It’s the responsibility of business owners to check that their infrastructure is as accessible as possible. This includes your signage, as well. Unfortunately, people often overlook colorblindness when designing their signs.

By adapting your signage, you can make the products friendlier and eligible for a broader audience. In this article, we are going to answer all your questions and give you our tips for designing signs for colorblind viewers.

What is CVD?

Color Vision Deficiency (CVD) is the scientific term for colorblindness. Although we use the latter term more commonly, the former is a better description of the condition and how it works. 

Trichromacy means that all three types of cones in your eyes are working correctly. People who see in this way are considered to have normal vision. In anomalous trichromacy, all the types can perceive light, but one is faulty, so it won’t perceive it as usual.

In short, CVD is the inability to distinguish between some colors and shades. Therefore, having the condition doesn’t mean that you can’t see any at all. Total color blindness is very rare. Instead, most people can identify some colors but not others.

In the case where only two cones can perceive light, it is called dichromacy. Overall, there are about 10,000 possible combinations.

Common types of CVD:

• Red-green color blindness: It’s the most prevalent condition. Reduced sensitivity to red lights is known as protanopia or protanomaly. And reduced sensitivity to green light is known as deuteranopia or deuteranomaly. In this case, it is difficult to distinguish between reds, greens, and oranges and cause blues and yellows to stand out.
• Blue-yellow color blindness: The condition is called tritanopia or tritanomaly and is incredibly rare. It alters the ability to distinguish some blues from greens and some yellows from violet.
• Total color blindness: Overall, this is the rarest type occurring in 1 out of 33,000 people. Experts refer to it as monochromacy or achromatopsia. People with this condition will see no color, only black and white.

Of course, there are many variations that fall under these types.

Typically, CVD is a hereditary (genetic) condition. So, people are born with it, and it’s passed down from their parents. However, acquired color vision defects can sometimes be caused by chronic illnesses, accidents, chemicals, or medications.

How can you test for colorblindness?

Unfortunately, color blindness can sometimes go undiagnosed for years and even decades. The first time people often pick up something is wrong is when children start school.

If someone is worried about their vision, they should go to see their local eye doctor. They can diagnose you by administering a basic test like the Ishihara Color Test. Or they can use more sophisticated and professional protocols and tests.

Benefits of designing accessible signage

Besides doing a good deed, what can you and your business gain from designing signs with colorblind viewers in mind?

• First, you can reach a much wider audience. More or less 8% of all men and 0.5% of all women have a form of CVD. The incidence rate is higher among Caucasians and Asians. It’s something to keep in mind when you are researching your target market.
• Secondly, your signs will be more legible for people with CVD. Otherwise, they might miss out on some of the details and information.

Don’t forget that this isn’t only about accommodating your existing and potential customers. By making your signage more friendly for people with CVD you might be helping some of your employees too. Following these tips will certainly make their lives easier.

Colorblind workers will find it much easier to do their work, and feeling included will be great for their mental health as well.

Tips for designing signs for CVD viewers

Now that you have all the basic information, you can start thinking about designing your signs for colorblind viewers. There are a variety of steps you can take or tricks you can try to make your signage more accommodating.

We are specifically looking at tips you can use for designing signs. However, you can use it for all your media like newsletters, flyers, business cards, and websites.

1 – Avoid certain color combinations

One of the easiest solutions you can try is to avoid some of the palettes that are often problematic. Doing this will be much more manageable if you are creating the designs from scratch.

In general, it’s safer to avoid the following combinations:

• Green and red
• Brown and green
• Blue and purple
• Green and blue
• Light green and yellow
• Blue and grey
• Green and grey
• Black and green

All of these combos can be a potential nightmare for colorblind viewers to view and make out. 

2 – Try to focus on monochrome

Next, it can be handy to stick with monochrome palettes. These are combinations where you use various shades of one color instead of choosing multiple colors.

Overall, this is one of the safest bets you can make. Even people who are completely color blind should be able to make out most of the content of the sign depending on the precise shades and layout.

3 – Choose friendlier palettes

Just like there are combinations to avoid if you’re designing for people with CVD, there are ones that you can lean towards. Using these palettes can seriously help people who are color blind to understand and interpret your signage and other media.

A few combinations that are colorblind-friendly are the following:

• Red and blue
• Brown and blue
• Orange and blue

These can work well if you use them right next to each other.

But more likely than not, you will use more colors than this. If you are looking for a bigger palette, you might want to check out some that are made for this purpose. Here are 15 colorblind-friendly palettes that you might want to give a whirl.

4 – Stick with high contrast

Although they can’t always distinguish all the colors, people with CVD can still perceive contrast as well as differences in brightness, saturation, and hue. So you can use these features strategically to accommodate your audience.

Try to pick color combinations that are high in contrast. One way to do this is to use dark and light colors together. Or you can go with complementary shades.

Pro tip: Many people who have CVD report that they can distinguish better between bright colors than dim ones. The latter tends to blur into one another. Therefore, you should use them with care.

5 – Go with thicker lines

Unfortunately, there are features of a design that can make life even more challenging for people who are color blind.

Individuals with mild CVD can typically see some colors. However, only if there’s enough of it. Otherwise, the picture might become blurry and indistinct.

That’s why you want to make sure swatches of different shades are bold enough. First, you need to make sure that lines of color are thick. The principle applies to text too. Besides this, you should also make graphics wide and broad.

6 – Say it with symbols

Another way to improve the accessibility of your signs is to use more than one method to get your meaning across. Brilliant advice to follow is to use symbols as well as text and color to draw your audience’s attention.

They are great elements for catching people’s eye and help make your message clearer.

Try combining symbols with a few of our other tips to make them as legible as possible. For example, use bold images, choose friendly palettes, and play with contrast.

7 – Use patterns and textures

Clearly, one of the main goals is to help your viewers distinguish between different elements on a sign. So you should look for ways to make the separate parts more distinct.

Therefore, we recommend that you experiment with patterns and textures. Consider selecting different ones for different features. Doing this will increase the contrast.

But remember that patterns and textures can add noise to any design, so use them sparingly.

8 – Adapting challenging combinations

It’s preferable that you avoid the bad combos we discussed above. However, that’s not always possible. Imagine if blue and purple are essential parts of your branding or that red and green are the natural shades of the graphic or item that you want to portray.

Don’t worry. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a train smash. You can use multiple techniques, like including texture to keep the elements of the sign distinct.

Another possible solution is not to place them right next to each other or near each other.

9 – Be wary of conveying meaning

Colors are one of the crucial tools in any designer’s toolbox. Yes, you can use them to make your sign attractive, interesting, and eye-catching. But that’s not all.

You can also use colors to encourage emotional responses and reactions from your audience. On top of this, they’re an excellent way to convey information like a warning. Colorblind viewers might have trouble interpreting this.

Therefore, you might need to use additional signals to get your words across like text or symbols.

10 – Accommodate your employees

Once again, remember that this isn’t only about your clients. It’s about your employees as well. If you have any staff with CVD, your signs should accommodate them. And keep in mind that even if you don’t have anybody currently in your employ, you might hire someone with the condition in the future. 

To accommodate them, you need to find out whether they are facing any problems and what these are. Here are a few questions to consider:

• Does your employee need to use signage at work?
• What is the content of these signs?
• What, if any, limitations are your staff experiencing?
• How do these obstacles impact your employees?
• Do the limitations affect their job performance?
• Which specific tasks are challenging as a result?
• Are there steps you can take to accommodate them? And have you used all of the resources you can to implement them?

We highly recommend sitting down with your employees to ask them about their challenges and potential solutions. Besides this, you should consult them about the effect of any accommodations you’ve made.

There are a few businesses where this is more relevant than others. Just consider jobs where using or reading signs are a critical part of the job, for example, teaching, construction, and so on.

In some cases, this can be a matter of safety as well as job performance. This is especially true for businesses where employees need to use hazardous substances or chemicals. People often use signs in these contexts to give safety instructions and identify products.

11 – Using software

In addition to the other tips, try using software to your advantage. 

Even with the best intentions and plenty of effort, you can still struggle to get the design right. Some programs allow you to see your sign as someone who is colorblind would. 

For example, Adobe Photoshop has a built-in function that allows you to see it in this way. 

To do this, you should go to View → Proof Setup → Color Blindness → Protanopia-type/Color Blindness — Deuteranopia-type. Once you have done this, you can turn it on and off by using Ctrl+Y on a PC and ⌘+Y key shortcut on a Mac.

Where can I get more information?

Luckily, several organizations can provide you with more information about the CVD. One of these is Colour Blind Awareness. Another is the Job Accommodation Network

Helping hand

Your business can only benefit from designing more accessible signs. By making your signage more friendly for colorblind viewers, you can reach a wider audience. It can also be a point that makes your company stand out against competitors for new and existing customers.

It’s important to hire a professional sign making company to create the best signage possible. A good working relationship will help you improve your results. They can give you advice on designing signs that comply with the applicable regulations and safety requirements.

The world would be much duller without colors. Excuse the pun. It is a vital part of the human visual field. Therefore it affects how we view and understand everything around us.

But did you know that every business owner must have an understanding of colors? 

You can use them through your business as in your advertising to optimize the way you work. If you don’t use them purposefully, you could be missing out on critical ways you can impact your customers.

Read on for our ultimate guide for business owners on colors and their effects. You will find out more about the different ways you can use colors, especially in your company’s signage.

How to use colors in your business

There is almost no limit to the applications of colors in and around the workplace. Remember that it’s not only about making things more interesting. If you use it with care and attention, you can seriously make your business more effective in several dimensions.

A few of the critical places you can use color in your company are:

• Building
• Interior design and decor
• Branding
• Communications
• Products
• Signage

In each of these places, the color palette can play multiple roles. Down below are the most important ways that you can use different shades.

Draw attention

A pop of color certainly catches the eye. You can’t help but notice it. That’s why it can be such a great way to draw attention to things you want to like your storefront.   

Of course, bright shades work brilliantly for this. There is a reason why neon was and continues to be so popular on signs. Saturated colors can have a similar effect.

However, it’s not the only option. Unusual hues can also work. Or any color that stands out from its surroundings.

Highlighting

This next use is crucial in places where you are using more than one color. Or where there is lots of content, like on signs. In these cases, it can be easy for some of the information to get lost in a heap.

Because of this, it’s usually necessary to emphasize the most important parts. It might be your store’s name, a product or service on sale, a slogan, information about a promotion, or so on. You will need to figure out what the central part is of each sign or space.

Ways to use color to highlight are :

• The eye is more sensitive to specific colors. Examples of those that draw more attention are red, yellow, orange, and green.
• Use saturated shades for items that you want to stand out. On the other hand, use desaturated hues for the background. Doing this will help the different sections to stand out even more.
• Pick contrasting colors. For example, make the background of the sign black and the text white.

Visibility and readability

The way you choose and use colors can make content less or more visible. It counts for both text and images.

One way it can make items less clear is when you use colors that are too similar, for example, making a whole sign from different shades of green. You need to use different hues to break up the picture.

Besides this, you want to remember that some colors are more difficult to read, such as yellow. The principle is true for certain combinations as well like red and blue. On the other hand, some specifically darker colors, including black, are much easier to make out.

A pro tip is to follow the general rule of thumb to use light colors on dark backgrounds and vice versa.

Therefore you have to try to make sure that your use of colors enhances readability and visibility.

Brand recognition

Every business owner needs to work carefully on their brand identity. Preferably you want to establish one before you even start your company. But it is something that also evolves and develops over time.

Brand recognition is something that you build over time. You want to use consistent imagery, themes, styles, logos, and slogans.

An absolutely critical element of your visual identity is the colors that you associate with your business. Overall, it will help make your business more recognizable and memorable for your customers. For example, red and Coke are often almost synonymous.

You need to decide on a color palette or scheme. It is best to stick with one to three primary colors. Pick carefully, because you will use this on almost everything to do with your business from advertisements to signs to the decor.

Convey information

Like all other visual cues, colors can also convey information. Similar to symbols, they can be a quick and effective way to communicate with people.

This point is related to the one on your brand identity. But it is about more than that. One of the essential applications of color in this way is on safety and regulatory signage. Over time we learn to associate the specific shades with specific messages just like we do with traffic signs.

In terms of safety signs, the different colors are associated with the following meanings or purposes:

• Red- Prohibition/danger and alarm or fire fighting equipment
• Yellow- Warning
• Blue- Mandatory actions
• Green- Emergency escape, first aid or to signal that there is no danger

As a business owner, you need to be aware of this when you are creating safety or regulatory signs. But it can also inform your decision on other uses of color.

Inspire emotions

All in all, one of the top uses of colors is to inspire emotions in people. You can influence people to feel happy, sad, calm, or excited. 

Remember that this doesn’t just count for your customers but for your staff too.

Therefore, it’s essential to use colors in this way on your advertising and in the workspace, office, and storefront as well.

The psychology of colors

If you want to successfully and effectively use color for your business, you need to know a little about color psychology. In short, this is the study of colors in relation to human behavior. So it looks at how colors can influence how we feel, how we think, and how we act.

For example, shades of red, orange, and yellow can make people feel hungry and make you think of food. Therefore, it can make you more likely to buy something to eat. 

As we will discuss later on, specific colors can have particular effects on us.

But one vital principle that you have to understand is that they can convey more than one feeling or connotation. Think about green. In one sign, green can help you associate a brand with nature and the environment. But in another, you can use neon green to represent toxic slime.

This tells us that different hues or shades of the same color can have different effects like emerald green vs. neon green. Also, that meaning is created with a specific context, so more than one thing plays a role. 

But how exactly does this happen? An important word here is “association.”

Associations

We do not attach meaning to color in a bubble. Humans seem to have certain inborn connections with certain shades like red. But the way they affect us is significantly influenced by our cultural environment and our past experiences.

Did you know, for example, that pink was once associated with boys and blue for girls? 

However, this changed in the 1940s. In this postwar period, clothing stores and brands all over America began to focus on using pink in women’s clothes and vice versa. Over time, as we became more exposed to this combination, people began to take this for granted.

You need to keep this in mind whenever you choose colors to use for your business in signs. It is usually useful to do some research on the specific emotions and ideas your target audience might associate with different palettes.

The best colors to use in signage

For all the reasons above, some colors work better than others when it comes to your business. The principle is correct for your signage too. Some of them are more visible, some of the more attractive, and some of them evoke strong emotions.

So to help you make the right choices, here are the top colors for signs and how they are likely to affect viewers.

Black

Without a doubt, black is a powerful color. Even on its own, it demands your attention. It is one of the more visible shades.

You can use it to create a sense of:

• Glamour and luxury
• Mystery
• Power
• Boldness
• Simplicity
• Security
• Formality
• Authority
• Sophistication

For all these reasons, black is often used by luxury or premium stores like boutiques. And because we associate it with authority and security, it also works well for companies like banks, security firms, and law offices.

Blue

On the other hand, blue is often seen as a soothing color. That’s why people use it so often to promote relaxation. Perhaps because of this, we perceive it as conveying a sense of stability as well.

All in all, blue conveys:

• Stability
• Efficiency
• Productivity
• Calm
• Peace 
• Logic
• Trust
• Dependable
• Liberal
• Smart

Blue is a popular choice for corporate business signage because it can boost productivity and is not invasive. Because it inspires trust, it is also widely used by healthcare organizations.

White

It’s rare to find a sign without any white in it at all. The color is extremely versatile and doesn’t really clash with any other. So it works well in most combinations. But you can also use it as the main color in your scheme. Just be aware that it can look too cold and sterile if it dominates the palette.

If you need to summarise its associations in one word, it would be purity. That’s why you can use white to suggest:

• Hygiene
• Cleanliness
• Clarity
• Calm
• Innocence
• Youthful
• Purity
• Peace
• Healing
• Openness
• Freshness
• Modernity
• Minimalism

As you might guess, white can work well for any business for which sanitation is essential like healthcare organizations.

But it can also be handy for any brand that wants to appear modern.

Yellow

Yellow is a whole other story. It is one of those colors that you can’t miss. In all its many shades, it usually makes us think of sunshine and summer days.

Thanks to this, the color is often associated with the following meanings:

• Optimism
• Happiness
• Inspiration
• Vitality
• Freshness
• Warmth
• Friendliness
• Energy
• Caution

With such a wide range of meanings, this color can work well for any business that wants to portray themselves as vibrant. You can use it to raise energy levels and help keep the atmosphere cheerful.

Green

Green is a color that we almost immediately associate with the natural world. It reminds us of forests, meadows, and rolling landscapes.

This color has become a buzzword over the last two decades because of its associations with environmental protection.

A few of the critical associations with green are:

• Nature
• Eco-friendliness
• Sustainability
• Health
• Freshness
• Growth
• Rejuvenation
• Calm
• Quiet
• Hope

This is the color to go with if your business has anything to do with nature or the environment. But you should also consider it if you want to be associated with health, such as an organic grocery store.

Tips on using and choosing colors

• Use palettes, not individual shades: You don’t want to choose individual shades at random. Instead, you want to select a range of colors for each piece that blends well. This will help make the whole image more appealing. On top of this, using hues with similar effects can amplify the impact that the sign makes.
• Keep it simple: Don’t go overboard with using different colors. In the end, your image will look garish and possibly tacky. Instead, select up to three primary colors. 
• Shades of one color: Using only two or three colors doesn’t limit you. In some ways, it opens up new possibilities. Palettes that use different hues of one primary color are usually far more effective. For example, you can use cool-gray, blue-gray, slate gray, and even platinum.
• Prevent fading: One potential downside of using colors on signs is that they can fade over time. Unfortunately, this can significantly detract from its appearance. But there are solutions to this. A pro tip is to ask for UV ink which is more resistant to water and fading.

Color me excited

As you can see, colors are an essential resource for business owners. They impact the people around your business in subconscious ways that are sometimes more powerful than words. There are endless ways you can cleverly use different shades of color throughout your company and particularly in your signage.

Learning more about aspects of design like colors palettes can open a whole world of possibilities for your advertising. It can also open up a range of new ways of communicating with your customers.