Visualizing Visual Impairment: "VISIONGRAM" Adopted by Japan's Para Judo Team

Dentsu Inc. has developed VISIONGRAM, a visual filter that visualizes visual impairments. It was adopted by the Japanese national team at the IBSA Judo Grand Prix Tokyo 2023, a world championship for visually impaired judo athletes held from Monday, December 4 to Tuesday, December 5, 2023.

VISIONGRAM is a visual filter that expresses how visually impaired individuals see. Based on examination data from visually impaired individuals, it varies the size and density of dots to represent each person's unique "visual acuity," "visual field," and "sensitivity." This enables visually impaired individuals to share their unique visual experience—often difficult to describe verbally—with others. It is expected to foster new communication between visually impaired and sighted individuals, deepening understanding of visual impairment.

*This filter does not replicate the exact visual experience of a visually impaired person; it is a simplified representation of visual impairment examination data.

 

An example illustrating how a visually impaired person sees (right). Low visual acuity causes everything to appear blurry and indistinct, with a missing area (scotoma) in the center of the visual field.

The Japanese national team adopted "VISIONGRAM" at the IBSA Judo Grand Prix Tokyo 2023, a world judo championship for visually impaired athletes held at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium from Monday, December 4 to Tuesday, December 5, 2023. Kazuhiro Shimura, Creative Director from Dentsu Inc. Future Creative Center, which planned and developed the project, also appeared at the press conference announcing its adoption. During the tournament, Japanese athletes carried business cards featuring the "VISIONGRAM" filter and also shared their visual experiences through this filter on social media.

Appearing at the press conference (from left): Kazuhiro Shimura, Dentsu Inc.; Yusuke Hatsuse, Japan Judo Federation for the Visually Impaired; Yujiro Seto, Tokyo 2020 Paralympic bronze medalist

Examples of Japanese national team athletes' "VISIONGRAM" (Top right: Business card / Bottom: Visual filter)

■VISIONGRAM official website
https://visiongram-project.com

■ Visual filters to experience each player's perspective are here
Yujiro Seto: https://visiongram-project.com/project1/seto/
Makoto Hirose: https://visiongram-project.com/project1/hirose/
Hiroko Kudo: https://visiongram-project.com/project1/kudo/
Shizuka Hantai: https://visiongram-project.com/project1/hangai/