Designing Digital Content to Accommodate for Colour Vision Deficiency

Digital content and designs feature coloured components in an effort to provide information, however, this information can be lost for those who have Colour Vision Deficiency (CVD). Over the past three decades research to provide digital aids has progressed by creating both tools that enable for simulations of types and severities of CVD and various corrections through recolouring. However, simulations have often been overvalued and in many cases fully replace CVD lived experiences in design, and recolouring tools tend to take a destructive approach modifying all colours in an attempt to ‘correct’ for CVD. This research first looks to understand the dangers in relying on simulations for both designs and assistive tools. Next, I look to understand the current perspectives and use cases of current assistive technologies like recolouring by those with CVD. Finally, I develop guidelines to show how design can be done to better accommodate those with CVD in the design of coloured interfaces.