<The store selling sound 소리를 파는 편의점> started with an article. The braille displayed on the can is marked only with types such as 'drink', 'beer', and 'carbonate', so the detailed product name of the beverage cannot be known only with braille. The only thing that can be seen is that both cola and cider are carbonated drinks in braille. There is no braille mark on ramen, snacks, and simple cooking food (HMR), so information on products is not provided to the blind. Officials say that it is difficult to mark braille due to the space and production cost to mark. In July 2021, as an amendment to the 'Food Marking Advertising Act' was proposed to provide braille marks to ensure access to food information, products with braille such as cup noodles are gradually emerging, but it is still limited to the product name. In addition, looking at the braille illiteracy rate of the blind over 80% of the blind, braille notation alone will not completely solve the problem of access to information for the blind.

Sound representation of wrapper design

In this reality, sound stores began with the design to more effectively deliver product information to the blind. An app using optical character recognition (OCR) technology that reads characters in images has also been developed to solve the absence of braille notation, but the sensory effect obtained through packaging is still not considered when selecting a product. Just as the color and pattern of the product wrapper affect the purchase, we decided to provide the experience of choosing and buying snacks according to any sensory choice by delivering the characteristics of the product to the blind as well as the technology for the purpose of delivering information through sound.

Therefore, it was attempted to focus on the sensory effects obtained from the wrapper when purchasing a product, and to share the moment of sensation of selecting a product by looking at the product wrapper using hearing, that is, sound. Even non-blind people evoke new thoughts by experiencing the design of the wrapper expressed by sound. Beyond the method of information delivery, we tried to challenge an experiment that provides new experiences to everyone.

Special thanks to 이원우 ( my max/msp advisor)

The Store Selling Sound 소리를 파는 편의점, Interactive art, 2022.

Sarang Kim, Sein Lee, Huijong Jung, Jayong Hur