the .1%
My name is Lauren, and I’m a colorblind designer.
I’d bet your first question is how do you do your job if you can’t see color? Well it’s easy, I get up and go to work just like all of you full spectrum color-seeing folks, because I can see color but it’s harder for me to differentiate them.
How does one know they are color blind?
Originally, I noticed that my view of some shades of blue were much different than that of my co-workers. And after a heated debate with one co-worker over what color was in a client’s logo, I realized I had a color deficiency. But recently I went to the eye doctor and learned that I have more issues with color than just simply not being able to see past a certain shade of blue.
Yes, it’s ironic that my company’s nickname is big blue, and no you’re not the first person to think of that joke.
My type of color blindness is called Deuteranopia, otherwise known as green color blind, and only .1% of females have it. When I found out I bought a lottery ticket, and since you’re reading this I didn’t win.
What does color look like if you’re color blind?
When we think about color we think about hues, and due to my color blindness I see fewer hues than the normal eye. What do I mean by this? Take a look at IBM’s iconic rebus logo from four points of view:
Now before you start feeling sorry for those of us who don’t see the top left option, think about the fact that we don’t know any differently. There are different levels of color blindness, so we literally don’t know how other people view color in comparison to our own eyes. Which is what makes being a designer for a living such a challenge.
How does this effect design and how I do my job?
It is my belief that I have an advantage when it comes to creating accessible designs. I’ve had a mantra since college:
Think in black and white. Feel in color.
I’ll admit I don’t know who to attribute this to, it was simply something a professor said once while critiquing during a logo design review. And it’s stuck with me ever since. It’s what guides my process. When you start designing in black and white, you have to use other indicators to show and define actions a user should take. Taking this approach can aide users who have difficulty with color or reading on screens.
A great example of adding indicators for users who may have accessibility issues is Venmo’s confirmation when you transfer funds to your bank.
The screen on the left is what it looks like to those who aren’t color blind. While the right gives you a visual of how my eyes interpret the color. By including a check mark, users receive an additional visual indication that their transfer was successful. Which helps those who cannot visually distinguish the green, meant to indicate success.
Why does accessibility matter to the users’ experience?
Making things accessible for users requires meeting levels of compliance, additional work hours, and commitment to evolving products and services as new technologies enter the marketplace.
First and foremost an accessible experience is a better experience for all.
I’ve focused a majority on color blindness, because it’s an area that affects my life, but there are many different impairments and disabilities that require more accessible products. Some people’s vision may give them issues with transparency or movement. But if you enable the code in your application to take the setting of reduced motion on iOS devices, users who have issues with rapid movement will have a seamless and enjoyable experience. Apple’s presentation at this year’s WWDC on delivering exceptional accessibility experiences includes resources for how to utilize native code to enhance applications for users with accessibility settings enabled.
While Uber has been in the news recently for a multitude of different reasons, one area in which they are excelling is accessible design. After making a push to employ drivers who are deaf or hard of hearing, they have created an in-app experience that allows riders to interact with drivers in conscience ways. They have thought of the experience on both ends of the spectrum, from the driver to the rider. Allowing drivers a visually enhanced interface, so they don’t miss opportunities to accept rides. And by notifying riders they will be riding with a hearing impaired driver, they enable an experience that allows them to text the driver instead of calling. I recently took a trip in which I was notified that my driver was deaf and used the app to learn how to say hello and thank you in ASL. You can read more about Uber’s design here.
Designing accessible web and mobile experiences doesn’t simply improve the experience for users with disabilities. They also make the experience more enjoyable for the everyday user. For example, when you add captions to photos and videos or use alt tags in your code for screen readers, it helps search engines to better understand your content, which will allow users to find the content they are looking for more quickly. And it provides text for those who may be blind using a screen reader to consume content and understand how to follow through and experience. Therefore, all users are getting a better experience.
How does this affect those in the digital space?
You may be thinking, I don’t design things for a living and I don’t have a disability, so why on earth should I care. It’s simple, if you want a product or service to be successful you have to have empathy.
As an industry we have to put our users first, and some of those users may have visual impairments or other circumstances that require different ways of interacting with an experience. We have to be prepared to lead our companies and our clients to more accessible experiences for all of our users. So whether you’re a designer, project manager, strategy consultant, or company executive you should verse yourself in what accessibility means for your users and your products.
Here are a few great places to start:
Accessibility for Everyone by Laura Kalbag for the designers and program managers who want to grasp the guidelines and laws around accessibility.
IBM’s Design Language to better understand how we approach color and typography from an accessibility point of view.
