More than six million visually impaired people in Brazil have a new way to experience color thanks to
a sensory innovation developed by AkzoNobel’s Coral brand.
Working together with VML Brasil and the Dorina Nowill Foundation for the Blind, the Touching
Colors project draws on neuroscience studies, which show that colors also manifest themselves in
the brains of blind people through emotions, memories and sensations, notes a press release from
the company.
The project uses braille and sound to translate RGB, CMYK and HEX color codes into so-called
Cromopoems®, which reimagine a set of 70 colors into a unique sensory experience. For example,
Citrus Orange is described as: “That urge to bite into a fresh fruit in the playground. Letting the juice
run down your chin and spending the day with its scent on your hands. That color is Citrus Orange, a
vibrant, warm shade of orange.”
Touching Colors was recently shortlisted in the Industry Craft category of this year’s Cannes Lions.
“We’re giving blind and visually impaired people access to experiences that were previously
restricted within the visual universe,” says Alexandre Munck, Executive Superintendent of the Dorina
Nowill Foundation for the Blind. “By transforming color into sensation, poetry and sound, Coral is
contributing to broadening horizons and reinforcing the importance of accessibility as an essential
part of innovation.”
The 70 colors were selected from nine chromatic scales in AkzoNobel’s portfolio. From these, initials
were created in braille, adding graphic value and establishing a unique creative path for the project’s
visual language.