Designed by product engineer Dougie Mann, the TypeCase is a remarkable win for inclusive design! The smartphone case comes with a keyboard built right into its rim and relies on a “chord system” to generate text, where a certain combination of button-pushes results in a letter being typed out on the smartphone screen. This allows you to literally text while holding your phone in one hand, making it easy for special-needs cases as well as for people who often find themselves needing to text with one hand occupied.
The case reintroduces the familiar feeling of tactile feedback while typing, as a gestural keyboard around the rim of the screen works as an input device. The TypeCase comes with four buttons on one side and one on the other, corresponding to the positions of your fingers and thumb when you’re holding the device. The initial learning curve would be memorizing the individual ‘chord’ gestures required to type out certain letters and words, but Mann’s demo shows how easy it is to proceed once you get the hang of it. The case connects to your phone via Bluetooth, while the buttons on its rim are raised for ease-of-use for people with visual or motor impairment. Once the user is familiar with the chord-system, the TypeCase brings back the old and cherished feeling of being able to confidently type out full sentences without even looking at the screen. What’s not there to love?!
Designer: Dougie Mann
