Why your disabilities make you a better UX/UI designer
I’m red/green colorblind (weak green I think). For years it was something I didn’t tell employers until I had already proven my design chops. I was embarrassed, a little ashamed even.
When I tell people I’m colorblind, they’re always surprised—and why wouldn’t they be? It’s a mild affliction, which at its worst impacted my ability to tell if my Nintendo Wii was on or off (the on/off indicator light switches from orange and green), which was genuinely bothersome. Not only that, but I’m a decent designer, with both professional and freelance work under the belt.
Despite the impeding issues I have with certain colors, I can see traffic lights well enough to drive without thinking about it. But is it because the affliction is mild, or because traffic lights are always ordered green → amber → red?
I realized that if I were to design traffic lights, I’d probably do the exact same thing—not because I had read books on usability or studied electromagnetic frequencies and their interactions with the rods and cones in our eyes—but because it would be confusing to me any other way.
Looking back to the Wii, I wouldn’t have made the on/off LED green and orange. Compare the Wii to the vastly more modern Nintendo console, the Switch, which has green for on, and no light for off. It doesn’t matter which version of color-blindness you have. Bright = on, dim = off.
I shouldn’t feel like I have to hide my (minor) disability from my employer. It makes me a better UI designer, because the avoidance of red/green color combinations is a natural part of my process. Speaking of my process, I will say that I tend to rely more on the math of color theory than of how it “looks” or makes me feel. A lot of designers just know when a color palette is “right”. When I see a good palette I know it looks good but while making one I tend to return to the theory of colors, and stick to HSVA (Hue, saturation, value, and alpha) to be sure my colors work.
So… should companies start proactively hiring more blind developers? Hell yes! Your blind front-end developer won’t miss an alt tag or misuse a <header> element. The lesson is that while we can absolutely outsource our usability reviews, or train our able-bodied employees to always be thinking of every use-case—we should absolutely empower people who have those disabilities to take roles in design and UI development.
What if being colorblind or lacking fine motor-control was viewed as a skillset rather than a detriment to a team?
To learn more about how you can design and develop for a larger audience, check out this article by color-blind coworker, Chloe Tedder: More than Just Web Design — Web Accessibility
