When drawing a picture with a pencil on paper, we can see what we are drawing in real time and adjust our drawing in real time, easily closing contours and correctly placing pieces of the drawing relative to each other.

Such feedback is not immediately available to blind or visually impaired users creating tactile drawings on a refreshable pin array. Such pin displays are newly available commercially, but use a variety of feedback methods, including (1) no tactile feedback until drawing is finished and (2) feedback on a surface separate from the drawing surface. Both of these interactions may use bare finger drawing or a stylus.

We compared and contrasted user drawing ability across different types of tactile feedback on a refreshable pin array.