Leif Isachsen – Kode Design
Margit Sagen an active 87 year-old with a hearing impairment.
The mobile phone is a communication platform used by many but not all functions are accessible to everyone. Many people have problems learning and understanding new technology and its interfaces, and if they use a mobile phone, their use is often limited to the telephone function. For some, like Margit even this is difficult. Text messages are too small, the manual is not written in plain language and the buttons are too small to operate.
Chalk is a device, which makes the functions on the mobile phone available in a large and accessible format. The familiar blackboard is used as a metaphor for easy messaging. Each function on the mobile is made easier to use, more visible and more accessible. The team focused on three crucial functions – writing and receiving messages and handling images. A mobile is docked on Chalk, which has an embedded microphone/speaker function and video camera. The active touch screen displays messages and photos and can be used as a writing tablet to send messages in return using the Chalk device.
