Accessible color palettes: New tool for web designers

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-05/uom-acp051216.php

Public Release: 12-May-2016
Accessible color palettes: New tool for web designers
University of Michigan

More than 20 percent of people who use the web can't always tell the difference between shades of colors--but very few of them are colorblind, according to a University of Michigan researcher.

Christopher Brooks, U-M research assistant professor of information, and colleagues surveyed more than 30,000 people to examine how dim conditions and bright sunlight, in addition to varied abilities, can influence how people differentiate color.

The researchers then used the survey results to develop ColorCheck, a web tool that can help digital designers see what colors large swaths of their audiences can't. The software compares color pairs and tells designers what portion of an image's hues certain percentages of the population can and can't tell apart. ColorCheck also pinpoints trouble spots on an image by laying a mask of black pixels over them.

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