Two-dimensional pin array tactile displays enable access to tactile graphics that are important for the education of students with visual impairments. Due to their prohibitive cost, limited access, and limited research within HCI, the rules to design graphical primitives on these low-resolution tactile displays are unclear. In this paper, eight tactile readers with visual impairments qualitatively evaluate the implementation of Pixel Art to create tactile graphical primitives on a pin array display. Every pin of the pin array is assumed to be a pixel on a pixel grid. Our findings suggest that Pixel Art tactile graphics on a pin array are clear and comprehensible to tactile readers, positively confirming its use to design basic tactile shapes and line segments. The guidelines provide a framework to create tactile media which implies that the guidelines can be used to downsize basic shapes for refreshable pin-array displays.

翻译：二维针阵列触觉显示设备为视障学生的教育提供了可访问触觉图形的重要途径。然而，受限于高昂成本、有限的可及性以及人机交互领域相关研究的匮乏，在这类低分辨率触觉显示设备上设计图形基元的规则尚不明确。本文通过八位视障触觉阅读者对针阵列显示设备上采用像素艺术实现触觉图形基元的定性评估展开研究。实验将针阵列中的每个探针视为像素网格上的一个像素点。研究结果表明，针阵列上的像素艺术触觉图形对触觉阅读者而言清晰易懂，验证了该技术在基本触觉形状和线段设计中的有效性。本研究提出的指导框架为触觉媒介创作提供了体系化方法，可支撑可刷新针阵列显示设备基本图形的缩小化设计。