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Experiment

Experiment >> Tactile Strips

City As a Cite: Yellow Tactile Strips

Brief:

Identify an area or aspect of infrastructure or public space in the city to research. Produce a design for the site which builds on an existing landmark or infrastructure, modifying it, or allowing it to have a double function.

Challenge:

What can we add to the yellow tactile strips to improve the effectiveness while still maintaining accessibility & safety of itself?

Research:

​Tactile Strips are regulated by the ADA (American with Disabilities Act with specific dimensions

  • Tactile Surface- Offers both physical and audible cues for cane users when canes come in contact

  • Bright Colors- Eye catching visual cues that alert to danger and caution

  • Pattern- Dots(truncated domes) signal danger, bars provide directional cues

​

Different Platforms:

  • Wide space

    • People walk in the middle with yellow tactile strips on both sides

    • ​Often used in densely populated areas (ex. 59th street, 36th street, Atlantic Av-Barclays Ctr, etc)

  • ​Narrow space

    • Little space to walk with only one side has tactile strips

    • ​Often see in small stations (ex. 53rd street, 9th street, Jay Street, etc)

​​

Pain Points:

  • People were ignoring the yellow strips and walking it because the subway station was too crowded especially during rush hour

  • Walking on the yellow strips is very dangerous because there is no barrier between the subway track and the platform

  • Some of the platforms had barely enough space for 2 people to walk pass each other

Ideation- LED Lights:
LED.jpg

  • LED lights embedded into or between the truncated domes

  • Arduino to program lights to pass along the track in a timed manner

  • Various light patterns that flow in direction of the train arrival

  • Requires physical alteration of tactile strips

paint.jpg

  • Maintains bright color attraction

  • Metallic color reflects light

  • Keeps structural Integrity of Tactile Strips

  • Requires adjustment to the entire strip

Ideation- Changing Paint Color:
Finished Prototype:

  • Painted On Text Decal - Maintains physical integrity

  • Bright Contrasting Color - Maintains bright color attraction while still making text visible

  • Thought Invoking Questions -Make passengers pause and ponder on deeper questions

Final.jpg
Testing:

  • Out of 15 people, 11 people noticed it 

  • A lot more people noticed than ignored the strip

test1.jpg
Final Thoughts:

​​Effectiveness

  • Increased Visual Attraction

    • Would catch passerby’s attention

  • Slight Increase in pedestrians avoidance of strips

    • Some people ignored the strips altogether and some still stepped on the strip

​

Accessibility & Safety

  • Physical Integrity Maintained

    • Painted decal does minimal impact on the physical product

    • Tactile (truncated domes) unaffected

  • Bright Contrasting Color

    • Kept the strips visibly bright and eye catching

Ideation- Contrasting Color Patterns:

  • Contrasting Colors attract more attention

  • Keeps structural Integrity of Tactile Strips

  • Requires painting on the tactile strips

contrast.jpg
Ideation- Forced Perspective Text:
forced.png

  • Eye-catching design

  • Force passengers to stand a certain distance away from tactile strips

  • Customizable text

  • Requires painting on the tactile strips

  • Require large distance for visibility

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