LCD monitor designed for the colorblind
(Credit:
Eizo)
This is one of those random facts that, if true, makes one wonder why technology hasn't caught up with reality: More than 200 million people worldwide are thought to be colorblind, according to some estimates, with more than 10 million of them in the United States. If even part of those statistics are accurate, it makes sense that companies would step up efforts to market products for that population.
Although technologies for the colorblind have been developed in the past, Japan's Eizo believes it has come up with a unique system that will allow colorblind individuals to "see" the graphic displays on its new 24-inch LCD, according to Akihabara News. Through Color Universal Design principles, it uses such techniques as lighting, shapes, positions, patterns, and labeling to help those who can't discern differences in color.
Eizo's FlexScan system is on the Japanese market at present, but it's not hard to imagine something like this taking off worldwide if it proves effective. After all, if anything transcends language and cultural barriers, it would seem to be something like this.
It is designed to simulate what people with color blindness see, so that graphic designers working on web pages, maps, signage, magazine layouts, and anything else under the sun can check and make sure that someone afflicted with color blindness can interpret what they are designing.
This is not a new technology, Eizo has had it implemented in some of their LCDs for at least a year.
Take a look here -- http://www.eizo.com/products/graphics/cg241w/index.asp
To quote Eizo's marketing copy:
Simulates* two types of red-green color vision deficiency ? protanopia and deuteranopia. The ColorEdge CG241W does all the color conversion processing in real time ? even moving images. With the bundled UniColor Pro software (Windows Vista/XP/2000 and Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later only) ? also developed by EIZO ? the designer can instantly switch from a normal viewing mode to the Protanopia and Deuteranopia viewing modes. Until now, tools available for simulating color vision deficiency have been software based so the color conversion process can be time consuming depending on the size and quantity of images to be converted, making these tools of limited practical use.