Data visualization most commonly takes its form through charts and graphs, however most of these standard charts and graphs are not designed for those who are visually impaired. To aid the blind and visually impaired in understanding data, these visualizations are made in tactile print.
Coming from the article, "Creating Large Print and Tactile Graphs" by Gwyn McCormick, the tactile printed bar chart pictured first is printed on Zyfuse paper and passed through a heat machine, creating the raised texture on the paper. Braille writing is then added to this tactile bar chart as a way of making this data fully readable through touch. These impressions make it so that visually impaired people can feel the data results as opposed to relying fully on vision to make out the details of the graph. This graph's data shows the data set: “Age of Internet Users”
From the same article, the second image of a tactile version of a bar chart includes braille as well, but relies on foam squares as indications of data volume. This design allows for the manipulation of data, similar to that of drawing with pencil and being able to erase. This graph's data shows the question: “How many children have wobbly teeth?”
