Konica Minolta donated 100 special braille books to Bangkok School for the Blind

17 November 2017 – Mr. Masashi Miyamoto, Managing Director of Konica Minolta Business Solutions (Thailand) and employees donated 100 special design braille books that feature braille, tactile images with RGB color and text to Bangkok School for the Blind administered by Foundation for the Blind in Thailand under the Royal Patronage of H.M. the Queen. These special design braille books are designed with Konica Minolta designer and printed from company’s well-known products; bizhub PRESS C71hc and JetVarnish 3DS. Our approach to CSR is to provide new style of learning materials for visually impaired children in solving the problem of limited Thai educational materials.

 

WHAT IS “READING WITH FINGERS”

“Reading with Fingers” provides visually impaired children and sighted friends, siblings, teachers or parents with an opportunity to read and play together. All materials feature braille, tactile images with RGB color and text layers which are specially designed for blind, partially sighted children, and sighted readers. These materials are printed from Konica Minolta’s products. Color pictures are printed from bizhub PRESS C71hc that provides wide color gamut to create brighter and more colorful images. Tactile and braille are produced by MGI JetVarnish 3DS, the spot UV finishing machine that can create 3D raised effects on print with maximum 200 micron thickness.

Both audiences can learn the same things by reading and sharing the same materials. It will create excitement, fun and social interaction. “Reading with Fingers” helps children to feel less socially isolated and experience improved mental health as well as to develop their imagination from the process of decoding the symbols.