Why do we still color-code info in ways that are incompatible with ~8% of men?
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This is absolutely a problem that could be easily accommodated if there was any desire to do so, but I think focusing on gender is a big misunderstanding of the larger problem: society doesn't care about people with disabilities. If you're looking to engage with people working towards the totally reasonable outcomes you want, I'd invite you to wade into the disability advocacy space. I think you'll find that much more productive than the men's rights space (which, like the rest of society, doesn't really care about people with disabilities). You are absolutely right that it shouldn't be like this.
An interesting take on this issue is employing staff where color matters. As the head of a department involved in electronics I used to have to employ staff who had to be able to read the resistor color code and for that they needed good color vision.
During interviews one of the evaluative measures was to give applicants a card with a careful selection of numbered resistors taped to it and they had to tell the interviewing panel their resistance.
Given that figure of ~8% of males with color blindness we often found applicants that were color blind (most applicants were male). To avoid the many pitfalls of doing this, which could involve an applicant first discovering that he was color blind during the interview, we required them to write the resistance of the resistor against its number on a sheet of paper and hand it to us (e.g.: resistor #8 was say 470 ohms - we only needed the numerical value and not the actual colors (which for this example are yellow violet brown)).
The sheet was handed along the panel - all of whom were conversant with the color code - in a nonchalant manner without comment (we did not tell applicants whether their answers were right or wrong).
Doing it this way avoided us having to use Ishihara color blindness test cards which could be deemed an on-the-fly medical test and that had complicating implications.
Of course, experienced applicants who knew the color code by second nature would often ask if they could just verbally run down the list and we let them do that.
During interviews one of the evaluative measures was to give applicants a card with a careful selection of numbered resistors taped to it and they had to tell the interviewing panel their resistance.
Given that figure of ~8% of males with color blindness we often found applicants that were color blind (most applicants were male). To avoid the many pitfalls of doing this, which could involve an applicant first discovering that he was color blind during the interview, we required them to write the resistance of the resistor against its number on a sheet of paper and hand it to us (e.g.: resistor #8 was say 470 ohms - we only needed the numerical value and not the actual colors (which for this example are yellow violet brown)).
The sheet was handed along the panel - all of whom were conversant with the color code - in a nonchalant manner without comment (we did not tell applicants whether their answers were right or wrong).
Doing it this way avoided us having to use Ishihara color blindness test cards which could be deemed an on-the-fly medical test and that had complicating implications.
Of course, experienced applicants who knew the color code by second nature would often ask if they could just verbally run down the list and we let them do that.
However, this whole situation could be solved with different standards (dots, dashes, and less colors) along with laws against discrimination.
If another scheme were to be implemented, men could have the same success rate as women when applying for this job.
If another scheme were to be implemented, men could have the same success rate as women when applying for this job.
I certainly agree, but it would take a very long time to implement given that the resistor color code goes back well before WWII. I can't remember when the system was introduced but resistors in all those early superhetrodyne radios from about 1930 onwards used it, thus we've going on 90 years worth of electronics installed with color-coded resistors (and more recently capacitors).
This is an enormous legacy, and even given the more rapid turnover of electronics these days there's still going to be a huge legacy of color-coded components for many decades to come.
If you are in electronics then you'll know that even relatively inexperienced people can read and sort resistors almost as fast as they can pick them up. In essence, determining the value of a resistor is about as fast as the human reaction time gets which is less than 100 milliseconds (about the speed a fluent reader reads words - like Morse code, one doesn't sequentially read the colors but recognizes the pattern as a whole). Therefore, any replacement system would have to be as easy and compatible or it'd likely meet with opposition.
It seems to me the reason the resistor color code has had such longevity is that it's so dead easy to learn and so easy to use. Perhaps the best solution would be to implement both schemas but then there's the likely problem of having sufficient surface space on the component to implement it (it's already a major problem on modern circuit board components as everything is so small).
You're absolutely right, colorblind people need a better deal, especially males who are disproportionately afflicted. If I recall only about 1% of women are affected, it was one of the major reasons why they were preferred over men on production lines, etc.
This is an enormous legacy, and even given the more rapid turnover of electronics these days there's still going to be a huge legacy of color-coded components for many decades to come.
If you are in electronics then you'll know that even relatively inexperienced people can read and sort resistors almost as fast as they can pick them up. In essence, determining the value of a resistor is about as fast as the human reaction time gets which is less than 100 milliseconds (about the speed a fluent reader reads words - like Morse code, one doesn't sequentially read the colors but recognizes the pattern as a whole). Therefore, any replacement system would have to be as easy and compatible or it'd likely meet with opposition.
It seems to me the reason the resistor color code has had such longevity is that it's so dead easy to learn and so easy to use. Perhaps the best solution would be to implement both schemas but then there's the likely problem of having sufficient surface space on the component to implement it (it's already a major problem on modern circuit board components as everything is so small).
You're absolutely right, colorblind people need a better deal, especially males who are disproportionately afflicted. If I recall only about 1% of women are affected, it was one of the major reasons why they were preferred over men on production lines, etc.
> With all the gender equality campaigns going on these times, why is this issue getting so little attention? It relates to a huge number of people.
Because they're not writing endless reams of opaque masturbatory papers about how oppressed they are. Because they're not a visible minority, as ironic as that is. Because a lot of the sustained outrage for equity isn't actually about the number of people being oppressed.
Because they're not writing endless reams of opaque masturbatory papers about how oppressed they are. Because they're not a visible minority, as ironic as that is. Because a lot of the sustained outrage for equity isn't actually about the number of people being oppressed.
I'm not sure that this exact case is accounted for, but I know that a large part of the industry atm is getting re-focused on accessibility testing.
Government contracts seem to be getting it baked in now as a legal requirement as a few cases are being taken to courts.
My company have a requirement to be level AA compliant and our designers have been taking colour compatability into account.
Government contracts seem to be getting it baked in now as a legal requirement as a few cases are being taken to courts.
My company have a requirement to be level AA compliant and our designers have been taking colour compatability into account.
It's not easy when it comes to colour pallets. I have tritanopathy - full on yellow-blue blindness - in my left eye. Thankfully my right eye is able to "fill in the blanks" for the most part, but there are times I really notice it.
For example, at night green and blue lights from the traffic lights and the bus are the same colour - teal. I only know this because my right eye can see the blue properly, but if my vision is partially obstructed (visible only to left eye), I can't tell the difference. The bus line has probably never considered that in their choice of blue lights at night could be an issue for anyone with sight. But people with tritanopathy won't be able to see the difference between a stoplight "Go" signal and the bus, except of course by context.
For example, at night green and blue lights from the traffic lights and the bus are the same colour - teal. I only know this because my right eye can see the blue properly, but if my vision is partially obstructed (visible only to left eye), I can't tell the difference. The bus line has probably never considered that in their choice of blue lights at night could be an issue for anyone with sight. But people with tritanopathy won't be able to see the difference between a stoplight "Go" signal and the bus, except of course by context.
> There are palettes that are designed to be compatible with everyone (except those rare cases with black-and-white vision, and full blindness).
Which palettes are these? All of them that I can find still have tradeoffs against different forms of dichromacy.
Which palettes are these? All of them that I can find still have tradeoffs against different forms of dichromacy.
Most product designers and developers have NO idea how to handle this properly. I'd done a poor job of it until around 15 years ago, when I was spec'ing out the UI for utility-scale solar monitoring web app. It turns out that in doing that, I discovered my hardware counterpart on the project was colorblind (red/green).
We rebuilt the UI using principles from an old Rand Corp study from the 1960s, some of Tufte's work, and the Carolyn Brewer's truly excellent ColorBrewer web app (https://colorbrewer2.org/), which is the single best tool I know for sorting out how to use color more effectively for info visualization. (Despite what the page says, it's for way more than cartography - I've used ColorBrewer to help refine nearly a dozen IoT data visualization apps over the years. Highly Recommended.
We rebuilt the UI using principles from an old Rand Corp study from the 1960s, some of Tufte's work, and the Carolyn Brewer's truly excellent ColorBrewer web app (https://colorbrewer2.org/), which is the single best tool I know for sorting out how to use color more effectively for info visualization. (Despite what the page says, it's for way more than cartography - I've used ColorBrewer to help refine nearly a dozen IoT data visualization apps over the years. Highly Recommended.
There are always tradeoffs, but most situations don't require more than just a few colors, and it's still a neglected issue even though it can be solved with adhering to some principles.
https://davidmathlogic.com/colorblind/
https://www.tableau.com/about/blog/examining-data-viz-rules-...
https://davidmathlogic.com/colorblind/
https://www.tableau.com/about/blog/examining-data-viz-rules-...
I've seen the Wong palette before, but does it actually solve the problem? In particular, aren't #009E73 and #D55E00 quite difficult to distinguish if you have protanopia or deuteranopia?
It is generally called the Okabe-Ito palette since it was created nine years before the Wong paper. But I digress.
Colorblind-friendly color palettes are not sufficient in all cases - even a non-color-deficient person will have trouble distinguishing similar colors when the total area is small (as often occurs in thin lines or dots), or if there are simply too many colors in a plot. A good overview on choosing colors when making figures while keeping color-deficiencies in mind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PsbdY3aWdg
There really is no perfect solution for all cases, which is why we don't just have a set of hard-and-fast rules for making figures, though there are definitely some choices that are better than others.
Colorblind-friendly color palettes are not sufficient in all cases - even a non-color-deficient person will have trouble distinguishing similar colors when the total area is small (as often occurs in thin lines or dots), or if there are simply too many colors in a plot. A good overview on choosing colors when making figures while keeping color-deficiencies in mind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PsbdY3aWdg
There really is no perfect solution for all cases, which is why we don't just have a set of hard-and-fast rules for making figures, though there are definitely some choices that are better than others.
I guess it's not perfect, but the point I'm trying to make is that this is an issue that relates to so many people, that there should be some initiative to create an ISO standard or equivalent.
What makes you think society cares about men??
My team has accessibility requirements for things like this. We still use red/green, but we also have a rule that color can't be the only indicator of some kind of state. So we'll make a green check or a red X (along with a variety of other accessibility hints and navigation models) so that you can get the information regardless of your abilities.
And I think this distinction is important. We're not going to take away the color coding that the vast majority of people can easily recognize just because a subset of the population can't, but we are going to make sure that the group that can't has alternatives available so they aren't stuck.
And I think this distinction is important. We're not going to take away the color coding that the vast majority of people can easily recognize just because a subset of the population can't, but we are going to make sure that the group that can't has alternatives available so they aren't stuck.
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I've even seen red/green color coding in healthcare-related websites (my deficiency is so mild that it's almost never an issue, but it's still something that I find strange - they should be aware of it, if anyone). There are palettes that are designed to be compatible with everyone (except those rare cases with black-and-white vision, and full blindness).
And I've never felt that this is something that I can be open about with colleagues, in a way that is equal to how women can be open about their issues. For example, what if a workplace bully uses this weakness as a way to question my ability to do my work? It shouldn't be like this.