Fig. 27.1
Color-blind vision
These people have a normal vision relatively to the other characteristics which compose it, even though the deficiency hampers or even makes it impossible for those afflicted to perform certain everyday social and professional tasks. Colorblindness affects approximately 350 million people – 10% of the world’s population – and it’s a handicap usually of genetic origin associated to a flaw in the X chromosome. Because of this, 98% of color-blind people are male.
The first symptoms of colorblindness are detected at school age due to the difficulty in interpreting drawings and maps and identifying colored pencils. Later in life a color-blind person is prohibited of performing certain jobs, while some professions will bring added difficulties. Similarly, managing daily routine poses problems, as well as, for instance, buying and choosing wardrobe as well as using maps and signs to provide orientation. Even while accessing the Internet, some texts can become illegible due to the use of certain colors.
Some companies have started creating web pages which can be seen correctly and easily by all. This has been possible due to the rising awareness that color-blind people represent a high percentage of the world population [1–3].
27.2 Objectives and Methodologies
Once the problem had been identified, its extent and impact on the subjects was evaluated. On a first phase of the study, a sample of color-blind people was identified and presented with a questionnaire. Its purpose was to identify the main difficulties of the respondents concerning their colorblindness and the processes and methods used by them to lessen and overcome these obstacles.
The collected information was treated and analyzed. Based on these results, a conceptual basis was defined, capable of constituting a universal method of graphic color identification, easy to comprehend and memorize [4].
27.3 Materials and Methods
Using primary colors, represented through simple symbols, the system was constructed through a process of logical association and direct comprehension, allowing its rapid inclusion in the “visual vocabulary” of the user. This concept makes additive color a mental game, which lets the colorblind relate the symbols among each other and with the colors they represent, without having to memorize them individually.
The system proposed is based on the search of the pigment color, using as basis the primary colors – blue (cyan), red (magenta), and yellow its additive secondary colors (Fig. 27.2) and not the light color (RGB) – because the color-blind person does not possess the correct vision of the colors nor a tangible knowledge of how their addition works.
Fig. 27.2
Primary color addition – pigment colors
Each primary color of the code is associated to a graphic form (Fig. 27.3) which represent red, yellow, and blue; from these three forms the code is developed.
Fig. 27.3
Graphic symbols for three primary pigment colors and white and black
Two additional forms were added representing black and white (Fig. 27.3); in conjunction with the other elements, they represent lighter or darker tons of the colors.
The secondary colors can be formed using the basic forms as if “mixing” the primary pigments themselves (Fig. 27.4), making their perception and subsequently the composition of a color pallet easy [5, 6].
Fig. 27.4
Graphic symbols – three primary colors and their addition
By associating the icons representing white and black to define darker and lighter tones to the three basic forms and their additions, a wide palette is constructed as observed in Fig. 27.5.
Fig. 27.5
Graphic representation of color addition with dark and light
Conventional color designations were attributed to the additions and other combinations of colors, especially those used in apparel.
Grey was divided into two tones: light grey and dark grey (Fig. 27.6). The importance of gold and silver in clothes implies the creation of a specific icon. Considering the logic of the codes’ construction, these colors are represented by the combination of the dark yellow and the element representing shine to define gold; light grey with the same element identifies silver (Fig. 27.7).
