Use Case with. Photoshop and Illustrator: Artwork from a Color Blind Perspective

In the last segment, we briefly touched on the topic of color blindness being an internal or physical factor in viewing color. Shortly, we will look at how color is viewed by those with color blindness and how this affects our artwork when helping those with that condition.

To a normal sighted person who can view the visible spectrum, each color in the color wheel can be told apart from one another because the red, green, and blue cone photo receptors in the eye function normally. However, as mentioned, in the case of color blindness, if one or all of the cones fail to function, when the information is transferred to the brain some of the colors are difficult to distinguish between.

As graphic designers, if we have normal sight we take for granted all the colors that we use in our photographs and advertisements, and fail to see how some colors blend into one another. It is important to remember that between 7% and 10% of our world’s population have some form of color blindness. Thankfully, Adobe for Photoshop and Illustrator has developed a way to proof your files on the computer so that you can view the two most common types of color blindness– protanopia the lack of red receptors, and deuteranopia, the lack of green receptors.

In Photoshop open any image. I will be using cb_example.psd. Then under the main menu, choose view, proof set up, and choose either color blindness protanopia type, or color blindness deuteranopia type. You can see how both of them look for an image.

What areas of type, or colors, are difficult to distinguish between? After you’re done, click on view, proof colors, so that you are back to your monitor RGB mode.

In Illustrator, open a file, like cb_file.ai. You can find the same proofing options under view, proof setup. Here’s what that looks like on your artwork– protanopia type, proof set-up, deuteranopia type.

A bonus feature an Illustrator is that even the colors in your tools panel and swatches panel change with the proof that you choose. When you are done, uncheck view, proof colors, so that you can return to your monitor’s RGB viewing mode.

Though not part of the Adobe options in Photoshop, if you would like to see an approximation of how a person with tritanopia, lack of blue receptors, might see, you can try adjusting only the blue channel in a channel mixer adjustment layer in the Properties panel. I’m turning it on and off so you can see the difference.

For a monochromacy in Photoshop, try converting a copy of your image to image mode, grayscale. Click OK, don’t rasterize, and discard. This should give you a rough idea of how a person with no functioning photoreceptor cones sees.

Remember to keep in mind that these settings that I have shown are an approximation. For most people with color blindness, it is only partial. Nevertheless these can be very useful proofing tools when you are trying to reach a broad audience in both print and on a website, when such things as readability of a form or a document are important.