Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
Designing for visual impairment
Think about which colours you use to convey information. Perhaps use complementary
methods such as shape and typography to help differentiate them.
Consider using colour contrast to help make things stand out, but ensure there is also suf-
ficient brightness contrast.
Ensure a design is still legible when it is converted to greyscale.
Be careful to position elements within a design so that anyone with a loss of peripheral
vision can still see all the components.
A piece of software called Color Oracle is available to help those designing for the visually im-
paired by replicating what people with common colour vision impairments will see. These colour
bars show the original colour scheme and then the results for the conditions deuteranopia (com-
mon colour blindness with difficulty distinguishing between red and green), protanopia (difficulty
distinguishing between red and black) and tritanopia (a rare form of colour blindness where the
sufferer has difficulty distinguishing between blue and yellow).
