As you read this, imagine an orange. Now, picture what its skin feels like.

Here’s something surprising—your tongue also knows that texture, even if you’ve never put an orange peel in your mouth. Can you feel it?

The first sense we develop as babies is touch—through our mouths. Before we can see clearly, we explore the world by feeling. This instinct is essential and helps newborns find their mothers, their source of nourishment and comfort.

Now, think of a spoon. You know exactly how it feels—the cool, smooth surface, the way it rests against your fingertips. Without thinking, you’ve already considered its shape, texture, weight, and temperature.

This connection between touch and recognition stays with us in ways we don’t always notice. Take for example the raised bumps on the keyboard buttons F and J—originally designed to enable touch typists, including those with low vision or no vision, to find the “home position” on QWERTY keyboards by feeling without looking down. Now used by everyone: Most people rely on those raised bumps to position their hands for typing. They help you orient your fingers quickly and type more efficiently—even if you have perfect eyesight.

Touch isn’t just about texture—it’s about trust. Even as adults, we rely on our sense of touch more than we realise. We feel the weight of a glass to know how much water is inside. We check a surface’s temperature before setting something down. Even without sight, we know.

As a designer, I think about this constantly. My work embraces our natural, intuitive connection with objects, shaping experiences that feel effortless, functional, and deeply human. It’s about designing for the way we feel—not just with our hands, but with our entire body’s senses.

It’s fascinating to realise that something as simple as imagining an orange or a spoon can reveal how much we already understand the world through touch. I think it’s a great example of how we know without seeing.

What’s something you know without needing to see?