In a conversation a few weeks ago, it came up that my roommate is colorblind. After razzing him for a bit*, he showed me some of the “color-blind tests” that he originally failed (including some of those pictured here). So, for the past couple of weeks, there has been an ongoing discussion, 
typically including a string of bad jokes, of what it is like to be colorblind, or “suffering from a color vision deficiency,” if one wanted to be more accurate. Personally, I’ve always responded to color**, and it seems like having a “color vision deficiency” would be a serious setback for the aspiring 3-year-old artist/designer. I asked my roommate, though, and he said that it had never presented much of a problem for him – because markers and crayons and pencils all have their color written on them – but when it did, he ‘would focus on expressing the emotion of the work without worrying about the colors.’***
typically including a string of bad jokes, of what it is like to be colorblind, or “suffering from a color vision deficiency,” if one wanted to be more accurate. Personally, I’ve always responded to color**, and it seems like having a “color vision deficiency” would be a serious setback for the aspiring 3-year-old artist/designer. I asked my roommate, though, and he said that it had never presented much of a problem for him – because markers and crayons and pencils all have their color written on them – but when it did, he ‘would focus on expressing the emotion of the work without worrying about the colors.’***A few interesting facts about colorblindness: “99% of all colorblind people are not really color blind but color deficient” and “99% of all colorblind people are suffering from red-green color blindness.” However, this is not necessarily the same 99 percent. Also, about 8% of all men and 0.5% of all women are suffering from color-blindness (1). The most accurate colorblind test is the anomaloscope (2), but the most common type is the Ishihara Test, which is the type pictured here.
According to Wikipedia (3), the Ishihara Test was designed by “Dr. Shinobu Ishihara, a professor at the University of Tokyo, who first published his tests in 1917.” Basically, it is a series of colored plates covered by circular dot patterns that have the form of a numeral written in the center; the number is easily visible to a person with normal color vision (and good reading-glasses). Whether or not it was his intention, Dr. Ishihara not only designed a test for colorblindness, but also a near textbook example of many of the basic design and Gestalt principles: unity, grouping by color, negative space between the dots, proximity and varied repetition of the dots, emphasis on the different color(s), balance of the plate, dot patterns, rhythm, et cetera. Once again, design and science are working hand in hand…
* All in good fun, don’t worry. His feelings weren’t hurt.
** One example: there were a couple of years in junior high I would refer to colors as they appeared in my Prismacolor marker set: “That squash is ‘Yellow Orche,’” and “Your water bottle is ‘Peacock Blue.’”
*** And I totally paraphrased his quote. Dude, please don’t be offended…
(1) http://www.colblindor.com/2009/01/06/50-facts-about-color-blindness/
(2) It’s really kind of a cool tool, and if you have a few minutes, click on the link and follow the directions to see ‘how colorblind you are’: http://www.colblindor.com/rgb-anomaloscope-color-blindness-test/
(3) Enough said, right? Here’s the link anyway: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishihara_color_test
* All in good fun, don’t worry. His feelings weren’t hurt.
** One example: there were a couple of years in junior high I would refer to colors as they appeared in my Prismacolor marker set: “That squash is ‘Yellow Orche,’” and “Your water bottle is ‘Peacock Blue.’”
*** And I totally paraphrased his quote. Dude, please don’t be offended…
(1) http://www.colblindor.com/2009/01/06/50-facts-about-color-blindness/
(2) It’s really kind of a cool tool, and if you have a few minutes, click on the link and follow the directions to see ‘how colorblind you are’: http://www.colblindor.com/rgb-anomaloscope-color-blindness-test/
(3) Enough said, right? Here’s the link anyway: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishihara_color_test
Images:
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ReplyDeleteThoughtful article Drew. I was talking to the colorblind roomate today at lunch, and he told me how once in high school, some ignorant beezy told him that he "suffers from a twisted reality," just because he was colorblind. In my human brain and disease class we studied Isihara test as well, and all the symptoms of the eyes that pertain to colorblindness. And our professor made some interesting philosophical remarks in regards to perception and colorblindness. Who's to say that those that are colorblind see the "wrong" reality? Just because they see life in a different shade, does that mean their perceptive reality is in any way less meaningful? It's sort of sad that is accepted impression society seems to perpetuate. In fact I think its a blessing to see life differently than the general masses. I would find it extremely interesting and fulfilling to see life through a colorblind man's eyes once in my lifetime. Who knows, maybe those that have colorblind eyes are the only ones who have their eyes truly open.
ReplyDeletePosting at 2:44 AM !!! so when do you sleep? Hey Drew, the parental unit sent me your blog info ... fascinating stuff on color blindness, i took a lot of the tests ... we're just back from two months in Paris ... pas mal ... sure would like to see you and the gang (including the one that does it) ... and if you're ever in sf on your own, you have but to yell to have your own private driver ... peace & love ... betsy
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