Product-design engineer Dougie Mann has created a keyboard that, when hooked up to a smartphone via a custom case, can help amputees and people with sight loss type more easily.
In a world of sleek, homogenous touchscreen surfaces, the 3D-printed device brings tactility back into technology through five physical buttons, which are used to communicate all 26 letters of the alphabet.
Four of these are lined up along the bottom left side, while a single one in the top right-hand corner can be operated with the thumb.

"Instead of pressing each letter individually when typing a word, you press different combinations of buttons," Mann told Dezeen. "So for example, pressing your thumb and middle finger buttons would print the letter H." This means that the case can be operated without looking and with just one hand using a methodology similar to playing a guitar, wherein each letter, like a chord, requires a certain finger placement.

In order to operate the device, users will first have to memorise how the different hand gestures correspond to the alphabet.
"There is no doubt it will be hard to learn, but I have tried to make the learning process easier by creating a graphic that overlays the chord combinations onto the letters," said Mann.
"Combining the imagery of it with the practice of typing, I believe anyone can learn it it just a few hours. When mastered, I think it will be just as quick as two handed typing on a regular keyboard."
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