Expressive Pixels: A new visual communication platform to support creativity, accessibility, and innovation
The need to express oneself is innate for every person in the world, and its roots run through art, technology, communication, and the acts of learning and building things from the ground up. It’s no coincidence, then, that a new platform being released by Microsoft Research, called Expressive Pixels, stems from this belief. Expressive Pixels introduces an authoring app combined with open-source firmware, peripherals, documentation, and APIs that allow users and makers to create animations and then display them on a range of colorful LED display devices. With applications in areas spanning from accessibility to productivity, creativity, and education, the technology’s potential for growth is limited only by the imaginations of its users and community—and the app can now be downloaded for free from the Microsoft store.
The concept began with a simple idea—empowering individuals who require alternative tools for communication with others in their lives. The collaboration began in the Microsoft Research Enable Group in 2015 and has since grown to include members of the Microsoft Research Redmond Lab and the Small, Medium, & Corporate Business team. Its unique path to realization has led the Expressive Pixels team to embrace the creation