing House for the Blind, was honored in Fast Company’s 2024 Innovation by Design Awards in the Accessible Design category.
The Innovation by Design Awards, which can be found in the Summer 2024 issue of Fast Company and online here, honor the designers and businesses solving the most crucial problems of today and anticipating the pressing issues of tomorrow, according to a news release. The competition, now in its 13th year, features a range of blue-chip companies, emerging startups, and promising young talent.
The Monarch is a refreshable, multiline braille and tactile graphics device, that, for the first time, delivers braille and tactile graphics in real time on one device. About the size of a gaming laptop, the Monarch has the capability to connect to a visual display for collaboration with sighted teachers and peers, the release said. The Monarch revolutionizes learning, leveling the educational playing field for students who are blind or low vision. Students can now graph math equations on their device instead of creating something from craft supplies. They also have at their fingertips access to more the 2,000 tactile graphics.
To power the braille used on the Monarch, a new braille format was created, the release said. The eBRF file format will support braille literacy and education by making it faster than ever before to put braille into the hands of students. By building on existing technical specifications, a more robust braille format will allow students to interact with braille and integrated digital graphics on multiline braille displays for the first time. The new file format will also make sharing braille between countries much easier than in the past, expanding the amount of content available in braille, the release said.
“It is a great honor to be featured on Fast Company’s annual list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies for Accessible Design. We know the Monarch will play a vital role in ensuring students receive access to textbooks and graphics with the touch of their fingertips,” said Craig Meador, APH President, in the release.
“Having those two important items at the ready will ensure no student falls behind or struggles due to textbook delays. Products like the Monarch are in line with our mission to create accessible learning experiences through educational, workplace, and independent living products and services for people who are blind and low vision.”
There were 10 finalist in the accessibility category, plus one winning design. The winning was the Dutch AI startup behind Whispp, an assistive voice app.
“This year’s honorees show how essential creativity is to the process of innovation,” Brendan Vaughan, editor-in-chief of Fast Company, said in the release. “It’s inspiring to see how some of the best minds across industries are using design to shape our world for the better.”
The judges include designers from a variety of disciplines, business leaders from some of the most innovative companies in the world, and Fast Company’s own writers and editors. Entries are judged on the key ingredients of innovation: functionality, originality, beauty, sustainability, user insight, cultural impact, and business impact.
APH ranks on Louisville Business First most recent list of the area's largest nonprofits, with annual revenue of $35 million. It's also among Louisville's oldest organizations, dating back to 1858. Check out my interview with Meador earlier this year, in which he talks about balancing that long history by looking to the future.
