The archive · Product Ideas · Product decision · 2023–2025
VISIONGRAM: eye-test data becomes filters that show how blind judo athletes see
VISIONGRAM turns blind athletes' eye-exam data into shareable dot-filters of their vision; Japan's blind judo team used it at a 2023 world championship.
Dentsu Inc. · Japan Blind Judo Federation
What it had to solve
Around 200 million people worldwide are visually impaired, and every one of them sees differently — yet not even their families know how they see, and they struggle to describe their vision in words. Japan's national blind judo team needed a way to share its athletes' vision with the public.
How it works
VISIONGRAM, developed by Dentsu's Future Creative Center, is a visual filter that reproduces how visually impaired people see. Based on a person's examination data, an algorithm varies the size and density of dots to express visual acuity, visual field and sensitivity — so each filter shows that person's unique vision, including scotomas and color-vision types.
The project was adopted by Japan's national blind judo team at the IBSA Judo Grand Prix Tokyo 2023, where athletes carried business cards printed with their VISIONGRAM filters and posted them on social media so fans could see the world through their eyes. Dentsu then launched a public website where anyone can generate a VISIONGRAM by entering eye-test data and share it by QR code or link.
Beyond sport, the tool spread across industries: medical institutions used it to communicate vision to patients, and blind schools used it so teachers could understand how their students see. At Spikes Asia 2025 it won the Grand Prix for Good, recognized for making an invisible experience shareable between people with and without disabilities.
Why it lands
- It converts a subjective, hard-to-describe experience into a visual artifact built from real medical data — empathy becomes something you can look at
- It is shareable by design (QR codes, links, social posts), so athletes and schools could spread understanding without a campaign
- It scales the insight into a public tool rather than a one-off ad — anyone with an eye exam can generate their own filter
- Hospitals and blind schools adopted it because it solves a communication problem professionals actually face
- The blind judo team's endorsement made the tool credible and emotionally concrete
What it did
Won the Grand Prix for Good at Spikes Asia 2025 and was recognized at ADFEST 2025; beyond sport it was adopted in medical institutions to communicate vision to patients and in blind schools so teachers can see how their students see.
What you can take
Instead of asking people to imagine a disability, give them a tool that renders it from real medical data — making the invisible visible turns empathy into something shareable and verifiable.
Since then
After the Spikes Asia 2025 Grand Prix for Good and ADFEST recognition, VISIONGRAM continued as an ongoing inclusive-technology project rather than a campaign: Dentsu describes it as a design for making visual impairment visible and promoting mutual understanding. The official site remains open, letting anyone turn their own eye-test data into a filter and share it.
Sources
- Visualizing Visual Impairment: "VISIONGRAM" Adopted by Japan's Para Judo Team
- ADFEST 2025 Winner: VISIONGRAM (Use of Data)
- Spikes Asia 2025: Japan wins Grand Prix with No Smiles, HERITAGE DATABANK and Visiongram
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