Colour Accessibility
By Geri Coady
Learn how to create designs that are accessible to people with colour-blindness without sacrificing aesthetics.
We often take colour for granted when choosing palettes for our designs, assuming the appearance will be the same for everyone.
In reality, the choices that look good to people with good colour vision could cause serious usability problems for people affected by various forms of colour-blindness, a type of disability that affects the perception of colour and occurs in a surprisingly large percentage of the population.
This Pocket Guide will teach you how to create designs that are accessible to people with colour-blindness without sacrificing aesthetics.
An explanation of what colour-blindness is, what it looks like, how it affects people, and why we should care.
Strategies for choosing colour combinations that are more likely to be discernible by the largest number of people.
What to do and what to avoid when designing with colour.
How to catch any potential problems in your work and ensure your websites meet colour contrast compliance.
Ideas for features that can be implemented in existing designs to increase usability.
Geri Coady is a colour-obsessed designer and illustrator living and working in Newfoundland, Canada.
She is a former art director at a Canadian advertising agency and is now pursuing her own clients as a full-time freelancer. As a self-confessed conference junkie, Geri has been seen both on the stage and in the crowd (where she’s likely got a camera around her neck). Geri loves chatting about nerdy things on Twitter and has shared her thoughts in publications such as .Net, the Pastry Box Project, and 24 ways. She has recently illustrated a children’s book for Scholastic UK.
“Colour is a powerful tool which affords seemingly endless design possibilities, but far too many of us design with only one type of colour vision in mind.”
Geri Coady
