Designing for All: Addressing Color Blindness in UX
Are you color blind?
Are you able to see a number written in green?
If yes, then you have been blessed in accordance to recognize a wide range of colors. If no, then you might fall into the category of people who are color blind. You could be a green-red color blind.
If you want to be sure about the same, then you might take a test by clicking here.
Online Color Blind Test (enchroma.com)
Color blindness affects 4% of people in some way. In their daily lives, 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women experience difficulties using a variety of internet items, including websites, applications, games, and web shopping.
As designers, its our responsibility to understand our users and their difficulties.
What is color blindness ?
Colour blindness is a condition where you can’t see certain colours in the usual way. Color blindness does not cause any blindness or lack of vision. People who are color blind will confuse some colours and they will not see some colors as brightly as people with normal vision.
Color blindness is the common term for a condition where individuals often mistake shades or lose their ability to distinguish colors at all.
In order to perceive colors, light must reach the retina at the back of our eyes for us to be able to see. Rods and cones are two types of photoreceptors that make up the retina. While the cones detect color, the rods are sensitive to light.
The three cones — red, green, and blue — each contain one of the photopigments and respond to colored light differently. Our ability to see color is based on combining the data from these three different types of cones.
The color that this cone would typically absorb is changed when one type of cones malfunctions. This alters how you perceive color, leading to what is known as color blindness.
Deuteran (green), Protan (red), and Tritan (blue) color blindness correspond to the three primary types of cones.
Color blindness usually refers to a diminished capacity to differentiate between hues of a few specific colors, most frequently reds and greens; less frequently, blues and yellows.
Due to the tendency of these hues to merge together, the following perceptions may be produced:
- Color blindness is when you can’t see certain colors in the usual way.
- People who are color blind may confuse some colors, may not see some colors as brightly as people with normal vision or they may not see colors at all.
- Color blindness is usually inherited and is there from birth, but it can also arise later in life from damage to the brain or eyes.
- Your doctor or optometrist can use different types of color vision tests, such as the Ishihara test, to help diagnose color blindness.
How to design for Color Blind People?
Design for color blindness can be improved in a variety of ways, including by utilizing colorblind-friendly palettes, avoiding specific color combinations, adding more symbols, etc.
Use palettes that are suitable to colorblind people as your first tip.
Lucky you if you enjoy the color yellow! Yellow is a colour that is helpful for color-blind people, and it goes well with blue. If not, you can utilise colour tools like Coolers or ColorBrewer to guide your selection of color-blind hues.
For instance, ColorBrewer makes it simple to create color-blind-friendly palettes.
Here are some helpful guidelines and strategies to keep in mind in order to steer clear of color blindness pitfalls:
- Avoid the following color schemes
Green and Black, Blue and Purple, Light Green and Yellow, Blue and Grey, Green and Blue, Green and Brown, Green and Blue, and Green and Blue.
2. Make it black and white:
The most effective technique to prevent color blindness problems is to use several shades of a single color rather than several colors. Isn’t minimalism quite popular right now?
3. Use a lot of contrast
People who are color blind can nonetheless distinguish between variations in hue, saturation, and brightness.
4.Use Patterns
A trail of patterns could be added in the infographics and maps in order to make it easy for the users to distinguish and differentiate between the entities.
4.Use Thicker Lines
Some mildly color blind people are able to see a color, but only if there’s a sufficient “mass” of it .In order to differentiate between colors in infographics or data analysis charts ,it would be better to add a stroke or a thick line as a separator .
5.Use Text Labels
While designing infographics, using text labels and icons could be useful. Who says infographics have to be vibrant all the time? To support visuals, you can use graphics. Bold lettering can be used to draw attention and highlight the main idea. Adding text labels and icons can help the color-blind users to identify and differentiate between different entities.
Want to confirm that your design is friendly for color-blind?
Have you used Adobe Illustrator to create a design and want to confirm that it is color-blind friendly? With a short click of the overhead menu, you can change the view mode.
Go to the overhead menu View > Proof Setup — Protanopia-type or Color blindness — Deuteranopia-type by going to the overhead menu View > Proof Setup.
Crux
It’s not that difficult to design for color blind people, and one can certainly make a good design that is usable by both color blind and non-colorblind people. In addition to other components, color is crucial. The best solution for enhancing the visual is to use text and visuals.
By integrating color-blind considerations into UX design, you create a more inclusive and user-friendly experience, ensuring that individuals with color vision deficiencies can engage effectively with your digital products.
