Color Theory for the Color-Blind

Let’s be honest here. If you are dealing with color blindness and work as a Web designer, then it is safe to say that you have had to do more than your fair share of bluffing. Having said this, I located a great article that deals with this sort of thing and has some tips as well.

Being color-blind can be a real obstacle for anyone involved in design. For Web designers, this does not need to be true. In any other field of design, it is expected that the designer has a keen eye for colors. It is generally assumed that you need to “just feel” when colors look good together and when they don’t. You should just be able to see them and say “Yeah, that looks good,” or “That looks really bad.” This is a fair expectation if you’re working with paint or ink. However, colors take on a new dimension when our work is based on computers: hexadecimal code.

By understanding the science and logic behind color theory, I—and other color-blind designers—can intellectually know why colors go well together or don’t. We don’t have to actually see them. If we extend our knowledge to why certain colors make us feel the way they do, we can also create very emotional color schemes, without actually seeing the colors. [Read the rest]