For the Blind – and Everyone Else

ID faculty member David Zacher MID 12 and current grad student Amanda Sim MFA 13 GD are key members of the team developing the first tactile wristwatch for a startup called Eone (its tag line DESIGNED FOR EVERYONE explains the name).

The brainchild of Hyungsoo Kim, a 2012 graduate of the MIT Sloan School of Management, the watch was covered in today’s Boston Globe and was one of the examples of smart design shown to US House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi when she visited RISD in late June. 

Inspired by Paralympic swimmer Bradley Snyder, a Navy vet who lost his sight in an IED explosion during a tour of Afghanistan, Eone is calling its first tactile watch the Bradley. But the goal is to create tactile timepieces that are attractive to everyone, regardless of whether or not they’re sight-impaired.

With startup funds almost exhausted, the Eone team launched a Kickstarter campaign yesterday hoping to raise $40K. And less than two days into it, the prospects are looking exceptionally promising: they’ve already got pledges totaling over $104,000 (and rising)!