Colourblindness Research

Research Stage;

So in the past week I have managed to speak to David Flatla, another lecturer who worked with David Flatla named David Lyons.  They have both done some big research into colourblindness and this is interesting because David Flatla has protanopia colourblindness (red deficiency) and yet he was creating different types of ishiars tests for David Lyons for his different projects he featured on his tumblr page which will be linked at the end of this post.

I also managed to speak to someone from the opticians in Dundee and while speaking to them I learnt the true names of the different colourblindness, Protanopia, Deutanopia (green deficiency) tritanopia (Blue/Yello deficiency) and mono-chromacy (unable to see any colours).  I also learnt that ishiara tests are the most common form of testing but it doesn't tell you what type you are it just tells you that you have a deficiency.  I the person who is colourblind wishes to know which type and how severe it is you would need to go to a speciallist and take what is called a the Farnsworth test.  What the farnsworth test is where you are given a range of different shades and you are asked to put them back in order, and this is a most effective way to determind what type of colourblindness you have is.

After speaking to David Flatla, David Lyons and the opticans, I did some research myself just to get some facts on colourblindness.  For instances colourblindness effects one in every one hundred males and one in every one thousand females, in a designers terms this works out that 8% of a designers possible clientele have the chance of being colourblind.  The colourblindnesses you can be born with are Protanopia, Deutanopia or Mono-Chromacy, Tritanopia is normally obtained through illness or trauma.  So these were alot of factors to think about.

David Lyons Tumblr Page;
http://graphicdesignfortheblind.tumblr.com/

Change in Direction

Deciding on a Project;

So after researching into what neil Harbisson has done, I decided to change my direction slightly still working with colours and using a mobile or tablet application but instead of using it as a paint bucket or brush I looked into colouring games and colourblindness.  What I am thinking is something along the lines or a story book when the children follow a series of challenges that show them what the different types of colourblindnesses are and how they effect each person differently.

After speaking to my lecturer about this he thinks it is a good idea and then asked me what my next steps are going to be since gurus day is in a little over a week away and I have basically taken a the off ramp to a different project so to speak.

So by next week in time for guru's day I am planning to speak to a lecturer at Dundee University called David Flatla, as well as try and get in contact with an optician at the local optians to ask about the different effects of colourblindness and how they test for it themselves, outside of the standard Ishiara tests.

Some changes to the Design.

Deciding on a Project;

So while doing my research, it became clear to me that while having the blank canvas for the children to thrown paint at is a fun idea and they would enjoy it, they would most likely prefer something that they can actually colour in.  So I am thinking about changing the project slightly to match this by giving them the option to colour in an image using the application on the phone but still using the sounds to emit a musical tone, kind of paint by sounds thing, so they still have this new way of being introduced to colours.

I also did some research into the wavelengths of colours and interviewed a friend of mine who is studying physics at St Andrews University.  He explained to me the differences in the wavelengths and how it is used to pick up the colours and also saying that even colours that we are unable to see have tonal values.

I also found an artist named Niel Harbisson and  in June 2012 he appeared on TEDTalks and talked about his colourblindness and how he now hears colours through sounds.

This is the link to the TedTalks he did;
https://www.ted.com/talks/neil_harbisson_i_listen_to_color?language=en

Also this is the wikipedia page I have been using for the tonal values of colours;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colors_of_noise

Some additions to the Project

Deciding on a Project;

So after a week of looking into the colour sensor and tonal values of different colours it looks like it might be easier for the application side of things if I limit the colours that can be used so that the tonal value can be accurate to a certain degree.

The colours that I am deciding to use are Red, Blue, Yellow, Orange, Pink, Purple, Green & Brown.

These are the colours that most primary school children are used to and also know, because if you look at a colour wheel of primary, secondary and tertiary colours there are main different types of a child isn't exactly going to call chartreuse green by its name, the will most likely just call it light green.

The other reason for using these colours is to make the tonal values simplar to define.  Even though if you scan in something that looks red but is closer to orange, the device will have a sequence to compare the colour to to make sure it gets the closest tonal value to the colour.

Below you can see an image of an extreme colour wheel labeling all the different colours. This is also the wheel I am using for my references for the colours.