EIZO

UniColor Pro supports color universal design by simulating color blindness in real time.

Not everybody views color in the same way. Certain colors are perceived differently by people with color blindness so it is important to take into account different types of color vision when choosing colors for any type of design. This is called "color universal design" and applies to the use of colors in newspapers and other printed materials, signs for public facilities, maps, and other mediums where color is used to convey information.

UniColor Pro and specific EIZO monitors present a hardware-based solution so they change how content is displayed on screen in real time without affecting the data itself. They simulate two types of red-green color vision deficiency (protanopia and deuteranopia) and one type of blue-yellow color deficiency (tritanopia). An EIZO-developed ASIC (application specific integrated circuit) inside the monitors does all the color conversion processing in real time - even moving and blinking images. With UniColor Pro software (compatible with Windows 7/Vista/XP/2000 and Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later only), you can instantly switch among four modes - Original, Protanopia, Deuteranopia, and Tritanopia. In addition, you can capture images and print them out for comparison.

In developing the monitors, EIZO worked closely with the non-profit Color Universal Design Organization (CUDO) based in Tokyo, Japan, to conduct experiments with colorblind test subjects to improve the ability to identify difficult to distinguish colors.

There are two ways to simulate colors. The first is to use software to perform image editing/manipulation on the data itself, and the second is to use hardware that changes how color appears on the monitor's screen.

You can capture an image when any of UniColor Pro's simulation modes are active. You print them out and compare the differences.

You can capture an image when any of UniColor Pro's simulation modes are active. You print them out and compare the differences.

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The following points should be noted when using the monitors to view images converted through the simulation process.

(1) In the simulation of protanopes and deuteranopes, the vision of the most strongly affected people is reproduced. Approximately one third of colorblind people are estimated to be in this category. The remaining two thirds have their color vision somewhere between that and the common-type color vision, including those whose vision is very similar to the common-type vision. For this reason, please keep in mind that not all colorblind people, including those more weakly affected, have color vision as indicated in the converted images.

(2) When there is a color that is difficult to distinguish, people judge it by using information other than the actual color as a complement. For example, we view an apple as red and paper as white, even when both are lit in red under a red light. The same applies to colorblind people. For them, it is difficult to distinguish some tones of sky blue from some tones of pink. In this case, colorblind people view that the clothes worn by a man should be sky blue (even if pink), and those worn by a woman pink (even if sky blue). This happens because people judge colors by comparing them with their memories and experiences - men often wear sky blue while women wear pink.

In a color vision simulation, a range of colors that are difficult for colorblind people to distinguish are all converted into one color, which is determined by a calculation formula of the colorblind theory. Therefore, the color displayed is not necessarily the color recognized by colorblind people. For example, pink and sky blue, as described above, both appear as sky blue in simulations, but it is incorrect to think that "colorblind people see pink as sky blue."

Simulations do not show you "which color colorblind people see as a certain color." Therefore, they should only be used to understand "which colors on the screen are difficult for them to judge".

The above "Notes on Simulations" is excerpted from EIZO's "Color Universal Design Handbook" which is based on material issued by the Color Universal Design Organization (CUDO), a non-profit organization in Tokyo, Japan.

* 581 seconds was the time required to do screen captures and make image files (17 in total) for the entire web page, convert each image with the simulation software, and view the files. With the monitors, color conversion of the web page was instantaneous; 44 seconds was the time required to scroll down the web page after conversion. This example is meant to illustrate the practicality of the monitos compared to software solutions for high volume content that designers work with on a daily basis. It was taken from "Developing a Monitor for Checking Color Barrier-Free" from the collection of papers of the 31st Sensory Substitution Symposium held in Tokyo, Japan on December 5-6 2005.

People see color with significant variations. In Japan, there are more than 5 million people in total who see color differently from ordinary people, due to their genetic types or eye diseases. Color Universal Design is a user-oriented design system, which has been developed in consideration of people with various types of color vision, to allow information to be accurately conveyed to as many individuals as possible.

So-called "colorblind people" (also known as Daltonian, color-weak people, or people with color-vision defects, color-vision deficiencies, or dyschromatopsia) account for the largest proportion of those who have different color vision from ordinary people. In Europe and the US, one out of every 10-12 males and 200 females is believed to be colorblind1 , with a total of over 10 million in the US and around 2 million in the UK. In Japan, one out of every 20 males and 500 females is believed to be colorblind with a total of over 3 million nationwide2 . Globally, more than 200 million people are believed to be colorblind, and this figure is equivalent of the number of males with type AB blood. Colorblind people have normal eyesight (resolving power of the eye) and can also see small objects clearly. For some particular combinations of colors, however, they have different vision from the common-type vision.

In 21st century society, use of color is increasingly becoming an important means of information transmission. Several years ago, for example, black and white printing was the norm for newspapers, magazines, textbooks and general publications. But recent development of color printing technology has dramatically turned them into color. These days, even simple guide maps would look rather inadequate unless they were in color. Color has also been introduced to the operation screens of photocopiers, or mobile phones, automatic ticket-vending machines, automatic teller machines (ATMs), etc., and most such screens are now in color. The use of a variety of colors has also become the standard for electronic information boards. Electronic devices and home electric appliances used to have pilot lights with a simple on/off function, but they now commonly come with new types of lights which illuminate in a number of colors to convey information in various different ways. Color-coding is in place in public facilities, museums, exhibition sites, etc., where rooms and areas are divided according to theme colors and full of colorful information displays. At railway stations, train lines are color-coded for direction purposes; route maps and time tables are illustrated with lines and characters in a variety of colors.

As described above, there are so many more scenarios where color is a tool for conveying information, compared with one or two decades ago. However, many color displays are still designed with only common-type color vision in mind. As a result, there are more and more cases like the charging adapter shown in the photograph below, where the information provided is difficult for colorblind people to read, resulting in inconvenience to them. In our current society, life is ironically becoming even harder for the colorblind. Color Universal Design has been developed to resolve this major issue. Giving consideration to Color Universal Design allows you to use color effectively and create colorful designs that everyone will think beautiful, while still conveying information accurately.

Thoughtful use of color to ensure that the colorblind are not disadvantaged is called a "color barrier-free" presentation. Until recently, vision-related barrier-free activities were designed only in consideration of people who can hardly see. However, the importance of color barrier-free presentations is becoming increasingly recognized at a rapid pace. For example, both Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act in the US, enacted in 1998, and Phase III of the Disability Discrimination Act in the UK, started from 2004, explicitly call for the consideration to people with disabilities including the colorblind among others.