Went to a museum in Chicago and couldn't tell which exhibit was which

I visited the Field Museum last weekend and noticed their interactive map had red and green markers for different exhibits. I'm deuteranopic, so those two colors look almost identical to me. I spent like 10 minutes trying to figure out which marker pointed to the dinosaur hall versus the ancient Egypt room. A staff member saw me staring and asked if I needed help, which was nice but also a little embarrassing. The map had icons too, but they were tiny and hard to make out from a distance. Has anyone else run into this problem at big museums or public spaces? What design changes would you suggest to make those maps work better for everyone?

2 comments

2 Comments

elliotburns18d ago

Wait, red-green is actually protanopia or deuteranopia, not deuteranopic, lol.

the_piper18d ago

Oh boy, that reminds me of a friend who kept insisting he was "deuteranopic" and I had to gently explain he meant he has deuteranopia. He got all huffy until his wife backed me up.