No one will feel left out, thanks to 3D TEK

Dec 16, 2014 13:57 GMT  ·  By

Yearbooks have been standard practice for a long, long time. Photo albums or cardboard sheets, much like diplomas, which provided you with a full collection of everyone who shared the same challenges as you while attending high school or college.

There is one kind of people who will never get the same benefits from a yearbook as everyone else: the blind, as well as those who are otherwise visually impaired.

Even those with partial blindness or other issues that could impact their sight, temporarily or permanently, could benefit from a different kind of yearbook.

3D TEK has proven to be a full supporter of this idea, having created something that could catch on with even those who don't have any health issues nudging them from behind.

The 3D printed yearbook

Writing the names of the students in braille underneath the picture of each one is one method of allowing those with poor eyesight (or no eyesight) to get some benefit from a yearbook.

Unfortunately, it still ultimately beats the purpose. Especially if you only go blind or partially blind later in life.

To preempt this from becoming a completely unmanageable problem, 3D TEK is working with the Touchable Yearbook agency to 3D print the yearbooks instead.

That is to say, to create 3D printed models of the heads of the students posing for end-of-year photographs, rather than settling for the standard picture format.

Visually impaired Korean students are the first beneficiaries of this partnership, receiving 3D printed statues of the classmates' faces with Braille nametags to boot.

Since their own faces are included, they can touch them and test to see if the accuracy is up to par, which pretty much is at this stage. 3D printing has come quite far in the past years, so something like this is quite straightforward now.

So yes, even if they lose their sight over time, or never had a very good one to begin with, Korean students will be able to keep and refresh their memory of the people whom they shared study time with.

The implications of this new program

Besides the emotional benefits and convenience, the Touchable Yearbooks act as a way to introduce 3D printing technology to the world at large. No one from your family, not you or your brothers or aged parents will be able to dispute the usefulness of additive manufacturing after something like this. It will accelerate 3D printing development and acceptance more than ever.

Blindess loses, students win (5 Images)

3D printed student head
Everyone can enjoy the yearbookStudent rejoices at Touchable Yearbook
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