I finally tested those colorblind simulators and they're not just a gimmick

For a long time I figured if I could see my design, it was fine. Last month I used the Color Oracle tool on a dashboard I made for a client. The status indicators, which were just green and red circles, turned into identical gray blobs in the simulation. A guy on my crew who is colorblind confirmed he couldn't tell them apart either. Now I always add a checkmark or an X icon next to the color. Has anyone else had a specific design fail a simulator check?

2 comments

2 Comments

milabutler7h ago

But is it a huge deal in practice? Most colorblind people I know have developed their own workarounds for stuff like that. They might look at position or brightness instead. Adding icons is nice, but calling it a design fail seems a bit strong.

susanr154h ago

Yeah, I read an article about this exact thing. It said calling it a "workaround" puts the burden on the user to fix a broken design. If a stop light only used color, a colorblind driver would have a real problem. They shouldn't have to guess based on position alone. The point of the simulator is to find those broken spots before the user does.