ContrastDeficiency

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Some people have problems distinguishing contrast between two "close" intensities. This could be for a variety of reasons, including poor vision, poor hardware (e.g. laptops), or poor lighting (common with HandHelds).

When you have to worry about both ColourBlindness and ContrastDeficiency, you have big problems. Commonly, most people assume ColourBlind people can distinguish between intensities. But with ContrastDeficiency, you lose even this.

The correct answer is use high contrast tints, and then use shapes not tint to provide information. Unfortunately, this subtracts a much needed information channel from your toolset. Some designs use tint and shape, to give those with colour acuity the ability to quickly pick up information yet still allow those who do not to acquire the information as well.

Either way, accessible interfaces promise more garish colour schemes, especially since people who spend a lot of time in front of a computer monitor (or any projected light source) become contrast deficient throughout the day.

: how much and how fast does this happen?

By the way, reflected light sources are much better than projected light sources. The average person can only see about 10 million projected colours, the average person can see about 50 million reflected colours. Eventually, maybe ElectronicPaper will improve the human-machine interface.

CategoryInterfaceDesign

ContrastDeficiency

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