Just learned 1 in 12 men are colorblind from a museum exhibit

I was at the science museum downtown with my nephew yesterday and they had this whole interactive section on vision. One display let you see through different colorblindness filters on a screen. The info card next to it said that about 1 in 12 men have some form of color vision deficiency. That number really hit me. I knew it was common, but that's basically two guys on my whole mail route. It made me think about all the charts and maps I see at work that are just color-coded with no labels. If I was colorblind, I'd be totally lost trying to read some of those parcel sorting guides. It's crazy how many everyday things rely only on color. Has anyone found a good way to explain this stat to designers who don't think it's a big deal?

3 comments

3 Comments

stellarivera1mo ago

Honestly most colorblind guys I know just ask for help when needed.

the_ben20d ago

So when you're helping them out, like with the clothes thing, does it ever feel like you're doing more than just pointing out colors, like you're kind of running interference for them in social situations? I'm wondering if that extra bit of cognitive load is something people don't really talk about when they say it's no big deal. It's gotta add up over time, right?

beth_anderson1mo ago

Yeah, like @stellarivera said, people just ask for help. My brother's colorblind and he's always having me check if his clothes match (they usually don't, but I tell him they do). It's those little daily things you don't think about.