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Color Coding For The Color Blind

By Kara Pecknold - January 1, 2010

in Object Culture

We can't imagine a world without color. From health care to transportation, we rely on it to cue us daily. But for about ten percent of the world, color is relative.

Miguel Neiva has created a color coding system to improve daily life for the predominantly male population who experience color blindness (also know as Daltonism). The Color Add Color Identification System offers monochromatic icons to represent a range of colors. Using red, yellow and blue as the foundation, a code is developed in order to create visual icons. These icons can then be included on all color-based systems (from clothing tags to transportation maps) in order to increase accessibility and understanding.

(via @icograda)

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miguel neiva

14 years ago

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Thanks for the comments.
I am the author of the project and tell you that on the issue of the symbols to be seen inverted, it is planned .... is developing the solution - as the numbers are presented in billiard balls.
Is also developing a solution for when you have a predominant color and notes of other colors - this has, for instance the clothing, ties or scarves.
Miguel Neiva
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Anand Shashidhar

14 years ago

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Very novel indeed.
Guess a simple addition of a dot in the north zone will help deliver the correct orientation for feeling the color codes. Although this is an addition, it is a pretty small and consistnt one.
Concern does arises when several colors have to be covered, and for variations of the in-between colors.
More thought anyone?
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Scott

14 years ago

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As a color blind person, I don't really see an application for these. I made my way through school learning the theory of color, but these symbols are too vague to be of much use. I already know color names and their general applications as they are around all of us, all the time.

Maybe the symbol for blue should be a pair of jeans, and the symbol for yellow should be a banana. That is how I know color. Jeans plus banana equals avocado!
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William Sutton

14 years ago

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hmmm...is it easier to memorize this icon code for color combinations, rather than just write down the WORD for the color? Words are already combinations of abstract symbols (letters)--and we already know the language. What is the symbol for fuschia? [hint: FUSCHIA!]
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B

14 years ago

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big flaw:
the symbol for orange is the upside down symbol for green...when stitched into a piece of clothing as a label it needs and up or down....
why not just say: Green or Yellow or...

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E and O

14 years ago

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I'm a bit in awe of the simplicity here. The use of symbols to represent color is a wonderfully clever approach. As is the additive principle that doesn't require the viewer to understand what the color *looks* like, merely what *components* create it. Being a person with full color sight this doesn't seem like a quick read to me, but I imagine that a color blind person could very quickly learn and adopt this system. I'd love to know how successful this system becomes in implementation.
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awa64

14 years ago

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Unfortunately, the symbolic system's meanings change when turned upside-down. That could be a serious problem when used on objects without a fixed "up" orientation.
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