Creating Color Universal Designs
September 6, 2018, was observed as Color Blindness Awareness Day 2018. Hence, as a Designer, I would like to share some thoughts on it.
Color blindness is not a form of blindness, but a deficiency in the way you see color. There are several types of color blindness, which are majorly categorized into 3 kinds:
Red-green color blindness
Blue-yellow color blindness
Complete color blindness
As Designers, we can certainly do our teeny-weeny bit towards making an accessible design. Here are some of the steps that we can take while designing platforms:
Using sufficient color contrast.
Not relying on color alone for a visual cue. Using patterns, shapes, actions or any kind of prompts in addition to the color.
Make it monochrome. Use various shades of a single color.
Keep the design minimal, however, add helpful texts wherever necessary. Write alternative text and labels for your images and links. Provide Context! After all, it is all about 'Users, Content, and Context', ain't it?
Last but not the least, I would like to mention something I learned during my summer internship- if you are using Adobe Illustrator, test for color blindness by using the color blindness filter. You can do so by clicking on View -> Proof Setup -> Color Blindness, and then choose either Protanopia-type or Deuteranopia-type. (To comply with Color Universal Design, check your document in both views.)
Here are 2 helpful links to help you pick your color palette:
Color Safe: http://colorsafe.co/
Coloring for color blindness: https://davidmathlogic.com/colorblind/#%23D81B60-%231E88E5-%23FFC107-%23004D40
About 1 in 20 people are color blind in some way. So, let's try to create more of Color Universal Designs!
#ColorBlindAwarenessDay #1in12men #1in200women #1ineveryclassroom #kickthestigma