A Study In Colour
Red-Green Colour Blindness affects 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women worldwide. So why is it so misunderstood? 'A Study In Colour: An Insight Into Living With Colour Blindness' tells the stories of four colour blind individuals, and aims to debunk common misconceptions surrounding the condition. Each interview page has a filter over it to simulate the specific type of colour blindness that that person has as a way of helping non-colour blind people to better understand the condition.
Evan's Interview
On Gaming
Kira: How do you find gaming with being colour blind?
Evan: It’s not such a problem for me. It’s mostly a problem in games like GTA [Grand Theft Auto] or RDR [Red Dead Redemption] if I’m buying in-game clothing and the colours aren’t labeled - just like in real life. Say for example, I’ll buy Arthur Morgan in RDR2 a waistcoat that I think is navy blue to go with a primary blue shirt he has - then later I’ll see it in a different light and it turns out it was purple the whole time. I had the exact same problem buying a jumper years ago thinking it was navy, only for someone to ask me why I was wearing a purple jumper.
This is why buying clothes can be so frustrating for people like me. I’ve always appreciated how Primark sometimes has the colour written on the label - though I guess it’s more for people in the back stocking.
Kira: I’ve never noticed that before!
Evan: Going back to gaming - I think I can remember the hacking mini game in Bioshock 2 being a challenge. And I didn’t know about this up until recently, but Fortnite actually has an eye test feature in the options menu, which I think is really neat. Especially considering how immensely popular that game is with kids. I like to think that maybe some people have been genuinely helped by that feature for more than just playing Fortnite.
On Colour
Kira: So I’ve noticed that you have a system of sorts to help you identify colours - can you tell me more about that?
Evan: I wouldn’t say that I have a process or system - I just do my best to guess the colour. Sometimes comparing it to other colours helps, and other times it only muddles my perception.
Kira: So it’s essentially a process of elimination?
Evan: Essentially, yeah.
I’ve just thought of a good example of something that fucks with my colour blindness - neon.
Like if I saw neon blue, purple, yellow and green all next to each other then I might be alright, but if you showed me any of those colours on their own then I’d be stuck. Another thing - Ninja Turtles.
Kira: Do you muddle up the characters and their bandanas?
Evan: Yeah - I always had trouble telling Leonardo and Donatello apart because the blue and purple of their bandanas were always so similar.
Jonathan's Interview
On Growing Up Colour Blind
Kira: On the day of your diagnosis, were you going to the opticians for a routine check, or did you choose to get tested because you noticed that your perception of colour was different?
Jonathan: I had my eyes tested when I was thirteen or fourteen, as I was getting really bad headaches. But after doing a few routine tests they also told me that I was colourblind. I don’t think that the headaches and colourblindness were related though.
Kira: Is there anything in particular that you’d like to tell me about colour blindness and your experience of it?
Jonathan: The hardest part is people not believing you. They treat you like a circus act by asking you ‘what’s this colour?’ which can be embarrassing as I am able to see some colours.
It’s not so bad because I’m 28 now, but when I was young it was hard as I was also very shy.
I remember not too long ago that I ended up asking someone in M&S what colour a pair of trousers were because I couldn’t tell if they were navy or black; they looked at me strangely until I explained that I was colourblind.
I’ve also gone to work a few times with a tie that doesn’t match my outfit - things like that are pretty normal occurrences for me.
On Colour
Jonathan: I tend to get yellow and green mixed up, as well as red and pink - and sometimes orange and brown too.
Kira: So similar shades tend to be the most confusing?
Jonathan: Yeah - mixtures of colours in particular too. I will only see the Primary colour that makes up part of the Secondary colour, if that makes sense? Like, I don’t know what the colour burgundy is - I just see it as grey.
On Gaming
Kira: How do you find gaming with being colourblind?
Jonathan: Playing the actual game is usually fine as I’m so used to it - but when someone marks a point on a map with a marker on a game then sometimes I don’t see it as it’s generally a lighter colour.
Kira: What kind of game uses that system?
Jonathan: Call of Duty and Fortnite.